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.

Too Many To Count

Alexander Semin, Mike Green (pictured), Tom Poti, Chris Clark, Jeff Schultz, Sergei Fedorov, Tomas Fleishmann, Tyler Sloan, Eric Fehr, and John Erskine.

For those of you at home, thats:

41 goals, 56 assists, and a +/- rating of +28.

Wow.

The injury bug has certainly hit the Caps. Hard. Even a replacement - Tyler Sloan - got hurt. Top prospect Karl Alzner was called up to replace Sloan and suffered an injury against Columbus, but hasn't missed a game. Alexander Ovechkin has been playing phenomenal but has a nagging groin injury. Viktor Kozlov just came back into the lineup. And I'm not even counting Brian Pothier, who has been out since last spring, when Boston forward Milan Lucic gave him a concussion.

And speaking of Boston, the injury-depleted Caps take on the Eastern Conference-leading Bruins at Verizon Center in a little less than an hour. It will take a Herculean effort to continue to hold the Southeast Division lead with all the injuries, but if the Caps can make it to overtime - or even better, win - then they will have proved to me that they are finally, after years of struggling teams, done with rebuilding. It would mean that they have the depth in the organization to be able to withstand injuries. A year ago, if you told me that they would lose all these players and still compete regularly, I'd laugh at you.

Now, their depth is being shown. They're getting contributions from the young call-ups such as Alzner and Sami Lepisto (and I anticipate some chances generated by AHL rookie of the month for November Oskar Osala).

Luckily, Semin, Green, Poti, Fedorov, and Sloan are due back this week (for Sloan, tonight). They are going to need those players for the stretch run, when the playoffs are in sight. But for now, they are doing ok.

Oh, and Boston comes into DC with a 6-game winning streak. You know what happened last time they came to DC with a 6-game winning streak? A 10-2 Capitals win.

Let's hope a similar fate results at Verizon tonight.

(Photo: Washington Times)

A Home Opener to Remember

There are so many things to talk about after last night's Capitals home opener, that I won't even begin to discuss the miniscule game itself (the Caps won 4-2).

Instead, I will break down the wonderful Caps' introduction video and the video recapping the past season.

The first video, which is intended to get the fans pumped up about the game, was pretty cool in my opinion. It might have been a little corny, but I thought it was awesome and hilarious at the same time. The video is below.



A couple thoughts. One, whoever decided to do makeup on Backstrom made him look like a woman. Two, the Brashear clip was awesome and the characters they made of the players were spot-on. And third, it makes me get excited for the season/game. The clips thrown in were great and the song was perfect. It may be cheesy, but I liked it.

This video is a recap of last season's run and the memorable moments from Bruce's first game to the clinching of the division. I've seen some better videos made by fans, but I'm sure this one was required to be shorter and it was still pretty good.




But the best thing about last night is the new system they have for the players' pictures. When they introduce a player in the beginning or after a goal, the pictures they used are straight out of GQ. They have the players modeling with leather jackets (apparently Poti, Steckel, and Semin wear the same jacket), hockey sticks, and other fashionable attire. Makes the goals even sweeter when the opponent has to look up at the faces of models staring down at their faces.

A couple examples:

Brooks Laich


















Alex Ovechkin






















And, finally, Jose Theodore (this one's for all the ladies out there)

A Shot in the Mouth

Talk about a bad way to start the season.

The Capitals came out and were dominant in the first 5 minutes. Then, they had a goal waved off. Then they took a penalty.

And then they fell apart. Goal. Goal. Goal. It was like an artillery barrage that just couldn't be stopped.

Quickly, they were down 3-0. The team was on its heels and was shellshocked. Then, Alexander Semin came through with a wrist shot from the top of the circles to send the team into the locker room down by 2. A shorthanded goal by Dave Steckel - set up by a nice play by Semin - was quickly negated by another Atlanta goal, but then the game changed.

Tom Poti was clipped in the forehead and the Caps were given a 4-minute powerplay. The knew that the powerplay was the chance they needed. Mike Green fired home two one-timers to tie the game at 4, and it looked like the Caps would be able to win despite their poor play.

After 2, it remained deadlocked at 4, but the Caps were pressuring Kari Lehtonen all period long. A cover-up in the crease by an Atlanta defenseman led to a penalty shot for the Caps, which was taken by Alexander Ovechkin. Fans - myself included - felt that Semin should've shot it, because he was having a great game and is usually successful in a breakaway.

As it was, Ovechkin missed, adding on to a list of missed chances by the reigning Hart Trophy winner. Even on TV, you could see the life sucked out of the team. Atlanta quickly grabbed the momentum and eventually scored to make it 5-4. Less than 30 seconds later, it was 6-4. Soon thereafer, it was 7-4.

And the Caps were left to re-assess their goaltender situation on the long flight home from Atlanta. But, at least for me, there is reason for optimism.

1. Jose Theodore is known for his inconsistency. Hopefully this just means it was a bad game and on Saturday he will be great.


2. The powerplay and offense was solid all night long. They took 40+ shots and Lehtonen was the main reason the game didn't turn the Caps' way in the 2nd and 3rd periods.


3. Alexander Semin was the best player on the ice. He made plays all game long and ended up with a 3-point night.


4. I believe head coach Bruce Boudreau will fire this team up for the home opener. I don't see this game affecting this team for more than a couple of hours. There is no doubt in my mind that the team won't play well on Saturday. Theodore will be fine and Brent Johnson was solid in relief (though he was let out to dry late in the game). Plus, they finally get to return and feel the excitment from the fans. That can do a long way to rebounding from this debacle of a season opener.
   

Last season the Caps started off an impressive 3-0. By Thanksgiving they were in dead last. So, a first loss doesn't mean that they won't make the playoffs or win the division. After all, the Detroit Red Wings lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, another team predicted to be in the cellar.

Step in off the ledge, Caps fans. There's 81 more games to win.