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

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]

One small addition = One big improvement?

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.