District Puckhouse

Caps are Rocking Out to a New Song in the Verizon Center

2010-03-05T16:23:00.003-05:00

The Washington Capitals have a new goal song.

It's a great highlight reel song. A decent intro song.

Not a good goal song.

Before we get any further, let me say that I'm not trying to hate on the effort of the Sandbox Kings, who won a contest through Elliot in the Morning on DC101 (favorite morning show in the area, btw) with "Rock the Red." The song premiered at last night's Caps-Lightning game, where it was played five times, after each Caps goal.

It's a great song, but not for the purpose to which it has been applied.

Why isn't it a good goal song? Because even though it played over the PA system five times, most Caps fans were hard pressed to notice it more than once.

I'm no music critic, but a goal is a celebration and the music that plays should be celebratory and upbeat. "ock the Red is too subdued, not - dare I say - poppy enough.

Now I will say this, Rock the Red is unique, and great for the Caps for commissioning their own music. It's a lot better than the umpteen arenas that some variation of Rock 'n Roll Part 2, Song 2, or Bro Hymn after a home goal.

My personal favorite goal song is Chelsea Dagger, which the Caps used for a little while but is also associated closely with the Chicago Blackhawks. Another favorite is Kernkraft 400, but almost a half-dozen teams rely on that one, also including the Capitals recently.

The great part of Chelsea Dagger and Kernkraft 400 is that you don't need a three minute song, you only need 15 or 20 seconds of a great hook, and both songs have one. Ditto with Joe Satriani's Crowd Chant.

It's that catchy quality, the sing-along nature of a song, that makes it popular and makes it stick. Occasionally a down-tempo song gets stuck in your ear, but they aren't inspiring.

Washington needs a goal song that pumps fans up, gets noticed and gets fans singing or chanting along, not one that slips into the background. In a different setting, when all attention is focused on the video or music being played, "Rock the Red" does just fine.

After a goal though, the music needs to add to the cacophany while still cutting through enough for fans to be cognizant of it, and if you ask me the Caps need to do a little more searching to find a song (or soundbite, let's be honest) to fill that role.

What do you think the Caps should use as a goal song? Post in the comment section with your suggestions.

A Not-So Brief Capitals Trade Deadline Primer

2010-03-01T17:38:00.005-05:00

The NHL trade deadline is less than 48 hours away (at the time of this posting), and while the Capitals are not expected to make any major moves, there's no question that General Manager George McPhee would love to upgrade a few specific positions if the right opportunity presents itself.

Never a big fan of free agency, McPhee has pulled off some significant deals in the past few years (Prospect Theo Ruth for Sergei Fedorov, Brian Sutherby for a 2nd round pick that McPhee later traded for Cristobal Huet) that lead me to believe he won't be completely silent this week.

I'm not going to deal with rumors, but I will present this primer for Caps fans curious about the process of deadline day and where the Capitals stand.

First things first, as alluded to above, the trade deadline is at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, March 3. Trades will be announced past the deadline, because 3 p.m. is really the cutoff for teams to notify the NHL of an impending trade, not for official trade calls between both teams and the league to have been completed. Paul at Kukla's Corner has a fantastic primer on the specifics of a transaction here.

A brief salary cap primer

Two important thing of note, that Paul covers, are 1) that player salaries are prorated over the 193-day season, and 2) the player's average salary over the course of the entire contract is what counts against the cap, not their salary for that specific season. There are 40 days left in the regular season as of this upcoming Wednesday, so if you let a player's average salary = Z, the formula for figuring out the cap hit is (Z/193) x 40. Or, you could multiply the salary by 0.207 for a rough estimate.

(For example, prior to signing a contract extension Alexander Semin's salary for last season was $4.2 million and for this season is $5 million. His cap hit both last year and this is $4.6 million, the average of the two years.)

According to the fine folks at nhlnumbers.com (which is a must-have resource for any salary cap info), Washington has $4.270 million worth of cap space this season. That means, theoretically, they could take on players whose cap hit for this season totals approximately $21.35 million. Let me stress, theoretically.

Another point of importance is that after the trade deadline, teams are no longer affected by the 23-man roster limit. The salary cap is still in play, so Washington is more likely to carry under 23 than over. In the playoffs the salary cap disappears, meaning the Caps could call up a slew of prospects from Hershey if they wanted.

One last thing, when considering Washington's assets: the Caps hold eight picks in the upcoming 2010 NHL Entry Draft, their original pick in each of the seven rounds plus Phoenix's pick in the 5th round.

Where do the Caps players stand when it comes to the deadline?

No, I don't mean their personal opinions, but rather their value as trade bait, impact on the franchise, etc. A couple guys are untouchables, and I'll talk about them first, but most players will be in play in some manner or another.

The format is: Player name (age, average salary, years remaining/free agency status)

Untouchables
-Alexander Ovechkin (23, $9.5 million, 11 seasons) is a no-brainer. The Capitals captain is not going anywhere. He's too valuable to the Caps and, frankly, there isn't a trade package in the world that's worth his value. However, as captain (and franchise player) Ovechkin will likely have a say, or at least be able to express his opinion, over deal McPhee may make. Chemistry is crucial for this Washington squad, and dealing a pal of Ovechkin (specifically, Alexander Semin) may be too disruptive for the squad. Similarly, acquiring Sergei Fedorov, one of Ovechkin's idols as a kid, two years ago helped spur Ovechkin to improve his game.
-Mike Knuble (37, $2.8m, 1 year) was signed to a relatively cheap two-year deal last offseason to be a first-line power forward, and has exceeded expectations. Again, it would be tough to find a player to do Knuble's job better than Knuble, who has also been a great veteran presence.
-Nicklas Backstrom (21, $2.4m, Restricted Free Agent) is due a huge contract after this season but one that McPhee and owner Ted Leonsis will gladly pony up for. One of the best passers in the game already and becoming a premier scorer.
-Mike Green (23, $5.25m, 3 years) is a favorite of Caps coach Bruce Boudreau, is the best offensive defenseman in the game, and is one of the catalysts of Washington's power play. Again, not going anywhere.

Guys that probably won't get moved
-Semin (25, $4.6m, 1 year) is, along with three of the four guys mentioned above, one of Washington's Young Guns, has 30 goals already this season and is Ovechkin's best friend on the team. However, at age 25 he will probably hit (if he hasn't already) his statistical peak under his current contract but will be expecting a raise after next year. Nonetheless he's a valuable commodity for teams looking for some scoring punch, so McPhee won't turn away a particularly sweet deal.
-Brooks Laich (26, $2.067m, 1 year) is a fan favorite, and more importantly is versatile, able to play both wings, center, and even pinch in at defense in emergency situations. That plus his relatively low salary for a guy who already has 20 goals makes it unlikely this glue guy will move.
-Jeff Schultz (23, $715k, RFA) is a top four defender getting paid a seventh defenseman salary. McPhee is high on Schultz's value and that combination of effective play and miniscule salary will keep Schultz on the roster. Since he's an RFA the Caps can retain him next season at less than 800k.
-Semyon Varlamov (21, $821k, 1 year) is, along with Michal Neuvirth, a standout goaltending recruit. One of the two goalies will be the Caps netminder of the future, with Varlamov getting a slight edge because of playoff experience. The Capitals expect both Varlamov and Neuvirth to be NHL-quality netminders and to get lots of attention from other teams.

The rest
Rather than try to sort by probability of trades, I'm playing it safe and grouping the rest of the team together.
-Brendan Morrison (33, $1.5m, Unrestricted Free Agent) is a bargain, and even though he's slumped since his torrid start, is willing to accept a depth role on the 3rd or 4th line. He would be a cheap pick up for a team looking for a 3rd line center.
-Tomas Fleischmann (25, $725k, RFA) is possibly the best value in the NHL, in terms of goals scored per dollar. He displayed some versatility playing at center, has gotten time on special teams, and most importantly, is a personal favorite of Boudreau, who perhaps overvalues the Czech player. Teams will certainly ask though, and the pot may be too sweet to reject.
-Jason Chimera (30, $1.875m, 2 years) seems unlikely to be moved, since the Caps just acquired him, but his recurring groin injury may be cause for the team to pick someone else up to fill his 'sandpaper' role.
-Matt Bradley (31, $1m, 1 year) is having a stellar year by Matt Bradley standards, with 8 goals and 5 fights so far. He's a fourth-liner energy guy, a 'glue guy in the locker room, and probably more valuable to the Caps than another team would be willing to pay.
-Eric Fehr (23, $772k, RFA) is the anti-Fleischmann, in that the team undervalues him because he's in Boudreau's doghouse for some reason. Per-minute Fehr is a great player and it wouldn't be surprised if he were traded, since McPhee could get a good return for a guy that doesn't see much ice for Washington.
-Boyd Gordon (25, $761k, RFA) is a penalty kill and faceoff specialist, a consummate fourth-liner who never complains. McPhee loves mediocre players with minimum salaries (plus Gordon is a player in the McPhee mode) so he'll likely remain.
-David Steckel (27, $725k, 3 years) is another grinder, but who was expected to have a better scoring season than he has. That salary info is misleading because his cap hit for the next three seasons will be $1.1m, but still a great deal. Also a Boudreau favorite from his Hershey days, which increases his value to the franchise.
-Quintin Laing (30, $500k, UFA) is unlikely to be moved, simply because he's not an NHL player or a prospect and other teams likely aren't be interested in him. He provides great energy for the Caps even though he doesn't touch the ice, but he's a guy you'd think McPhee would gladly move if Laing would get a chance to stick on an NHL roster.
-Tom Poti (32, $3.5m, 1 year) has transitioned from puck-moving to shutdown defenseman as a member of the Caps, and in either position he is a good deal. Could get a lot of attention from teams looking to improve their defense, but since the Caps will likely try to do the same it's unlikely they'll move one of their cornerstones.
-Brian Pothier (32, $2.5m, UFA), on the other hand, is far more likely to move. He's still a puck-moving defenseman when the Caps already have one on the team (Green) and another in the system (John Carlson), and he'll be an unrestricted free agent after this season, which makes him an ideal single-season pickup for a team looking to make a stretch run.
-Shaone Morrisonn (26, $1.975, UFA) has the same contract status and a similarly low salary as Pothier, and has struggled at times. Considering Washington's depth at defense, it's unlikely both Pothier and Morrisonn would be moved.
-John Erskine (29, $1.25m, 1 year) is a sixth or seventh defenseman on an NHL team and excels when given that limited role. He is also, along with Bradley, Washington's de facto enforcer. Could be moved in an attempt to shed salary if Washington is up against the salary cap, as he could be replaced by a player from Hershey with half the salary, but I can't foresee him being moved because of value to another squad.
-Tyler Sloan (28, $640k, 2 years) is obviously coveted by other NHL teams, because otherwise the Caps would send him through the waiver wire to Hershey. He's proven he can be an adequate bottom-two defenseman and fourth-line forward, which is good versatility for the Caps. Perhaps McPhee could get a late pick for Sloan.
-Jose Theodore (32, $4.5m, UFA) is an extremely valuable commodity. He's a starting NHL goalie with winning experience, is reasonably paid (15th-highest paid goalie in a 30 team league), and his contract comes off the books after this season. Washington will be making a run for the Cup this season and could be looking to upgrade over Theodore, but that doesn't mean Theo couldn't still bring back a nice package from a team looking for an experienced backup or trying to play the string out. Theodore won't get traded unless McPhee acquires another goalie at some point. However, as the general manager proved in 2008, he could very well hang on to Theodore and pick up another goalie,

In the System
-John Carlson (19, $846k, 2 years) made waves last season when he jumped straight from his junior team to the top defensive pair on the Hershey Bears AHL championship squad, and has played well in 7 games with the Caps this winter. He's being called a sure thing, and is as blue chip as a prospect can get. Carlson will be the first player every team asks for in a trade, but it would require a Kovalchuk-type player (who's not a rental) to pry him away.
-Karl Alzner (20, $875k, 1 year) was previously considered the future leader of Washington's defense, but this former 5th overall pick's stock has fallen slightly after a mediocre 21-game stint with the Caps earlier in the season. Still, Alzner can't even drink legally yet, so it's far too early to write him off. He's very appetizing trade bait, and perhaps slightly more expendable now that Carlson is in the system.
-Marcus Johansson (19, Farjestads BK Karlstad, Swedish Elite League) is Washington's most recent first round pick, and is a highly-regarded, having been compared favorably with basically every good Swedish center to play in the NHL. He's a leader even at 19 and, like Carlson, it would take an impressive deal to part Johansson from the Caps.
-Michal Neuvirth (21, $850k, RFA) has demonstrated himself, at 21, to be an above-averageNHL netminder and is currently the starter in Hershey because of the logjam at goalie for the Caps. More durable than Varlamov but less of a game-stealer, Neuvirth's name will come up in many trade talks.
-Keith Aucoin (30, $486k, UFA) and Alexandre Giroux (28, $500k, UFA) may draw interest from a team looking to shore up a farm system or who has some spare spots on the big league club. Both have shown they are AHL all-stars, the Bruce Boudreau type, but unable to translate that ability to the NHL for whatever reason.
-Mathieu Perreault (21, $667k, 1 year) has been a surprise for the Bears and looked decent in a stint with the Caps. The former 6th round pick had trouble adjusting to the the level of play in the NHL as his 18 game stint wore on, and as Perreault is undersized he's most likely undervalued by other teams, who would not give up what McPhee thinks Perreault is worth in a trade.
-Braden Holtby (19, $597k, 1 year) is currently 4th on the Caps' goaltending depth chart, but is a guy who'd be starting for almost every other NHL team's AHL franchise. Neuvirth and Varlamov are more likely to be traded, and Holtby is the asset who makes one of those two goalies expendable.

2010-02-28T21:04:00.004-05:00

USA-Canada for the gold, result notwithstanding, was by far the greatest hockey game I've ever seen at the tender age of 26.

Obviously when Team USA was one overtime shot away from a gold medal a better result was possible, but even still it was unquestionably a far better outcome than what was predicted before these Olympic Games.

Beyond the great effort by the Americans, if there's one thing we can take from the aftermath it's that Brian Burke's team-building design works. Obviously if you're Canada you can put thirteen top 6 forwards and seven top 4 defenseman on the roster, but building the All-Star team paradigm is no longer the dominant one. Get six top 6 forwards and fill out the rest of your roster with grunts who can do an NHL-quality job grinding and shutting down the opponent- that was Burke's philosophy and it worked perfectly.

Another conclusion, just as important going forward, is that the USA has already positioned itself as a team to watch in 2014, and not just on the strength of their 2010 silver medal but also in terms of roster construction.

Of the 23 players on Team USA, all but five were under the age of 30 at the start of the Olympics. Compare that to Canada and Sweden, both of which had nine players in their 30s, or Russia with eight over 30, including Sergei Fedorov at 40 years old (and what about the poor Slovaks, with over half their roster - 12 players - aged 30 or older).

Now, coming into the Games we could have made the statement that the older players were the role players. Tim Thomas (35) was the backup goalie and everyone knew Ryan Miller (29) would get all the starts unless something drastic happened. The other four players - Ryan Malone (30), Jamie Langenbrunner (34), Chris Drury (33) and Brian Rafalski (36) - were thought to primarily be depth players as well.

As it turned out the 30+ squad scored almost as many goals (10 goals) than the remainder of the roster (14 goals). Experience does count for something after all.

The important takeaway is that of those veterans who exceeded expectations, two of them - Drury and Rafalski - were repeat Olympians. Drury was a surprise pick for the team, beating out younger guys like T.J. Oshie and Kyle Okposo, and finished with two goals, one game-winning, on eight shots and a +3 +/- rating in under 12 minutes of ice time per game.

Rafalski was thought to provide a measure of veteran leadership to a defense corp that was light on international experience and ended up scoring four goals, adding four assists, earning a +7 rating in over 20 minutes of ice time, and was named to the tournament All-Star team and named the Best Defenseman.

Long story short, whereas in 2010 Team USA had a few wily veterans to lead the way, in 2014 they'll have a team full of guys who know the stakes because they've been there before and are still young enough to be a dominant physical force as well as skilled scorers.

Zach Parise, who was also named to the tournament All-Star team and finished with 4 goals and 4 assists and sent the gold medal game into overtime, will be 29 in 2014. Miller will be 33 and still in his prime. Forwards Bobby Ryan, Phil Kessel, Patrick Kane, and defensemen Erik Johnson and Jack Johnson will only be in their mid-20s for the Sochi games.

And consider the players in the pipeline. Oshie and Okposo, who barely missed this year's team, will be 27 and 25 in four years time. Zach Bogosian, another guy who was in contention for the 2010 squad, will be 23. And how about the players born in 1990: James Van Riemsdyk of the Flyers and defensemen Cam Fowler and John "Canadian Killer" Carlson from the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship squad (which, in its own right, demonstrated the bright future of American international hockey).

And for all Burke said about picking round pegs for round holes, so to speak, he and coach Ron Wilson took a trio of players who are talented scorers but also huge bodies, and convincing them to play the role of checking line with elan.

Bobby Ryan of the Anaheim Ducks is tied for 9th in the NHL, and leads his team with 28 goals this season, while David Backes has 13 so far this campaign after netting 31 last season and Malone has scored at least 20 goals in five of his six NHL seasons, with 21 so far in 2009-10. As skilled as they may be as offensive threats, however, the thing Burke immediately noticed was that Ryan clocks in at 6'2" and 208 pounds while Backes is even bigger at 6'3" and 225 and Malone bigger still at 6'4" and 220 (all measurements according to NHL.com).

With Zach Parise, Phil Kessel, Patrick Kane, Peter Stastny, and Joe Pavelski all locks for the team as scoring wings (and all but Stastny generously listed at 5'10" or 5'11" and in the ballpark of 180 pounds), there wouldn't be room for both Ryan and Backes on USA's scoring lines.

Malone, who has always been a power forward-type player, knew he was going to be on a checking line, but he, Ryan and Backes were a revelation, providing an immediate infusion of energy and forechecking pressure for the Americans while also capable of scoring at a moment's notice, which they did, finishing with a combined five goals, five assists, and +7 in USA's six games.

Attempting to play down expectations for Team USA coming into the Olympics, Burke was quick to point out that the program was in a transitionary period, as long-time stalwarts like Keith Tkachuk, Mike Modano, and Jeremy Roenick had retired or simply weren't invited to preliminary training camp let alone be in consideration for the team.

Instead, the youngsters of the 1980s led the way for USA, and it paid off. The pipeline hasn't dried out yet, either. Some more guys to keep your eyes out for, especially at the next four IIHF World Championships, starting with the one this May in Germany (in no particular order):

Forwards
-Patrick O'Sullivan (25, Edmonton Oilers, 2003-05 IIHF World Junior Championships, 2006 and 2008 World Championships)
-Colin Wilson (20, Nashville Predators, 2009 World Championships [as a college player])
-Brandon Dubinsky (23, New York Rangers, 2008 WC)
-Peter Mueller (21, Phoenix Coyotes, 2008 WC)
-Dan Sexton (22, Anaheim Ducks)
-Blake Wheeler (22, Boston Bruins)
-Paul Gaustad (28, Buffalo Sabres)
-Eric Nystrom (27, Calgary Flames, 2002-03 WJC)
-David Booth (25, Florida Panthers, 2008 WC)
-Max Pacioretty (21, 2007-08 WJC)
-Nick Foligno (22, Ottawa Senators, 2009 WC
-Dave Steckel* (27, Washington Capitals)
*No, seriously! Gaustad almost made the roster as a faceoff/PK specialist as well as a big body (6'5", 229 lbs.), and Steckel is leading him in faceoff % this season (2nd in the NHL, to Gaustad's 5th) and is just as big at 6'5", 217 lbs.

Defensemen
-James Wisniewski (26, Anaheim Ducks, 2003-04 WJC, 2008 WC)
-Ron Hainsey (28, Atlanta Thrashers, 2000-01 WJC, 2009 WC)
-Matt Niskanen (23, Dallas Stars, 2009 WC
-Tom Gilbert (27, Edmonton Oilers, 2008 WC)
-Andy Greene (27, New Jersey Devils)
-Matt Gilroy (25, New York Rangers)
-Keith Yandle (23, Phoenix Coyotes,)
-Alex Goligoski (24, Pittsburgh Penguins)

Goalies
-Jimmy Howard (25, Detroit Red Wings)
-Mike Lee (22, St. Cloud State University, 2010 WJC)
-Cory Schneider (23, Vancouver Canucks)

Gopnik 1, Milbury 0

2010-02-25T21:04:00.003-05:00

I think this will (hopefully) be my last mention of Mike Milbury, absent some sort of violent crime or on-air freak out.

New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik (and brother to Washington Post art critic Blake Gopnik) wrote a lengthy dispatch from the Olympics that touched on Canadians and the importance of the Canada-Russia hockey game before directing this barb at Milbury over the commentator's "Eurotrash" comment:

There was no excuse, though, for NBC’s Mike Milbury to say that the Russians had come with their “Eurotrash game.” If Mike Milbury thinks that failure to win big games is the result of a poor effort, how does he explain his own career, first as a perpetual also-ran with the Boston Bruins and then, with the Islanders, as one of the most disastrous G.M.s in sports history?

Nothing new, but expertly stated. Come for the swing at Milbury, stay for a great piece of writing.

Not cool, comrade

2010-02-25T18:25:00.002-05:00

From Youtube, via Deadspin:

The location is unclear from the article, but it's either in or near the Russia House in Vancouver. The videographer, reportedly a female fan, is taking video of Ovechkin walking past and talking on his cell phone when the player changes direction and puts his hand over the camera (and apparently pushing it down) before walking past.

Whether this took place last night or today, no matter the situation in the corridor, that behavior is inappropriate for Ovechkin.

If the fan is taking video in a place they aren't supposed to be, let security take care of it. If, as is more likely the case, they were doing something on the up-and-up that you simply didn't like...suck it up and deal.

The whole exchange requires no further analysis, except to suggest that Ovechkin would do well to reach out to the fan and apologize.

IIHF Says Slew Foots are A-OK?

2010-02-24T23:57:00.010-05:00

Disappointing as it may have been for hockey fans hoping for a competitive match, Wednesday night's Olympic quarterfinals game between Canada and Russia certainly provided exciting theater.

After the game Alexander Ovechkin has gotten (deserved) flack for shunning English-speaking media. A bad move by Ovechkin, but also one that has taken the attention away from an on-ice incident that apparently will pass with no ramifications.

My issue is with an incident between Alexander Semin and Dan Boyle with just under 3 minutes remaining in the game, the score 7-3, and a delayed penalty on Semin for a high stick.

Boyle was carrying the puck behind Canada's goal line and had just cleared it around the back of the net and up the boards* when Semin skated from the bottom of the circle and delivered a hefty shoulder check that sent Boyle flying into the boards.

Boyle took clear exception at the hit. As both players skated out of the zone, with the puck having long since entered the neutral zone, Boyle skates up behind an unsuspecting Semin from the forward's left side. Semin sees Boyle out of the corner of his eye as the Canadian slides his right leg behind Semin's legs, puts his right elbow into Semin's chest and throws the Russian player backward.

[Kinda like this]

After the game, NBC's Joe Micheletti asked Boyle about the play, and here's what the defenseman had to say, with a smile on his face:

"I guess he hit me, it was probably a good hit. I just lost my head a little bit, it's a part of hockey I guess."

It was a textbook slew foot. Seriously, textbook. It was also extremely dangerous. A player who gets slew-footed has no idea the trip is coming and can't brace himself, and often has little chance to break his fall.

To my eyes Semin's hit was hard but clean, getting Boyle on the shoulder (contrary to Eddie Olczyk on-air, who called it a high dirty hit). Regardless, it was not penalized. Boyle received a minor penalty for Interference. After the game, according to Sean Leahy of Puck Daddy, an IIHF spokesman said:

The IIHF usually doesn’t review minor penalties. It’s not likely they will do it now either.

Let's be blunt: That is the wrong call.

Make no mistake, Boyle's play was a dangerous play (and also more correctly a trip, rather than interference). He didn't like Semin's hit, rightly or wrongly, and got retribution behind the play. This wasn't a case of a crosscheck or poke with the stick, though. A slewfoot is an extremely dangerous play.

Whether or not Boyle though 'I'm going to injure Semin' is irrelevant.My first thought after seeing the play was a very bad incident for the NHL, Marty McSorley's attack on Donald Brashear. There's one key difference, which is that McSorley came at Brashear with a stick whereas Boyle used his body to trip up Semin. However, there are a few similarities too.

In both incidents the fouling player approaches the fouled player from behind. In both the fouled player is watching the play, which is up ice, and and the fouling player takes advantage of that. In both incidents an essential part of the action is the fouled player's complete inability to protect himself.

Really, what's the major difference between the two? The damage done to Brashear was not a result of the contact from McSorley's stick. The damage was from Brashear's head snapping back and hitting the ice well after his body landed. The only thing keeping Semin from suffering a similar injury was a tighter chinstrap.

IIHF reserves the right, per section 510 - Supplementary Discipline of their rulebook, to review any play:

In addition to the suspension imposed under these rules, the Proper Authorities may, at any time after the conclusion of the game, investigate any incident and may assess additional suspensions for any offence committed on or off the ice at any time before during and after the game, whether or not such offences have been penalized by the Referee. (emphasis mine)

When the rule specifically states that plays may be review even when a penalty is not called, let alone a minor penalty, it would be extremely shortsighted to state that because a minor penalty was awarded on the play no additional consideration is required.

(This ties into a whole other debate on the NHL and IIHF's preference to consider injury suffered as a primary factor of supplementary discipline. Just because a player doesn't get hurt on a dangerous play doesn't keep it from being a dangerous, suspendable play.)

To quote that refereeing guide I linked above:

Slew footing is a dangerous move and a cowardly move on top of that. It has put players out of commission for days, weeks, and even months with concussions, bruised tailbones and broken elbows and wrists from the player trying to brace himself as he falls. There is no room for this type of move in the game of hockey

Or, as Don Cherry might say, it's not 'The Canadian Way.'

Wait! Don Cherry did say something exactly to that effect (between 4:20 and 5:15 marks) last Valentine's Day after Tomas Plekanec was given a two-game suspension for slew footing Dennis Grebeshkov:

In the old days there's two things we never did. We used to use the stick a lot, we used to fight a lot [but] if you kicked somebody, I remember I was in Springfield, one of our players kicked a guy, we would never speak to him, they finally had to get rid of him. And you never slew foot!...You cannot slew foot! That's how...if you wanna get a guy killed, that's the way to do it. (emphasis mine)

Seriously! The emotion behind the play is defensible, the actual action itself is indefensible.

Even still, I'm not faulting the referees on the ice, though the trailing ref probably should have had his eye on the two players after Semin's hit, since the incident was away from the play and happened in the blink of the eye as Boyle engaged Semin from behind. Nonetheless, for the IIHF to say that because a minor was awarded on the play it requires no further attention, let alone discipline, is irresponsible and frankly embarrassing.

Also embarrassing, while we're on the subject, is the way the play was handled in the post-game by Jeremy Roenick and Mike Milbury on NBC. Here's what Mike Milbury had to say, from that clip I linked above:

I don't blame Dan Boyle for going right after Semin on this one. Look at Semin trying to get out of the way. I know this is a legal hit, with just under 3 minutes to go, with a 4 goal lead, that's not what you do, that's not cool, that's not how you behave, JR [Jeremy Roenick]. Unless it's a personal grudge, or a history, I don't blame Boyle for getting right in his face. (emphasis mine)

Really, Mike? Russia knew they were going to lose and therefore they should stop playing hard...the very thing you eviscerated them over in your next statement? Of course, that next statement ("Eurotrash") was the one that really got Milbury in trouble, but other, more talented writers have discussed the way in which Milbury amazingly continues to earn airtime despite bringing absolutely nothing to the table (except, perhaps, advice on how not to serve as a GM).

Roenick wasn't much better, chiding Semin for somehow not knowing that Dan Boyle, he of 438 career PIM and five career fights in 656 career games, would extract extracurricular revenge? I didn't think to transcribe Roenick's statement until after the Sweden-Slovakia game, by which point he removed the cackle from his analysis [no, really, he was cackling] and tempered his words by admitting Boyle may have cheapshotted Semin:

You just don't do that to Danny Boyle, Danny Boyle is going to make sure he gets the last laugh. A little cheap shot but I'm sure Alex Semin will remember that the next time he sees Boyle.

And when would that be, Mr. Roenick? If both their NHL teams are lucky, June, or otherwise once, maybe twice in 2010-2011. Cherry, as bombastic as he always is, was right last year when he stated loudly (in his own endearing way) that there's no place in the game for that sort of attack. For Milbury and Roenick to chuckle about it, and in no uncertain terms endorse it on national television, is a) way over the line, and b) completely expected from those two by this point in time.

Let's be honest, between Boyle on Semin and some of the other incidents during the game (stay classy, Ryan Getzlaf), there's certainly plenty of room for everyone involved with the ice hockey competition to welcome a little more of that Olympic Spirit into their hearts.

*Originally I said it was debatable whether or not Boyle still had the puck. Another replay showed it had clearly left his stick, but Semin hit Boyle well within the time frame allowed for finishing a check.

Hockey Lexicon 3 - Princess Day

2010-01-07T13:12:00.006-05:00

Hey folks. It's been a busy holiday season, what with the end of the semester and then a lengthy education/vacation/what-have-you to Israel (fun fact: my local rink, The Gardens Ice House at Laurel, has more registered players (1300+) and ice sheets (3) than the entire nation of Israel (500 players, 1 sheet)).

In a day or two a real article will be posted, but to get 2010 started off right we've got another entry into the hockey lexicon.

This one comes courtesy of Pascal Leclaire and the rest of the Ottawa Senators via Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun and I actually read it first in The Peerless Prognosticator's preview for tonight's Capitals-Ottawa game.

The word is Princess Day, and it's something the Caps are actually fairly familiar with. When Alexander Semin or Mike Green take a day off from practice because of bumps and bruises and call it a 'maintenance day,' well the Sens call that taking a Princess Day.

To be fair players on the Senators, and every other team, take them as well, but their term makes it clear how some players view the practice.

Reason 2,612 the Media loves Bruce Boudreau

2009-12-03T21:54:00.002-05:00

It's bad times at the Washington Times right now. Yesterday the paper announced it plans to cut about 40% of its staff, and the Sports section could very well disappear.

Corey Masisak is the Times' beat reporter for the Caps, and one of the longer-serving and better reporters to cover the team on a daily basis (and a Maryland grad, to boot). His Twitter feed (@cmasisak22) is a must-have for in-game commentary and other Caps-related information.

If things play out as expected at the Times, Corey may very well be out of a job in the next few days/weeks. Tonight, however, he was at the game, the first Caps home game since news of the impending cuts was broken.

After his press conference, as everyone was filing out, Bruce Boudreau called out to Corey to ask him to step outside for a moment. I can't say what the conversation was about, as it was meant to be private and the other reporters kept it that way, but as the door closed I did hear Bruce say "I just heard..." with a very concerned voice.

I don't know what the relationships between coaches and reporters are at other NHL teams, or really at other local professional sports franchises, but I find it amazing and heartening to know that Boudreau is plugged into local news, knows what's going on and how it's going to affect the reporters he deals with on a daily basis, and cares about it.

If Corey does get laid off, he won't be out of work for long; some intelligent news organization, be it in this area or elsewhere, will pick him up. Nonetheless, the fact that Boudreau took the time to speak with Corey personally and show his support (again, I presume) speaks volumes about his character and the positive relationship between the Caps organization and the media, of all types.

Fun facts for Capitals-Sabres on Nov. 25th

2009-11-25T18:21:00.003-05:00

Flipping through the games notes for tonight's Capitals v. Sabres matchup, a couple stats stuck out to me.

First, Washington is 7-0-3 when Alexander Ovechkin scores. That they have 17 of 20 possible points when he scores is notable in and of itself, but so too is the fact that he has 16 goals in 10 games...that's more multi-goal games (6) than one-goal games (4).

Second, you may have known that the Caps have held the lead in all 24 games so far this season, but more specifically they've had the lead in the second period or later every game. Makes those 11 games they lost in regulation or overtime stand out a lot more. Even moreso is the fact that the Caps are 4-0-2 when allowing the first goal, which means they're only 9-5-4 when scoring first. Speaks a lot to Washington's resiliency when behind, but also the way they tend to let up when they have the lead.

Third, Buffalo and Washington are two of three NHL teams who have yet to score a short-handed goal this season, the other being Edmonton.

Being in first place in the Southeast and tied for first in points in the Eastern Conference is fantastic, don't get me wrong, but that's a ton of lost opportunities for points.

Gabby: Confessions of a Hockey Lifer

2009-11-25T12:53:00.002-05:00

One of the pleasant results of the recent economic downturn has been a greater appreciation of free public amenities in the community. When Bruce Boudreau and Tim Leone's long-awaited Gabby: Confessions of a Hockey Lifer was finally released a few weeks ago, rather than immediately purchase it I put in a request with my local library for their copy.

Last week it was finally my turn, and I excitedly picked up my copy and devoured it in the better part of two days. I thoroughly enjoyed it...Bruce Boudreau has more than a few book's worth of stories to tell and Tim Leone did a great job organizing a compelling story while preserving Boudreau's voice.

Personally I found Gabby amusing, engaging, and a great insight into a man whom, granted, I have slightly more insight than your average fan.

(As an unrelated aside, I have Sportscenter on in the background as I type this and ESPN just showed a clip of Bill Belichick's press conference today. After spending two years covering Boudreau, and to a lesser extend ex-DCU bench boss Tom Soehn, I cannot imagine having to repeatedly sit in press conferences with such an absolute moribund personality as Belichick.)

However, I do have a complaint about the book that, depending on the audience, could be minor or major. Originally my intention was to let my girlfriend read Gabby after I finished with it.

She is a huge Caps fan, but knows practically nothing about the NHL outside of Washington, D.C. She knows most of the Caps, if there's a player on the ice she doesn't recognize she knows they're probably a Hershey call-up, and can match most NHL team names with the appropriate city. She doesn't follow the team outside of watching games on TV and possibly reading front-page articles at washingtonpost.com.

For readers plugged in to the hockey world, not just the present but the past as well, Gabby is a rewarding journey through the life of a true hockey personality. For casual hockey fans or readers new to hockey, Gabby amounts to short snippets of Boudreau's humor and philosophy amidst large swathes of meaningless name-dropping.

All the minor-league cities, all the players and coaches of the 70s, 80s, and early 90s...for me they conjure up a lively world of hockey glory. For my girlfriend...absolutely nothing. The same, I'm sure, for my dad, for whom I was considering buying Gabby as a gift.

This isn't to say it's a bad book. I figure I'm the target audience, and I really enjoyed it. And Gabby could very well be a great holiday gift for the hockey fan in your life. All I'm suggesting is to consider what type of fan the intended recipient may be, to make sure they're the type of person for whom Boudreau's great memories truly resonate.

Don't you...forget about me

2009-11-22T17:52:00.006-05:00

My apologies for the lack of content lately. As some of you may know, covering the Capitals is something I do in my spare time when I'm not pursing my doctoral studies in Art History at the University of Maryland.

The past few weeks I've been hard at work, but instead of focusing on this Alexander the Great and this Czech athlete...

...I've been reading up on this Alexander the Great...

...and these Czech athletes...

I've hit a lull right now so more Caps content is coming, specifically quarter-season
grades in the next couple days.

Ovechkin/Fleischmann image courtesy of espn.com.

Observations from Caps-Islanders

2009-11-11T20:17:00.003-05:00

[I'll update this post once the related video clip is online.]

A lot is made of Alexander Semin and his skill set. Gorgeous wrist shot, powerful slap shot, fantastic skater...when he tries.

Many of the same critiques are levied at Mike Green. Great shot, great vision, but the effort isn't always there.

One major difference between the two (other than position) that I've noticed lately, particularly in tonight's game against the Islanders, is how strong each player's fundamentals are. With apologies to Don Cherry, Green is by far the more unorthodox player while , despite all his dangling and fancy footwork, Semin is really fundamentally sound.

What prompted this was the observation that Semin always stands out on the ice, even away from the puck. He takes up more physical space than his lithe 6'2" frame would suggest, and the reason is simple: he always had two hands on his stick.

Semin succeeds in the most basic of fundamentals that youth hockey coaches spend untold hours impressing on their players- always keep both hands on your stick. That way you're always a split second away from catching a pass or taking a shot (especially after the follow-up lesson, 'always keep your stick on the ice).

On the other hand, Green's skating fundamentals are a little off. I won't critique him for the poor passes he made tonight, since Semin made some equally-poor decision, but sometimes it's surprising he stays upright while skating. On the play leading to Semin's second goal, Green carried the puck down the right wing and behind the net.

Notable about Green's skating was that he glided about 80 feet along the boards on just his outside foot. Sure, it looks pretty, but all it takes is a simple tap to knock you over in that situation. Green gave himself no opportunity to cut inside or otherwise make a move- he was stuck in that glide.

Food for thought, since Green gets positive attention for his smooth skating while Semin gets no credit for anything, basically, other than his shot.

New-look Capitals power play

2009-11-04T19:20:00.003-05:00

Watching the Capitals-Devils game and writing this as the Capitals are on their first power play of the game. With Alexander Ovechkin out the PP defense pairings are going to be Mike Green with Tom Poti and ~~Brian Pothier~~ (I have no idea who the second PP point is...were I a betting man, I'd say there isn't a second). Interesting that instead of setting up at his usual right defense spot, Green is lining up at the left point...Bruce Boudreau has not changed his power play scheme at all to reflect the change in personnel, but has simply inserted Green into Ovechkin's role as primary triggerman. Green will certainly make as much of his chances as Ovechkin did but it will be interesting to see whether Poti picks up Green's shooting tendency or looks down the right boards for Alexander Semin more.

Alex Ovechkin Post-game

2009-11-01T20:24:00.004-05:00

Sunday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets Alexander Ovechkin suffered an 'upper body injury,' probably to his left shoulder and/or arm, and left the game in the second period.

Ovechkin came out to speak with media after the game, and was brief in his comments. From his words and demeanor it didn't seem as though he was too concerned with the injury, although that could certainly be illusory. Here's a transcript of his comments. MH is Michael Hoffman of Examiner.com, TED is Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post. I didn't catch the identity of the TV guy.

Edit 8:56 pm: Video is on Capitals Outsider (Thanks to Philip Van der Vossen for taking/posting the clip!).

TEB: What happened there along the boards? It seemed to me that Chimera was angry from the hit in the first period and he kind of bumped you.
AO: Yeah, it was just a moment in the game, so nothing happened, he hit me and I hit him. It was a battle there, but nothing happened.
TEB: Did someone grab you? How did you get hurt?
I can’t tell you how I get hurt. But it’s day-to-day, but you know just in case I can go back on the ice.
TEB: So you don’t think it’s very serious?
I don’t know.
TV: What is it?
[laughing] You think I’m going to tell you?
Can you tell us kind of where it is?
No. Can’t.
Left, right, top, bottom?
Upper body.
MH: Before you left, what did you tell the team?
I just said to a couple guys ‘good luck'...[Edit 8:56 pm: According to Michael, Ovechkin said he was with Greg Smith (the trainer) and then came to the locker room]...you know it’s a tough game…
TEB: Are you made at all with the way Chimera bumped you and then Boll came over…?
No, it’s just a game. It’s just a game. Hits happen, if it wasn’t hurt, if it wasn’t injured, like I’m just playing then no one would think about it, but it is what it is.
TEB: So no practice tomorrow, but will you try to skate on your own?
They’re off, so no skating.

Some Praise for Rick Nash

2009-11-01T16:48:00.002-05:00

If Rick Nash played for Toronto, Montreal, Boston, or at least a dozen other NHL franchises, we would be talking about him in the same breath as Alexander Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, and the other young superstars that have reinvigorated the post-lockout NHL.

Instead, Nash is a gem of a player who thrills those who see him but is largely unknown to the casual fan. He’s not a nobody, by any stretch of the imagination, but he certainly does not get the respect and acknowledgement of a player of his caliber. That makes him all the more thrilling for those who do know about him.

Nash has a couple of strikes against him. First, obviously, he plays in Columbus, which is a newer franchise, in the Western Conference, playing in a division that has been dominated by the Detroit Red Wings for a decade. He played two seasons in the NHL before the lockout, thereby completely stripping him of that new player smell from those who joined the league in the 2005-06 season or afterwards.

Furthermore, Nash has been a one man show for much of his career in Columbus. Not until Steve Mason asserted himself as a rookie last season has Columbus had another player really worth paying attention to, talent-wise. Since his rookie season Nash had led the Blue Jackets in goals five of six seasons and points in three of six seasons, and has worn the captain’s C since 2008. He’s been their only All-Star representative since the 2003 game and was one of three players from the roster to take part in the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Few players have scored at the consistency of Nash in the past four seasons. He has 202 goals in 453 games (coming into today’s game). Twice he’s been in the top 5 in goal-scoring, sharing the Rocket Richard trophy in 2003-04.

Unlike Ovechkin, however, scoring stats aren’t the only place Nash excels. A much more apt comparison to Nash isn’t Ovechkin, but fellow Russian Pavel Datsyuk. There’s a reason Nash averages over two minutes a game on the penalty kill, and it’s not because Columbus Coach Ken Hitchcock likes having a scoring threat on the PK (though Nash has 11 shorties since 2007-08 including 2! on 3-on-5 situations.

No, Nash kills penalties because he’s a damned good penalty killer. He’s not just offensively gifted, he’s defensively responsible and hustles over all 200 feet of the ice (unlike some first line skaters in Washington). That is a learned skill for Nash…in his first three seasons he played 1:02, 3:36, and 7:18 over the course of each season, or just under 11 minutes total through 208 games before demonstrating that his special teams talent extended to both ends of the rink.

When he does score, though, man does Nash score pretty goals. He is very similar to Ovechkin in that both are what commentators love to call “big rigs.” Nash is listed at 6’4” and 218 pounds, and if you’ve ever seen his promos for the NHL Network you know he’s carrying at least 230 on that frame.

If you watch any of his highlight-reel goals (and what is it about Phoenix and giving up impressive goals? They're on that list three times), though, it’s clear Nash skates more like a Mike Green than a Matt Bradley. I’ve never seen a player of his size as quick on his feet and pull such nasty moves. His slap shot and wrist shot velocity isn’t up to Ovechkin’s level, but then again whose is? He’s more of an analog to Brett Hull, using a quick release and pinpoint accuracy rather than brute force to beat the goalie.

Team captain, leading scorer, primary weapon on the power play, solid penalty killer, floats like a butterfly and hits like a freight train…Nash might be the closest thing to the mythical ‘complete player’ in the NHL today. A lot of that is out of necessity: as his team’s best player he had to fill in every role.

That, of course, doesn’t detract at all from the talent and poise of Nash, who is still just 25 years old. He had the option, as an impending UFA after last season season, to jump to a bigger market (like Toronto) or better team (unlike Toronto) but chose to remain in Columbus, recognizing the talent finally accumulating there (he’s one of only six players to have spent more than two seasons in a Columbus uniform) and the fact that he has not yet reached his pinnacle as an NHL player.

So while as a Capitals fan and reporter covering the team, I’ll never tire of watching Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Backstrom and Green in action, this afternoon if given the choice my eyes will be on one 61 for Columbus, to see the magic he can work.

Nicklas Backstrom is a monster

2009-10-26T12:50:00.003-04:00

This month a popular topic of conversation among hockey types, as it is every October, was whether or not statistical leaders through the first few games of the season and reach otherwise-unattainable records or benchmarks.

With 5 goals in his first three games and then 9 through his first eight, Alexander Ovechkin was one of the primary focuses. Could he score 50 in 50? Could he be the first to break 70 goals since Alexander Mogilny and Teemu Selanne did it in 1992-93? Two goalless games has seen him cede the buzz to LA's Anze Kopitar, but it was (and perhaps still is) a valid question.

Also garnering critical attention in the early goings, though not as much as that of the goal-scorers, was Nicklas Backstrom. Backie-Star had an impressive 8 assists through the first three games of the year. Since then he only earned one assist in the succeeding seven games, though his nine helpers still has him tied for 8th in the NHL and his 11 points is tied for 22nd best.

Even with a seven-game slump, Backstrom is on track for 74 assists this season if he plays all 82 games, which he did in each of his previous two seasons.

In 2008-09 Backstrom finished with 66 assists, which tied him with Ryan Getzlaf for 3rd in the NHL behind Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin (78) and Sidney Crosby (70). At age 21, in only his third full NHL season, there's no reason to believe Backstrom couldn't improve on his numbers once again (his 66 assists and 88 points were a fair increase over his rookie season of 55 assists and 69 points).

What is a reasonable highwater expectation for Backstrom this year? 74 assists on the year works out to .903 assists/game, which is around the rate the NHL leader has kept the past two seasons: Malkin was working at a .951 pace last season and Joe Thornton had 67 assists in 82 games in 2007-08, or a .817 rate. It would require racking up assists at a high rate, but not an unreasonable one.

Number 19, despite owning a pretty nice shot (skip ahead to :35 on this video, for example) and putting 23 shots on net already this year, has always been more comfortable as a traditional pass-first centerman. He gets primo time on the first power play unit with Ovechkin (56 goals in 08-09), Brooks Laich (23), Alexander Semin (34) or Mike Knuble (27), and Mike Green (31). With the way Bruce Boudreau juggles lines, Backstrom could find himself taking a regular shift with any combination of two of the first four players, or Eric Fehr (12 goals in 61 games), Chris Clark (30 goals in 06-07, the last time he played more than 32 games in a season), or Tomas Fleischmann (19 goals in 73 games) once the Czech winger gets healthy.

60 assists in a year has been a pretty good benchmark since the lockout for a first-tier center in the NHL. Fourteen players have earned or surpassed 60 assists 29 times in the four seasons since the lockout. None of the players are flukes, although chances are good some of them won't get near the number again (looking at you, Daniel Alfredsson).

Even another 60+ assists season would puck Backstrom in impressive company. The other players with multiple post-lockout 60+ assist years are Joe Thornton (four), Marc Savard (four), Sidney Crosby (three), Henrik Sedin (three), Pavel Datsyuk (three), and Nicklas Lidstrom (two).

Earning 70 assists would put Backstrom in an even more prestigious club. The only players to equal or surpass that mark since the lockout have been Thornton (twice), Crosby (twice), Malkin, Savard, Sedin and Jason Spezza. Only Thornton and Crosby have topped 80, and Thornton is the only to best 90, putting up back-to-back, spite-filled 96- and 92-assist seasons in 05-06 and 06-07.

A healthy Joe Thornton, more than any specific number, has been the best benchmark of success in the past six seasons. Since 2002-03 Jumbo Joe has finished no worse than 8th in the league in assists, and has led the league in three of those years.

One of the few disappointing things about hockey, if you can even call it disappointing, is that so many of its all-time records are out of reach. Thornton's 96-assist season in 05-06 was the best by any player in over a decade. Wayne Gretzky had eleven straight 100+ assist seasons- the only other players to hit that mark are Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr, once each. Last season Malkin won the scoring race with 113 points; Gretzky had eight season in which his assist total would have won the 08-09 scoring race. His 163-assist season in 85-86 would have tied for or won outright the NHL scoring title in every season since 89-90. It is simply a different era.

Adjusted stats, which are certainly not recognized by the NHL but provide much better context for players' statistics, and still show that Gretzky's numbers were relatively way beyond how contemporary players are producing. He no longer owns 11 of the top 13 seasons of all time, but 11 of the top 40 still isn't shabby, considering the worst of those season (80-81) still adjusts to 84 assists (by comparison, Thornton's 96 assists in 05-06 adjust down to 92 and Backstrom's 66 assists last year adjust up to 67).

What conclusions can we draw about Nicklas Backstrom? First, with seasons of 55 and 66 assists under his belt he is already one of the NHL's elite set-up men, with similar production as Savard, Sedin, Datsyuk, and Malkin but without the lengthy track record since he's early in his third season.

Chances are no one will hit 100 assists in a season over the course of Backstrom's career. If anyone does, Backstrom probably has the best chance. Assuming he re-ups with the Capitals for a significant amount of time, he'll have Ovechkin on his wing and Green on his point. If the Caps are serious about a Stanley Cup run Backstrom will have to play a starring role.

90 assists is out of the question this year as well, as is 80 realistically. Mid-70s would give him one of the top 5 post-lockout assist totals. That aforementioned 74 assists certainly seems possible, especially given Backstrom's propensity for multi-assist games (30 in 174 career games, including three 4-assist nights). At age 21 Backstrom's best years are still ahead of him, and while a large part of his maturation will come in terms of defensive responsibilities, there's no reason to think that he's already capped out in terms of assists or points.

Hockey Lexicon 2 - Hat-Flipper, Pearly Gates

2009-10-18T14:02:00.003-04:00

Last night my hockey vocabulary expanded quite a bit again. First Mike Knuble introduced me to a new term, and then I picked another one up from the Detroit announcing crew, via NHL on the Fly on the NHL Network.

First up, Hat-flipper: a high clearing attempt or pass launched at a severe angle. Used by Mike Knuble to describe the pass from Brendan Morrison that set up Alexander Ovechkin's second goal.
Usage: Describing his assists, Knuble credited his second one of the night to "a hat-flipper by Brendan, you know, you just got to throw it to that side of the ice, just something good is gonna happen a lot of the time."

The second was pearly gates, used by play-by-play announcer Ken Daniels of FSN Detroit to describe the five-hole. Usage: "Right through the pearly gates!" on a shot that slipped between Chris Osgood's legs.

Statistics Lie to You

2009-10-12T18:04:00.002-04:00

At Verizon Center for tonight's game between the Caps and the Devils, while flipping through the Game Notes, I saw a couple numbers that reminded me not to put undue stock in the team's special teams performance through the first five games of the season.

At the moment, Washington is 6 for 24 on the power play, an even 25%. That would have been good enough for 3rd place overall in the NHL last year, right behind the Red Wings (25.5%) and the 08-09 Caps (25.2%). Through 1 1/2 weeks of the 09-10 season, it's only good for T-12th. Last season's 12th place team was Chicago, converting at 19.3%.

Conversely, the Caps have allowed 6 goals on 27 penalty kills, giving them a 77.8% success rate, tied for 13th in the NHL. That same percentage in 2008-09 would have placed them at 27th in the league, right behind Tampa Bay (78%) and just ahead of Edmonton (77.5%). [As an aside, Detroit was only 25th with a 78.3% kill rate] Again, on the flip side, the 13th best penalty kill last season was Columbus at 82.1%...a full 1.5 percentage points ahead of where the Caps finished, in 17th at 80.6%.

2009-10-11T17:12:00.002-04:00

Mildly interesting post by Brian Costello over at The Hockey News on the topic of Ovechkin's and Crosby's production.

He doesn't say a single new thing, but it's a point worth reiterating: Statistically-speaking, hockey players peak at the age of 24. There are certainly notable outliers as he points out, like Lemieux's 69-goal seasons at age 28 and 31 and some outstanding seasons by Gretzky and Brett Hull in their mid-20s, but as a general rule NHL players will realize their greatest statisical output at the age of 23 or 24.

That does not mean players don't get better as they age. While goal-scoring and point-production might go down, often players improve defensively as well as in those intangibles like 'leadership' and 'ice vision.

So enjoy Ovechkin's goal-scoring while it lasts, for at age 24 history suggests his highest-scoring years have either past or will pass in the next few seasons. He'll no doubt be a productive player, barring injury, for the entire length of his current monster contract, but the numbers may not get any higher.

Reflections on the TAking of Faceoffs, Redux

2009-10-04T21:43:00.002-04:00

A couple days ago I undertook a brief analysis of some faceoffs taken by Brooks Laich on the power play in Thursday night's game against the Boston Bruins.

The main question was simply- why did Laich take a pair of offensive zone faceoffs with the Capitals on the power play, when a) center Nicklas Backstrom was on the ice, b) Backstrom performed well in the dot in the pre-season, and c) Laich quite did not.

Previously I came to the conclusion that Laich's presence in the circle was based on perceived good matchups against Boston's two primary penalty-killing centers, Marc Savard and Patrice Bergeron. Laich and Backstrom are both left-handed, so there was no advantage putting having one or the other take a faceoff depending on which side of the ice.

I was curious to see what the 1st unit PP faceoff statistics looked like Saturday night at home against the Maple Leafs, and they did not disappoint. Washington's #1 unit was on the ice for four faceoffs, all in Toronto's end. Laich took all four of them.

So obviously there isn't a specific player-matchup reason for Laich taking these faceoffs. Against Toronto he took two each against Jamal Mayers and Matt Stajan, the former who shoots right and the latter left.

Also of note is the fact that Laich has been consistently weak in the dot. If you include the one short-handed draw he took last night he was 1-5, giving him a two-game result of 2-8. An overall 25% success rate, up to 33% if you look specifically at offensive-zone draws while on the power play, is just plain bad.

That returns us again to the original question from the first post: Why?

It's not a matchup thing, and it's also not a success-rate thing. It's also definitely not an accident. Alexander Semin lines up on the left wing instead of his usual right just so he has the immediate wrist shot if Laich wins the draw directly behind/the puck is loose after the drop.

Once possession is established, Washington likes to run a type of umbrella formation on the power play, with Ovechkin and Mike Green or Brian Pothier on the blue line, Semin and Backstrom on the half-boards, and Laich or Mike Knuble in front of the net. As my friend Craig Stone (formerly of Beltway Sports Beat and DC Sports Box) suggested, the Caps positioning on the faceoff corresponds with where they'll be on the ice.

It seems too simplistic to suggest that Laich takes the draws simply because he'll be in the center anyway. A lost faceoff (and Laich loses most of them) could very quickly and easily turn into a cleared puck and a Caps breakout. Of course the simplest way to answer this question would be to ask Laich directly, but he's a hard man to get a word in with after the game when he scores a goal, adds an assist and earns the hard hat. Next Caps game I cover, if this trend continues, I'll try to get an answer from the many himself.

Heard at the Rink - Caps v. Toronto October 3rd

2009-10-03T22:35:00.003-04:00

Couple quick quotes and thoughts from the post-game press availability:

-Brooks Laich, on playing with more poise this season:

"A big influence on myself was Sergei Fedorov. That guy never seemed to be in a hurry. If he was 15 minutes late for the plane, he would just show up and roll onto the plane. He was just very calm and poised and I watch him like a hawk day in and day out."

For a guy who left the Caps hanging for a few weeks before signing with the KHL, Fedorov still had a noticeable presence in the Verizon Center Saturday night. Beyond Laich's shoutout, which was completely unprompted, his series-winning goal from last season's series against the Rangers drew one of the louder cheers during a pre-game montage shown on the big screen immediately prior to the championship banner raising.

-Bruce Boudreau was asked if Laich would keep pace with Alexander Ovechkin for the NHL scoring lead (both are part of a pack sitting with 3 goals through 2 games). Boudreau is usually a joker, but he played it straight this time:
"No. He has no chance."

-Brendan Morrison is extremely happy to be a member of the Caps, and to say he's excited about the season is an understatement. I used part of this quote in my article, but bears repeating and expanding. When asked if it was tough to play with such a big lead (five goals after two periods), Morrison replied:

It is tough. When you’re up in the game 6-1 it is tough, but the great teams learn how to play consistently, and I think this team has the ability to do that, there’s no question, we haven’t shown it so far, from what I’ve heard it’s kind of been a bit of a problem in the past. I can tell you there’s going to be a lot of games this year where we’re going to get out, and we’re gonna get a lead, and we’re gonna have probably a substantial lead in some games, and it’s what we do from there, it’s something that we have to get on early. [Emphasis mine]

Reflections on the Taking of Faceoffs

2009-10-02T23:58:00.006-04:00

Thursday night was a huge night for Brooks Laich. The 26-year-old left wing/center had two power play goals and an even strength assist in a pretty dominating victory over the reigning regular season Eastern Conference champions Boston Bruins.

One of the overplayed storylines of the summer, in terms of the Caps, was the addition of power forward Mike Knuble to bring grit, net presence, or whatever you want to call it…a big body to sit in front of the net. George McPhee called the free agent signing a no-brainer, and the underlying narrative was that Knuble brought a necessary aspect to the Capitals roster that was heretofore missing.

The unsaid aspect of that story, of course, is that Washington’s other power forward-type players weren’t getting the job done. Chris Clark was hurt and Eric Fehr had a pair of bum shoulders, but wither Brooks Laich? For a fair amount of the season Laich split his time on the first two lines, though he found great success in the playoff on a checking line with David Steckel and Matt Bradley.

Statistically Laich had a pretty damn good season: 23 goals, 53 points (both career highs), and appeared in every single regular season and playoff game for the second straight year. His average time on ice (ATOI) increased significantly for the fourth straight year.

On the power play, Laich jumped from 10th amongst Caps forwards in power play time, with 1.22 minutes per 60, to 5th at 2.43 min/60, and his when he did get on the power play in 2008-09 it was frequently on the first unit. While his production was almost the same as Knuble’s (27 goals, 47 points), the perceived difference between the two was Knuble’s willingness to put his big frame in front of the net (Knuble is just an inch taller than Laich, but listed at 23 pounds heavier).

In any case, the point is that coming into Thursday’s season opener the expectation was that when Washington fielded a full lineup Knuble would be on the right wing on the first line with Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom while Laich would be on the left wing with Brendan Morrison and Mike Knuble, and the first power play unit would be Semin, Backstrom, and Knuble with Ovechkin and Mike Green on the points.

If you watched the game, you’d know that what we actually got was a first line of Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin and a second line of Laich-Morrison-Knuble, and a first power play unit of Laich-Backstrom-Semin with Ovechkin and Green (when I refer to the first unit in the remainder of the article, this five-man unit is what I mean).

If you were watching even closer, you would have noticed something else about the power play unit. While Laich was the man in front of the net, he also took all three single first unit faceoffs.

This struck me immediately as requiring further research, so I took a look at the faceoff report to see what was going on.* [Note 1: This image is courtesy of flickr user clydeorama. Note 2: It was obviously not taken at Thursday's game.]

Washington had 3:25 of power play time over the course of four power plays (they scored 15 and 16 seconds into two Boston penalties, and had a third power play cut short by a Green penalty). During that time, there were three faceoffs for which the Caps’ first unit was on the ice: at 13:22 of the first period, 17:00 of the first, and the opening faceoff of the third.

Not only did Laich take all three faceoffs, he was the primary centerman. That’s an important distinction, as this analysis doesn’t hold much weight if Backstrom had been kicked out of the dot at any point, necessitating Laich as the only other player with experience as center on the ice to take the faceoff.

Why was Laich, who is a natural center but plays primarily on the left wing, taking those faceoffs? During the offseason Laich’s name has been batted around as a possible second-line center with Sergei Fedorov’s departure, but after Morrison’s acquisition that possibility was basically squashed. Laich appeared in four preseason games, appearing as a wing during five-on-five play.

When you take a look at the faceoff reports from those four games, though, Laich actually took twelve faceoffs. Every single faceoff was in a special teams situation—four on the power play, eight on the penalty kill. That corresponds with the data from the Boston game, in which all three of his faceoffs taken were on the power play.

Laich and Backstrom only appeared in two preseason games together, September 23rd against Chicago and the 27th against the Rangers. They were both on the power play together, and if you look at the eight power play faceoffs for which they were on the ice, responsibility was split 50-50.

Here’s the funny thing: Brooks Laich was pretty terrible in the faceoff dot throughout the preseason. He was 4-of-12, a pretty rough 33% success rate (with an admittedly puny sample size). Out of the four power play faceoffs Laich took, all in the offensive zone with Backstrom on the ice, the Canadian was 1-of-4. His other eight faceoffs were on the penalty kill, which makes a lot more sense considering he was paired with Knuble, Clark, or other non-centers.

By comparison Backstrom was much better at the faceoff dot with a larger sample size, finishing 31-of-56, or 55%. On the power play he was 8-of-13, more specifically in the offensive zone he was 5-of-8, and even more specifically in the offensive zone with Laich on the ice he was a perfect 2-for-2.

Last year Laich was several percentage points better than Backstrom at the faceoff dot in the regular season, 51.1% to 48.7%, though Backstrom took over twice as many faceoffs in the same amount of games. Their faceoff stats on the power play were both good, with Laich winning 82-of-154 (53.2%) and Backstrom 101-of-201 (50.2%).

However you look at it Backstrom was statistically superior as a center throughout the preseason and the two were basically indistinguishable last year. The question at the heart of this inquiry is: Why? As in why the hell would Boudreau have Laich take every offensive zone faceoff against Boston when he was so much worse than Backstrom? The faceoff at center ice to start the third period isn’t all that key, but both offensive zone draws took place late in the first period with the game scoreless—crucial faceoffs for a team on the road.

There are a litany of reasons a different player than the center might take a draw, some valid in this situation and some not, as to why Laich was in the circle:

First, the normal center got kicked out of the dot. Obviously this wasn’t the case.

Second, the normal center would do a better job in front of the net screening in case of a shot right off the draw. Not in this instance either—Backstrom and Laich are basically the same size, and there’s no argument Laich has better technique of the two in the net.

Third, Laich was preferred because he could draw to a specific player. Laich and Backstrom are both left-handed in terms of their stick, which would have both drawing back to the same guy, Ovechkin.

Fourth, Laich was preferred because a win from the right faceoff circle would send the puck to Ovechkin in the center of the ice for an immediate shot. Again, Backstrom and Laich shoot from the same side.

Fifth, Laich has a better matchup against the opposing center. Here we have something. Looking back to last year, in four games against the Bruins Laich was a fantastic 19-for-31 (61.3%) against the Bruins in the faceoff circle, and he fared by far the best against Marc Savard (9-for-14 [including one night where he was 6-of-7] or 64.3%). By comparison he was 3-for-7 (42.9%) against Boston's other primary penalty-killing center, Patrice Bergeron. [Note: image courtesy of flickr user Dan4th.]

Save asking Boudreau directly (and him actually giving a straight answer), a matchup based on the expectation that Savard would be taking the faceoff is a reasonable expectation. When we consider Boston’s complete penalty killing unit, and the situation Thursday night, that reasoning doesn’t hold up. Savard and Bergeron play together as a penalty-killing pairing.

Furthermore, home teams get the last change, and the road team’s center has to be at the faceoff dot first. Therefore Boston knew who Washington would send to the dot, in this case Laich, before making the decision of whether Savard or Bergeron took the faceoff. It was a conscious decision to send Savard. He only took two drops against Laich, those two in Boston's defensive end. Bergeron took three of Boston's other short-handed faceoffs, with Steve Begin taking the one to open the third period.

Therefore, it's almost certain Boudreau had the information about Laich's success against Savard, and Bruins coach Claude Julien either ignored the same information or was not aware (not covering the Bruins, I don't know which is more likely). So Laich's presence in the faceoff circle was a calculated move based on past percentages.

Of course, in all of this we lose sight of the big picture that Laich’s actual performance in the dot was irrelevant to the ensuing play. After his first faceoff, and one win, the Caps controlled the play and Laich himself managed a shot 12 seconds later before Green eventually took a penalty later in the shift.

The two faceoffs Laich lost, one in offensive zone late in the first frame and one at center ice to kick off the third period? He scored within sixteen seconds on each, from what he called maybe “a combined two feet out from the goal line,” after some slick passing from his teammates freed him up to set up at the weakside post.

The real lesson, if there is one, to take from Laich’s offensive zone power play faceoffs is that whether Boudreau has a well thought out strategy or is going with his gut instinct, in one game actual success in the faceoff circle on the power play was unrelated to the ensuing play.

As the regular season continues and we see more of what the Caps' strategy is in certain situations, we'll have a clearer idea if this was a one-game lark or something we should expect to see more frequently.

*The faceoff sheets for the games discussed are as follows:
9.17: http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/FC010018.HTM
9.21: http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/FC010051.HTM
9.23: http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/FC010071.HTM
9.24: http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/FC010076.HTM
9.27: http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/FC010100.HTM
10.1: http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20092010/FC020001.HTM

Caps Media Luncheon - Brian Pothier

2009-09-29T19:45:00.006-04:00

This morning and afternoon was the Capitals annual season-opening media luncheon. The day kicked off with the team photo, in which it was revealed that Mike Knuble was given the assistant captain's A left vacated by Sergei Fedorov, followed by a practice and then the actual free food.

One of the cool things about the lunch period, and the real reason the press was there, was that the players came out, had lunch too, and chatted with the media. There were some group interviews with Bruce Boudreau, George McPhee, Ted Leonsis, and a couple of the players, but for the most part it was one-on-one talks between players and media.

Image: clydeorama(Flickr)

I had the chance toward the end of the session to grab defenseman Brian Pothier for a few questions. A bit of this interview is into an article I'm working on at the moment for DC Sports Box, but I thought I'd post the entire transcript here because there's some good stuff that wasn't relevant for my story.

Q: This year the team is carrying 8 defensemen to start the regular season. Have the coaches told you what the plan is regarding players moving in and out?

POTHIER: No, honestly I have no idea what the plans are. I’m not even sure who’s going to play in Boston. We’re all capable players, even if you look at the guys who have been sent down, we have three or four guys that are in Hershey that could step in and play, jump in as seamless as having one of us in there. We are deep in that position, we have a lot of guys we can insert. It’s going to be difficult decisions for the coaches, but overall we have the bodies to get it done.

You had a great preseason, statistically and otherwise (note: In four games Pothier's stat line was: 1 G (OT GWG), 3 A, +3, 4 PIM, 19:13 ATOI). Is that heartening going into the regular season?

Yeah. I mean every time I step on the ice I want to be successful, I want to play a good game and put in a good effort, it felt like…I played what, four games in the preseason, I felt like I got a little bit better each game, a little more consistent each game, and that’s the goal. Every time I go on the ice I want to be successful and I want to contribute, and I want to make good plays. It’s always nice to have good results like that in the preseason.

Are you looking forward to going back to Boston?

Yeah that’s my hometown, that’s where I grew up, I always have a lot a friends and family floating around there. Every time I go back there it’s a special treat for me, to see the old Bruins jerseys in warm-ups in always kind of surreal and weird, but it’s pretty cool.

Plus they’re the top dogs in the East, and you guys have a very tough schedule to start the season.

That’s a big litmus test for us, the first month. We have some big challenges, those first three games are against good teams, home openers, and you know there’s going to be a lot of emotion and exciting environments, and it will be a great test for us to start the season.

Caps Media Luncheon Release

2009-09-28T18:39:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow afternoon I'll be in the Verizon Center, along with my photographer/EIC Al Santos and fellow reporter Daniel Epstein, for the Caps Media Luncheon.

The award-winning Capitals media staff always goes above and beyond when dealing with the media, and in their five-page press release for the event they include 'storylines' for all 26 players (including those on LTIR) who will begin the regular season as part of the Capitals organization.

Some of them were interesting, some of them not (what can you really say about Alexander Ovechkin in three sentences that any media member or fan won't know?), but I immediately skipped to the bottom of the numerical-order list.

Yup, Michael Nylander was, in fact, at the bottom of that list. And here's what the Caps media staff had to say:

92-Michael Nylander
Michael Nylander doesn’t appear to have a spot in Washington’s opening night lineup, but he’s a skilled, veteran player who may prove valuable if needed. After two difficult seasons since returning to Washington as a free agent, you can expect him to be eager to make a positive impact.

Talk about turning lemons into lemonade. I'd be almost afraid to talk to Nylander...what do you say to a guy whose employer has said they publicly don't want him, but hasn't yet found a way to get rid of him?

Small Press Expo '09

2009-09-28T17:34:00.009-04:00

Saturday afternoon I begged off covering the Maryland-Rutgers football game (good choice!) primarily because of a lot of schoolwork, but Sara and I took a break for a few hours and ventured to Bethesda and the Small Press Expo.

For those of you who have never heard of SPX - and that's probably most people, since I'm fairly plugged in to that world and I didn't know about it until recently - I'll quote from their website: "In its fourteenth year SPX now serves as the preeminent showcase for the exhibition of independent comic books and the discovery of new creative talent. SPX will bring together over 400 artists and publishers to meet their readers, booksellers, distributors, and each other."

Coming in to the weekend I was most looking forward to meeting the artists of a few of my favorites webcomics: Diesel Sweeties, Scary Go Round (now Bad Machinery), Questionable Content, Goats, and Hark! A Vagrant.

It was fantastic to meet all of them, and I got some great sketches, but one of the highlights was meeting an artist I have heard of but did not know would be at SPX: Rob Ullman.

Ullman is a multi-talented artist who currently has a strip, Traffic & Weather, at Richmond Magazine and has appeared in lots of other places in print and online. I know him through what can be termed a fascination with him at Uni Watch Blog, a paean to all things related to sports uniforms. Paul Lukas, the blog's proprietor, absolutely loves another aspect of Ullman's oeuvre: his pin-up illustrations of women wearing (and only wearing) lovingly-rendered jerseys.

It's quite possible Ullman was the only exhibitor at SPX to have anything remotely related to sports at his Atom-Bomb Bikini table, but he did, and hooray for that. He had quite a few collection of his Teeny Bikini pin-up collections (one of which, with the cover on the left, I bought) in addition to other pin-ups and illustrations he did while an illustrator for Dan Savage's Savage Love column.

He also had a fantastic short collection of illustrated stories from the Original Six era, Old-Time Hockey Tales!. Dollar for dollar it was the best $2 I spent that day. Ullman's tales were ones I know well - Bill Barilko, Terry Sawchuk, the Rocket Richard riots - but the treatment and obvious love of the artist for the subject matter made it a great little text.

Though this was my first SPX I've been to a few San Diego Comic-Con's and other similar conventions, and it's a pretty true characterization to say every actual artist sitting behind a booth is usually thrilled to talk with a fan or prospective fan, and Ullman was no exception. We talked for maybe 5 minutes about hockey, Uni Watch Blog, and other stuff.

Ulmman is a true hockey fan, which was great to hear. He is also a Pittsburgh Penguins fan, which is nice for him but not so good otherwise. He did refrain from any gloating after I mentioned my Capitals fandom, and actually gave me some words of sympathy. He also proffered a couple of stickers with the image at the top of this post, a gorgeous dark-haired woman in an old-school Caps uniform, which he said he made as a peace offering for any Caps fans he might meet (he'll also be at the Baltimore Comic-Con in two weeks, where I imagine he'll be handing out a few more of those).

All in all it was a great afternoon, and wonderful to meet Ullman in addition to the other writers, artists, and publishers at SPX. Maybe I'll commission a pin-up some time...Sara in a Stanley Cup, maybe?

Hockey Lexicon 1 - Hope Pass, Cobb

2009-09-22T01:44:00.004-04:00

Learned a pair of new hockey vocabulary words in the Caps locker room tonight. The first one, from Karl Alzner, actually makes a lot of sense: hope pass. As in "no-look, speculative, I hope there turns out to be someone at the end of this" pass.

The second one, courtesy of Andrew Gordon, is: cobb. As in goose egg, nil, nada, zip. Usage: "We were down four-cobb after about two periods and ended up coming back and winning a big one in overtime" is how Gordon described the game he appeared in last season in NYR when the Caps were down 4-0 and ended up winning 5-4 in OT.

Hope pass is a good one, and I hope to work it into my vocabulary. Cobb makes absolutely no sense, so I'm gonna try even harder to use it on a regular basis.

At the Rink - Caps v. Sabres 9/21

2009-09-21T19:52:00.003-04:00

A couple quick hits in the first intermission at Verizon Center.

-As Corey Masisak pointed out on Twitter, the Caps banners and retired numbers have been taken down from the rafters. As my friend and colleague Craig Stone postulated, they might be redoing them all to have a consistent design and color scheme.
-The ice looked pretty good before the game, but a few players took unassisted spills. I'm hoping it's because there was a Dinosaur show here through yesterday (no, really) and not a sign of things to come.
-Mike Knuble has not looked good. He seems out of sync with Backstrom and Ovechkin- they are dipsy-doodling through the neutral zone and he just wants to go to the net. Took a bad hooking penalty as well.
-Also not a good period for Andrew Gordon, simply because he only has 51 seconds of ice on 2 shifts. Andrew Joudrey is not faring much better, with 2:44 on 4 shifts. There have been a lot of PPs and PKs for the Caps, so hopefully with even strength situations they'll get on more.
-Chris Bourque, on the other hand, has gotten a lot of ice, notably 2:05 of power play time. What's interesting is much of that was spent at the point on the Caps second PP unit, paired with John Carlson.

At the Rink - Caps Media Day

2009-09-12T23:25:00.002-04:00

Yesterday morning, the day Caps players had to report for training camp, was also Washington's season-beginning media day. I was there when Jose Theodore, Brooks Laich, Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Knuble and Brendan Morrison, as well as George McPhee, took the mic for some questioning.

A fair amount of the material from the day will go into various preview and preseason articles at DC Sports Box, but I wanted to share a few nice nuggets that probably won't make the articles:

-Brooks Laich has dubbed new teammate Brendan Morrison "Shifty," for some moves the center pulled in informal scrimmages this past week.
-Not only did Mike Knuble remember Piney Orchard (Washington's practice facility prior to Kettler) from his time as a visiting Red Wing in 1998, he remembered that it was both "dingy" and "dark." (Disclosure: I used to play summer hockey at Piney and worked in the pro shop for a couple months, and Knuble is telling the truth)
-When Knuble commented how much he was looking forward to playing with Washington's world-class players, he was staring directly at Alexanders Ovechkin and Semin, who were on the ice at the moment (not that it's any surprise)
-Many of the players were sporting Under Armour shirts with the phrases "Get Ready" and "Its Our Time" bookmarking an image of the Stanley Cup on the back.
-Among other duties, all the players took time to sign about 50 feet of jerseys, sticks and other merchandise. A couple players (I saw Brooks Laich and Boyd Gordon, among others) took time to sign for small groups of fans stationed at both ends of the staff/media-only sections.

Okay, I'll admit that section felt a little more tabloid-y than expected, but I still plan on From the Rink to be one of, if not the primary, content type for this blog. Specific game information has a place in game reports,, more in-depth reporting in feature articles, but some of the 'lighter side' stuff is the thing that makes people love hockey, and professional sports, and I'm all for that.

A New Twist on an Old Story

2009-09-01T14:24:00.004-04:00

There was a very interesting article at Puck Prospectus today (thanks to Puck Daddy for the link) regarding the Ovechkin-Crosby debate, specifically looking at statistical projects for next season as well as matching each player's 2008-2009 season against historical comparables.

What struck me, beyond the simple (and encouraging) projection that Ovechkin will score 118 points (and likely win the Rocket Richard, Art Ross, and Hart), and the fact that Ovechkin is projected to play all 82 games while Crosby projects to 74, is the criteria listed by Robert Vollman (for Crosby) and Andrew Rothstein (for Ovechkin) to be considered 'the best player in the world' (at least in 2010) is to score 110+ points, lead his team to the Cup finals and win the gold medal.

The problem with that assertion is that it's very likely for both players to be in the same point range, and the chances are much higher for neither to make the finals than it is for one (though currently the odds at Bet365 are 11/2 for Pittsburgh and 12/1 for the Caps!).

However, it is very likely that one of the two young men will be on the gold medal podium at the conclusion of the 2010 Olympics. The Games are being contested in Vancouver and you better believe the home team is the favorite. At that same betting site Team Canada is getting unbelievable even 1/1 odds 1/1 odds on winning it all, while Russia is by far the next-highest contender at 5/2 odds.

I'll be rooting for the U.S., and Sweden is a very strong contender, but realistically either Ovechkin or Crosby will have a gold medal on their resume come February 2010. Also realistically, one gold won't decide the debate between a 23-year-old and a 21-year-old (especially if Canada wins) considering they still have at least 1 more Olympics in them, one of which will be in Russia (assuming the NHLPA decides to attend) and no doubt will combine for at least one or two more Stanley Cups.

Nonetheless, it's an interesting field of battle that has been completely underplayed to this point in time. Crosby has the Cup, Ovechkin has the Hart, but chances are both will have won both by the time their careers end. Olympic gold medals, on the other hand...

What flies in the press box nowadays

2009-08-13T14:59:00.003-04:00

As I’ve mentioned before, in addition to the Capitals I also cover several other teams and sports for DC Sports Box. Terps football and the Washington Freedom are two such teams, but my primary secondary beat (does that even mean anything, ‘primary secondary’?) is D.C. United and international soccer.

It’s been a good few weeks in the local area in terms of live international soccer. First there was the Gold Cup game between the U.S. and Honduras (not to mention the Haiti v. Grenada undercard) at RFK on July 8th, the Chelsea-AC Milan exhibition on July 24th in Baltimore, and most recently D.C. United taking on Real Madrid Sunday at FedEx.

It’s been a good few weeks for me too—I covered all three.

Sometimes I’ll complain to friends about having to take the Metro down to RFK on a weeknight or joke about the quality of the food in the media room (hint: not good), but really I have a great time every time I cover a game (I shared the beat with my friend and coworker Craig Stone). It’s rare like a Capitals game, in terms of personal interest, but then again the Caps have never put 70k butts in a stadium, so there’s that.

One thing I’ve noticed about these major international soccer events, however, is a difference in terms of the type of media presence in the press box, post-game interviews and mixed zones.

Basically, there are a lot more fans.

This is definitely not to say there are no fans in hockey press boxes, so let’s back up a moment. I don’t mean ‘fan’ in the sense of any person who likes a specific team. Go to the Caps press box, or any other, and you’ll find plenty of people who prefer a specific team.

Any team-specific blogger you may find out there (Storming the Crease, Musings of a Hockey Mom, even TheHogs.net, for example) is most certainly a fan of that team. And most other supposedly-neutral reporters covering teams are fans too- you want someone who likes the sport to cover it, right? They don’t necessarily have to root for the teams they cover—Greg Wyshinski, who lives in DC and is at many Caps games, likes the Devils, while Corey Masisak is a Penguins fan—but they have to love the sport.

No, what I’m talking about is fans being fans in the press box.

The most obvious transgression is cheering the press box. No matter your rooting interests, the press box is supposed to be a neutral atmosphere. That doesn’t mean media members don’t react to things happening in the game, but you gasp or smile instead of shouting and cheering.

At RFK stadium, the press box seating plan always has the same arrangement. The front and back rows on the right side are traditional media, the middle is announcers, statisticians and press staff, and the left back row is bloggers and new media. All of the news media who are in attendance for one game only are seated on the far left on the front row, and coincidentally enough that location, if any, is where cheers will emanate from during a game.

Every credential pass has tons of boilerplate language on the back, telling you all the things you can and can’t do, and there’s always a statement about crossing the line from media member to fan. The credential I got from the Gold Cup has a simple statement: “NO AUTOGRAPHS ARE PERMITTED DURING MEDIA ACCESS PERIODS AND AN ATTEMPT TO OBTAIN AN AUTOGRAPH MAY RESULT IN THE CONFISCATION OF THE CREDENTIAL.”

Yes, it was in all caps.

No brainer, right? I was surprised, but not shocked, when in the post-game mixed zone for United and Madrid, Kyle Sheldon, an underappreciated member of the United media staff, had to repeatedly tell “media members” wearing both credentials and Madrid jerseys that no, they could not stand along the barrier and ask every member of Real Madrid to sign their soccer ball, jersey, or whatever.*

And that’s another thing. At every international soccer game I’ve attended there’s been at least one, usually a few, people in the post-game press conference wearing soccer jerseys (and no, I don’t mean the players). They’re for one of the teams represented, or a previous team of one of the players.

That’s something you would never see in ice hockey, partly because hockey jerseys are unwieldy but also because they cross the line. Everybody knows, to go back to a site I previously cited, that Rob from Storming the Crease roots for the Caps. That’s fine, because he’s in the press box and the locker room not as a fan but as a provider of media content for an extremely technologically-savvy Capitals fanbase.

The jersey-wearers in soccer games are not, as far as I can tell, content providers (maybe they work on the technical side of a media organization, but they certainly aren’t writing, recording, or even paying attention to the press conferences I’ve seen them in) but rather establishing their physical presence as fans.

It fascinates me, as to why people do that. Is it really acceptable in cities outside of DC and sports outside of ice hockey to wear not just your team colors, but your team logo, while serving as a member of a supposedly-neutral press.

That strikes me as something like being an arbitrator and wearing a shirt from one of the parties involved, or wearing apparel from a company while sitting on the jury for a court case in which they’re involved.

Even if you are 100% completely objective in your thoughts and actions, your objectivity is questioned through your apparel. Would you, as a United player, want to take questions from a reporter wearing a Chicago Fire polo shirt? Even if the questions were completely legitimate, you would perceive bias and feel uncomfortable in your own locker room.

This isn’t an argument as much as an observation. Something that makes me respect the atmosphere and community of ice hockey as a sport that much more.

*I have to note that while the D.C. United media staff takes the lead in dealing with on-site press box concerns and the like for some these games, they are not in charge overall and have to follow a different set of guidelines for accessibility and credentials than for MLS matches. For example, I had to go through CONCACAF for my Gold Cup credentials, and the United staff was not involved at all with the Chelsea-AC Milan game.

Musings on the Wicked Wrister

2009-08-03T17:36:00.003-04:00

Browsing SI.com earlier today, I happened across a Daren Eliot blog post, "Who is the Next Joe Sakic?", asking which player in the NHL has the best wrist shot now that Sakic is retired.

Fair enough, Burnaby Joe had one of the best wrist shots in the game, quick and deadly accurate. So I skimmed the article for Eliot's thoughts. Jeff Carter, okay. Ryan Getzlaf, maybe. Jonathan Toews? I can see that. But where's Alexander Semin? Heresy!

Then I actually read the article, and saw he was talking about centers only. That got me thinking though, who has the best wrist shot in the league? When we think of big-time scorers we tend to gravitate towards the hard shooters (Ovechkin, Jarome Iginla), razzle-dazzle pucksmiths (Rick Nash) or garbage-goal opportunists (Carter, Johan Franzen).

Practitioners of the wrist shot like Thomas Vanek, Marian Hossa and yes, Semin, garner attention for the puck in the net rather than the way they put it there, unlike the way the action itself of taking a slapshot is heroized in hockey.

Which, of course, is an excuse for the District Puckhouse to celebrate the wrist shot with a collection of Alexander Semin clips. Long live the wrister!

Re: The lack of recent activity

2009-08-01T02:27:00.007-04:00

Just got back yesterday from a week at the beach with the girlfriend and another couple we've known since college. The couple currently lives in Pittsburgh, having moved there after meeting at college. She is from north-central West Virginia, he from north of Baltimore. This is relevant.

As a couple composed of one person (she) from a small town whose nearest major city is Pittsburgh, and one person (he) with no compelling interest in professional sports, they obviously have gravitated toward the pro sports teams from the Steel City...at least the successful ones.

This post isn't to begrudge them their fandom (though, curiously, she didn't seem too interested in the Penguins while we were in school from 2001 to 2005, and his Steelers support must kill his Ravens-loving parents inside). They made some jokes about Geno and his parents, I asked when Crosby would move out of Lemieux's basement, she called him "Fleury" whenever he let in a goal in Wii laser hockey...all was well.

Rather, what struck me was the prevalence of Pittsburgh imagery and memorabilia in the city itself. That it took the girlfriend and I half as long coming from the Washington suburbs than our friends from Pittsburgh to get to Rehoboth Beach was not lost on us. Nonetheless, the Penguins and Steelers were basically the only sports teams you could find on shirts, hats, posters, etc. in the various tchotchke shops along the boardwalk and main drag (there was a smattering of Eagles and Phillies stuff too). The same with the other fine vacationers spending their time in the city- plenty of people wearing Steelers and Penguins logos and sporting Stillers bumper stickers (as well as other non-sports related Pittsburgh stuff), but nary a Capitals* or Redskins logo to be seen.

We surmised the reason for the Pittsburgh dominance. Is Rehoboth Beach really that much of a major destination for Pittsburghians? There are certainly several other major sports cities much closer to the Delaware Shore than south-west Pennsylvania.

And there definitely were people wearing Phillies and Flyers shirts, so perhaps it was just that the Pittsburgh images stood out more to me as an individual.

The conclusion we arrived at was not that there was a massive influx of Yinzers to Rehoboth Beach, but rather a combination of 1) said Pittsburgh residents being extremely overt about their city and sports allegiances, and 2) a desire on the part of retailers in the city to capitalize on bandwagon interest and popularity. And to be fair, I did see a few Colts Super Bowl XLI Champions hats tucked away in the corner of one of the sports memorabilia shops, which lends a great deal of credence to that theory.

There isn't really a specific argument to this post; it's more of an inquiry into why there was so much black and gold kicking around on the Delaware shores this week. Perhaps its all bandwagon, perhaps not. If a plethora of Penguins logos was the worst part of my vacation, well then, really what am I complaining about?

*Okay, I saw one weird photo-painting montage of several Caps players in an "art" gallery off Rehoboth Ave, but to be fair they had similar montages of every Pittsburgh and Philadelphia team, as well as several composite images of the Mona Lisa holding dogs, so I'm going to say that doesn't count.

2009-07-19T22:18:00.002-04:00

Not exactly hockey related, but a pretty cool thing happened at the Washington Freedom-Saint Louis Athletica WPS game I covered yesterday evening at RFK Stadium that reminded me of the whole Brett Leonhardt saga last season.

Coming into the game, both teams were short a couple starters, including each #1 goaltender (Erin McLeod for Washington and Hope Solo for Saint Louis), because of a USA-Canada friendly the next night. On top of that, Washington's backup goalie, Brianna Scurry, is currently injured. That's alright though, because like most professional soccer teams the Freedom carry a third goaltender, Kati Jo Spisak, who had actually started in a couple games prior to Saturday night.

You see where this is going.

In the 54th minute, an Athletica player knocks the ball out of bounds across the Freedom end line. Spisak places the ball on the 6-yard box, backs up, takes the goal kick and immediately crumples to the ground in pain grasping her right leg. Find out after the game that she pulled her quadriceps muscle.

Spisak tries to play, but can't plant on the foot. Goal kicks are out of the question, let alone moving laterally for saves. She has to come out. Enter Nicci Wright.

Confused by the link? Scroll down. Wright is the Freedom's goaltender coach, a former goalie for the organization (as well as the Canadian Women's National Team) who retired in 2006 to coach. See, the team realized they'd be down to one roster goalie on Saturday, and chose to sign Wright to a two-day weekend contract for this past weekend to back up Spisak, rather than go outside the organization.

On second thought, it's more of a Lester Patrick story.

So, with the only usual regular roster goalie on the ground in pain, Wright went in. First she had to find her jersey, take off her necklace and earrings, and borrow a pair of shinguardss, and not until she got in the game was she able to actually warm up.

Saint Louis tested Wright immediately, blasting a shot on net from about 40 yards out, but Wright did pretty well aside from one turnover inside the 18 yard box and preserved the shutout and the win, as Homare Sawa scored after Wright entered for the 1-0 lead that held up as the final score.

It's not a big story, and probably rightfully so as the Freedom probably fall under the Kastles and just above the D.C. Armor in terms of their local sports relevancy, but fun nonetheless. A nice reminder to expect the unexpected and enjoy it when it happens.

2009-07-15T17:34:00.003-04:00

My first thought on the official announcement of the long-known rumor that the 2010 Winter Classic will be at Fenway between the Bruins and Flyers was the same as many others, namely, what a huge mistake NBC made in picking the Flyers over the Capitals.

My second thought was, awesome, that gives me another year to save up so I can actually make my way to wherever it is the Caps play in the Winter Classic (presumably the next 2-3 years).

My third thought was, who the hell will they play when they get it? Boston and Philadelphia will be out, as will the previous teams to play in the Winter Classic- Detroit, Chicago, Buffalo and Pittsburgh. NBC will likely lobby hard for a Capitals-Penguins matchup, but the league would be wise to turn that down. The Pens were in the 2008 game and have been in the past two Stanley Cup finals, they've had more than their fair share of tv time and, more importantly, the other NHL constituent clubs would revolt.

So far the matchups have alternated between Eastern and Western Conference teams, and it wouldn't be surprising for that to continue. Nor would it be surprising to see either a) a pair of Canadian teams, or b) an American and Canadian team meeting on Canadian ice. Expect Montreal and/or Toronto to be involved in that.

Capitals versus Canadiens would be interesting, and could actually happen this season (albeit in November and indoors).

So, who in the Eastern Conference would the Caps play? Canadiens and Maple Leafs, maybe, but it'd be more likely to see them play another American team. Although Puck Daddy would love to see them play on the Reflecting Pool on the Mall (and it's certainly big enough), there's no way the Capitals host an outdoors game. The weather is way too unpredictable. The historic average high on January 1st in Washington, D.C. (20001 zip code) is 43 degrees, and the record high was 69 degrees only four years ago. That would be disastrous.

If a home game is out, so is a game against a Southeast Division opponent. The Rangers, Islanders and Devils would make the most sense geographically. Right now a Capitals-Islanders matchup sounds ridiculous, but if we're looking two or four years in the future then the Next Big Thing could transform into the Real Deal, and maybe even galvanize a New York audience (which is NBC's real interest).

As a dark horse, I'd say Capitals-Senators would be a great thematic match, pitting the two national capitals against each other in competition for the Capital Cup.*

*As an aside, does anyone else remember the Caps and Sens playing for that in the preseason? I totally remember being there one year where the Caps won and hoisted a Capitals-themed trash can as the 'trophy,' but I feel like that could easily be a complete figment of my imagination.

One small addition = One big improvement?

2009-07-12T15:08:00.007-04:00

Last week, for an opening post, I drafted up a nice piece about how the Knuble acquisition was very good for the Capitals but the continuing lack of a real second-line center was still extremely problematic. Whoops.

Now, my original post was predicated on the argument that Brooks Laich, while in general a serviceable second-line center- he wins faceoffs, is very responsible defensively, can score (two straight 20-goal seasons) and set up teammates (30 assists last season)- he is not the type of pivot that excels with a winger like Alexander Semin. In some instances Semin, Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom play together, but usually the two Alexes are separated.

Without getting too reductive in terms of each player's skill set, Ovechkin is the type of winger who creates his own scoring chances while Semin (who is certainly capable of the same) excels more as a finisher, i.e. working in tandem with a set-up man. Laich may have had 30 assists last year, but when your signature move is almost losing the puck on a breakaway, you're more suited to crashing the net than dishing to Semin. Brendan Morrison, on the other hand, is a playmaker. He has seven 30+ assist seasons, and while Japer's Rink is pretty excited about his goal-scoring potential, the Caps don't need another 20-goal scorer, they need a quality set-up man who can also skate up and down the ice in Bruce Boudreau's up-tempo system (as an aside, I'm very disappointed there aren't any videos on Youtube showing Michael Nylander aimlessly skating in circles in the offensive zone).

It remains to be seen if Morrison fulfills his destiny as a #2 pivot, obviously, but this was a shrewd move by GM George McPhee, who likely targeted a couple free agent centers and then waited past the first week of free agency for prices to drop before snagging a bargain (I might be giving McPhee too much credit here, but probably not). Backstrom is definitely the Caps #1 center, Dave Steckel and Boyd Gordon are very good as 3rd and 4th line centers, but Fedorov's departure left the second slot wide open. Nylander is out of the picture because of his style and lack of productivity, and while Keith Aucoin will be good competition for Morrison, expect the newly-acquired former Hobey Baker winner to win out. While Fedorov's leadership is irreplaceable, Morrison (or even Aucoin for that matter) will even be an improvement in terms of on-ice performance.