Caps Convincing At Home

So after a road trip to forget, the Caps came home and won two straight in convincing fashion to go 9-0-1 at home this season. All the more impressive were those games were won with call ups from Hershey, five of them to be exact. Just two years ago the Capitals were the laughing stock of the league working on their second consecutive 70-point season...my how far they've come. Now, some are calling the Capitals contenders and, while that may be a stretch, the Caps certainly are a playoff team no one would want to meet in the first round. Being able to pull out two victories with as many injuries as they have, yes at home and yes one against the Thrashers, still, is impressive and makes me think the Capitals are going to be contending for many years to come. The prospects have looked great and Theodore seems to have finally come around, posting his first shutout of the season against Montreal. It is still early, but the Caps are notorious slow starters and this year they have come out of the gate taking no prisoners and that has me very excited. The Caps are skating in Columbus tonight, I hope for more of the same.

Ovechkin Has Huge Night, But Theodore Was The Difference

Facing a four game losing streak, the Caps came up big tonight, beating Atlanta 5-3 at home. Ovechkin had a huge night with his sixth career hat trick, but it was Jose Theodore who was the difference...yes, Theodore. Jose has been inconsistent at best this year and he has many Caps fans missing Christobal Huet, but tonight he was the Theodore the Caps needed. Jose made a huge save very early in the game to stave off his team going down 1-0, giving the Caps the momentum they needed to score two quick goals. Theodore, at times, has been nothing short of unbelievable this year and other times, well, not so much. Tonight he was consistent, making the stops he needed to. With the Caps having eight, yes eight, injured players, Theo and Ovie made sure the Caps stayed the only team in the Eastern Conference not to lose in regulation at home, but without Theo coming up big in the first and again in the third to keep the momentum with the Caps, who knows what may have happened. Another pleasant surprise tonight were the newcomers from Hershey, they played steady, fundamental hockey, exactly what the Caps needed them to do. All in all it was a good win for the Caps, but Friday they face a bigger test when the 2009 All-Star team comes to town...oh, sorry, I mean the Montreal Canadians.

Fan Voting Must Go

So, with fan voting well under way for this year's All-Star game, it should be obvious to everyone but Canadian's fans that fans should not have a say in who makes the roster and who doesn't. Currently, Montreal fans have voted in droves and, if voting stopped today, would have filled the six starting Eastern conference roster spots with Candadians. This is nonsense, the NHL needs to do away with letting the fans vote next year, or at the very least, let the fans voice their opinions in another way. A possible solution, one that makes a whole lot more sense, is the NHL, maybe GMs, choose who will appear at the game and then the fans could vote on who is in the starting lineup. This way guys who are deserving will make it to the game and then the fans can feel like they have a say by voting who starts; everybody wins. If I wanted to see the six starting spots filled by Canandians, wouldn't I just watch a Montreal game? Yes. I know it's Montreal's 100th season in the league, but this is just too much. The All-Star game is the NHL's chance to showcase its talent and the game and by having all the East's spots filled by Canadians, well, it's an injustice to the league and to the true fans of the game. Obviously you want to see some representation from your favorite team, but the fans, well, most of them anyway, realize this is a big night for hockey and they want ALL deserving talent to be on display, that, and it makes for a much more enjoyable viewing experience for the eight of us with the Versus network. Come on Gary, get with it.

Hershey Coming to Town

The Caps announced today that they have called up four players from Heshey, forwards Graham Mink and Chris Bourque, along with defenseman Karl Alzner (finally) and Sami Lepisto. I had a hunch that Alzner and Lepisto would be called up, but the two forwards were a surprise considering the amount of cap space the Caps have. Regardless, Karl Alzner is finally coming to town and that has me very excited. The Caps have touted this guy from the beginning and due to cap space he hasn't played in DC yet, but tonight is the night. Tonight's game should be very entertaining given the new lineup, but I don't think as entertaining as last year's Thrash/Caps pre-Thanksgiving match, a game in which I attended..."Fire Hanlon, Fire Hanlon." Remember? That was the beginnning of the end for Hanlon, who I heard is now selling corn on the cob along various roads throughout the country and the beginning of the beginning...or..uh...something like that for Mr. Bruce Boudreau. Unfortunately I wil not be at tonight's game, which is ashame because I have never been able to see a Hershey Bears game. I may not watch the game tonight either, I need to go brush up on my hockey skills, if the Caps keep going this way they may need to post sign up sheets asking people to volunteer to play a couple games here and there. Good luck Caps...you'll need it.

More Injuries (Updated)

So, my earlier post outlining all the Caps injuries; add Chris Clark to the list. The Caps captain hasn't come close to living up to his 2006-7 30 goal season...I forgive you if you thought he was already injured, for he has been almost non-existent on the ice this season. The former Calgary Flame missed 64 games due to injuries last year and apparently he will be missing some more this year. To elaborate on my thoughts from earlier, why not put Clark on the LTIR list and call up a young lad or two from Hershey who would play hard day in and day out trying to earn a roster spot? According to HockeyBuzz.com, Clark's salary takes up close to $2.4 million in cap room, which would leave just enough room to call up coveted defenseman Karl Alzner ($1.675 million) and Sami Lepisto ($700,000). This assuming Fedorov is back soon, which would make up for the lost forward in Clark. In a perfect world this would be how things happened, but then again, if we lived in a perfect world, Clark would be contributing like he did two years ago and the Caps would be injury free.

Shultz Injured, Now Caps In Cap Trouble

With all the recent injuries the Capitals have suffered, the team finds themselves in quite a bind. The Caps were forced to shift Brooks Laich, a forward, to the back end during the third period of last night's Wild game after Shultz left with a broken finger. The problem for the Caps now is going to be calling up players to fill the holes without exceeding the salary cap. An injured player must first be placed on long term injured reserve to free up his salary, which is a minimum of ten games, or 24 days, which ever comes first. The only player who may possibly fall under that category would be Shultz, who makes $750,000 a season, who is listed as "week to week." Without a player being placed on LTIR the Caps may find themselves having to deal a player in order to be able to call someone up from Hershey and fit under the cap. With Shultz's salary the Caps could only call up defenseman Sami Lepisto and not highly coveted prospect Karl Alzner. The Caps are in a tough situation, which was only made worse by the Shultz injury. It will be interesting to see how the Caps navigate the waters in order to fill roster spots, but they must do it quickly as the Atlanta Thrashers visit the phone booth tomorrow night.

Injuries Too Much to Overcome

With the loss against the Wild tonight, the Caps finished just 1-3 on their roadtrip. When healthy, the Caps are one of the most potent offensive teams in the league, but with all of the injuries they have suffered, this trip has been one to forget. Among the injured, Alex Semin, Mike Green, Sergei Fedorov, and now, Jeff Shultz, who is listed as week to week with a broken finger. Alex Semin was second in the league in points when he was injured, an injury GM George McPhee a week ago called, "not serious". The "upper body injury" seems to have been a little more serious than he first claimed. Mike Green, who had the most goals by a defenseman last year, was a major blow to the Caps blueline and now with Shultz missing, the Caps are without their top two defensmen, ouch. The Caps will be fine when they are healthy again, until then, they must weather the storm and try to earn as many points as possible.

Classic Commercials? Gone.

So as I watched the Caps go down in humiliating defeat to the mighty Sharks this weekend, I was annoyed at something other than their play; the commercials. You know, the same six commercials we have to watch every game. If that Pulte Homes song is a choice at the next karaoke event I go to, I've all but won. Or even worse, that very catchy, but annoying to the point that I would never purchase a Toyota, "Saved By Zero" song by The Fixx, ugh, terrible. Sure, you and your perm danced the night away to new wave back in the day, but it doesn't mix with selling a Toyota. So, I got to thinking, what happened to the good old days of Olie Kolzig and his wife celebrating their anniversary only to have Olie pour the wine down his face like he would his water bottle, or the one where the caps are at the urinal and Ron Wilson is timing them as if he were timing their shifts? Those were the days when you didn't mind watching the Caps look like they were a good minor league team against a powerhouse NHL team. The ones last year where the guys were being examined by a doctor followed by a corny line or two were terrible and this year with Boudreau selling a Mercedes...funny the first time, well,okay, made me smile the first time, but now, I'd rather turn on QVC and make fun of the people trying to sell me something that would change my life. Come on Caps, bring back the good commercials, it would help to keep your viewer's sanity.

Ovechkin Still Contributing

Just a few weeks ago, many of us were wondering when Alex Ovechkin would finally score again. At some point in your life you may have heard your father ask this very question in reference to himself, but this was bigger, much bigger. How could a player who scored 65 goals just one year ago have just two goals in 11 games, a pace that would have given him just 15 goals for the year? While fantasy team owners cried themselves to sleep, I, for one, was looking on the bright side. While Ovechkin was scoring as much as your grandfather, he was assisting like he was Adam Oates. Just a year ago, he had 47 assists, a respectable number, but this year he is on pace to have 72 by the end of the season. Also, Alex is plus-14 so far this year, putting him on pace to be a plus 67 by season's end...holy cow Batman! The point being, Alex didn't score much early on, but he was contributing in other ways. He has become not only an offensive threat, but also, someone who can contribute defensively as well, so much so that Boudreau used him on the penalty kill early in the season. Ovechkin is the greatest player in the league (Sorry Bettman, we all know you wish Sid was YOUR kid) and will continue to be as he grows and develops for many years to come.

Caps/Anaheim Recap

The Caps started their trip out west in ideal fashion Wednesday night when they beat the Anaheim once mighty Ducks 6-4. Those who weren't able to nap during the day may have missed this late starter, but for those of you who watched saw the Caps jump out to a very early 3 goal lead only to see it cut to a single goal before the end of the first period. The Ducks are the most penalized team in the NHL and the Caps capitalized (say that 10 times) early, scoring two powerplay goals before the game was four minutes old. Backstrom continued his torrid pace by following shortly with a great backhand shot past Anaheim goalie Jonas Miller, who was pulled less than eight minutes into the game, a far cry from his shutout performance against the LA Kings on Sunday. All was peachy for the Caps, until Anaheim stormed back by putting two past Theodore, who played a very average game (which begs the question, Theodore or Johnson?) My concern after the first period was, the Caps came out strong, but they need to maintain pressure and seal the deal early. Granted, the second goal from Anaheim was scored even though the Caps had some decent defensive coverage, but still, the Caps need to go into the locker room with at least a two goal lead. Anaheim is struggling at home this season, but the Caps are just two days away from playing the San Jose Sharks, a team that refuses to lose at home this season (10-0-1). It was a nice win for the Caps, but I fear they will not be so lucky at the Shark Tank on Saturday. You play with Sharks, you lose an arm...or in this case, some standings points.