The Washington Capitals: At the All-Star Break

The Washington Capitals enjoyed the year 2008. Last spring, the team made a magical run to win the Southeast Division. Over the summer, they signed goaltender Jose Theodore and drafted Capitals legend Bengt Gustafsson's son, Anton. In training camp and preseason, another 2008 first-round draft pick, defenseman John Carlson, nearly made the team as an 18-year old.

Once the season started, the success continued onto the ice. Alexander Semin torched the league to start the season. Alexander Ovechkin struggled out of the gate, but has since found his groove and now leads the NHL in scoring. Goaltender Jose Theodore was below average, but was aided by backup Brent Johnson's stellar play. Injuries forced the team to call up nearly 9 players from AHL Hershey, but the team never missed a beat, and remained in first place. 20-year old defenseman Karl Alzner (4th overall draft pick in 2007) emerged as a steadying force on the backline and brought partner Milan Jurcina's play to a whole new level.

2009 saw the Caps hit their first real bump - a 2-game losing streak to two mediocre Western Conference teams - but has still be good to the team. Semin is back healthy and scoring at over a point-per-game. Ovechkin is scoring goals like last season. Jose Theodore has finally began to play like the goaltender who was MVP of the league. Now, at the "half-way" point, I'm going to take a look back and give out some awards.

Team MVP: Alexander Oveckhin. This award would go to Semin if he didn't get hurt, but he did, and Ovechkin picked up the slack. He has dominated games all season long and has been the best player on the team, all season long. He leads the Caps in goals and points, and a second consecutive Hart Trophy is not out of the question.

Biggest Surprise: Tomas Fleischmann. Last season Caps fans saw Fleischmann miss opportunity after opportunity, and he was eventually benched in the playoff series with the Flyers. His new $750,000 contract was lamented by Caps fans. Even at age 24, Caps fans saw him as a guy who could never finish on a consistent basis. This season, that all changed. Fleischmann has 15 goals in 39 games and a mere 12 penalty minutes. He's playing more disciplined and he's playing with boatloads of confidence. His deking skills are almost at Alexander Semin's level. His +/- rating (-8) is not good by any means, but he's playing solid 2-way hockey regardless and even has gotten penalty-kill time. His salary - less than a million dollars - is a steal for (what potentially is) a 30-goal scorer. Fleischmann has finally found his groove.

Biggest Disappointment: Michael Nylander. Last season, Nylander looked like a great signing, leading the Caps in assists before tearing his rotator cuff. He had done a great job mentoring Nicklas Backstrom and was producing. This year, he has not produced (4 goals, 18 assists, +2) in 45 games and has seen his ice time drop below 15 minutes a game. Head coach Bruce Boudreau has scratched him on three occasions and there seems to be some friction between the two. The Capitals have reportedly been shopping Nylander, who has a no-movement clause in his contract. If the Caps can find a deal with a team Nylander would be willing to play for, it would benefit the Caps greatly, because they could move someone like Dave Steckel to the 3rd line role, and play Eric Fehr on a consistent basis. Honorable mention goes to Chris Clark.

"Hard Hat" Award: Brooks Laich. His numbers may not be outstanding (11 goals, 15 assists in 48 games) but Laich does so many things for the team that go unrewarded. He crashes the net on the powerplay. He blocks shots on the penalty kill. He draws penaltys. He's willing to drop the gloves if need be. Without Laich the Caps would have some serious problems. He is so versatile - he plays both center and wing - and scores timely goals. He hits, he scores, and he plays good defense. Not a whole lot more you can ask from a 3rd line winger.

This spring will be an interesting one for the Caps. The trade deadline has the potential to be enormous (if Nylander is traded) or extremely quiet. The team is off to the best start in franchise history and has no signs of slowing up. That said, anything less than a 1st-round series win will be a season failure. This team is too talented to lose in the first round, but it remains to be seen if the Caps can get over that hump.