Lang update
The press release just went out. Quintin Lang is officially on the roster and will make his Caps debut tonight.
The press release just went out. Quintin Lang is officially on the roster and will make his Caps debut tonight.
The Caps morning skate is underway here at RBC Center. No Chris Clark or Boyd Gordon on the ice. Quintin Laing is though, although he has not been officially recalled yet. Tim Leone of the Patriot-News reported that he was being called up last night, and he is skating with Dave Steckel and Matt Pettinger. Laing had 15 goals and 43 points for the Bears last season after spending six years in the Blackhawks organization. He played three games with the Blackhawks in 2003-04 and recorded one assist. He has two goals and five assists in 19 games for Hershey this year.
Here are all of the line combinations, and there was plenty of shuffling:
Ovechkin-Nylander-Kozlov
Fleischmann-Backstrom-Semin
Pettinger-Steckel-Laing
Brashear-Laich-Bradley
Poti-Jurcina
Morrisonn-Green
Schultz-Pothier
Eminger and Erskine are blue jerseys, while the rest of the D is in black ... maybe that rotation is not going to be so, um, rotating after all.
And for anyone who did not see this, the league has approved a new (i.e. old) schedule format for next season. The Caps will only see division "rivals" six times instead of eight and they will see every Western Conference team once. It is not really as big of a change as some might make it out to be, but it is probably a step in the right direction.
Alexander Semin is healthy and should play tomorrow in Raleigh. Chris Clark's undisclosed injury is now disclosed (it is a groin problem) and he is day-to-day. The big news is Boyd Gordon, who is week-to-week according to a team spokesman with an undisclosed injury. Gordon did not leave the game with an injury last night, even scoring in the shootout. If Gordon and Clark can't play tomorrow, the Caps would either go with 11 forwards or put someone (Gordon) on injured reserve and call up someone from Hershey.
Caps coach Bruce Boudreau decided to give most of the players a day off from skating today. The only guys on the ice were defensemen Milan Jurcina, Steve Eminger and John Erskine as well as forwards Matt Bradley, Donald Brashear and Tomas Fleischmann.
Boudreau said he would like to have the team practice, but felt they needed some rest as they complete stretches of six games in nine days and 10 in 17 this weekend.
Both Alexander Semin and Chris Clark are expected to make the trip to Raleigh and South Florida, but both remain questionable to play at this point. GM George McPhee was unavailable this morning because he is traveling, but we might get an update from him later. Clark said his status is "iffy" but was not willing to disclose what the injury is.
The Caps just got done with the morning skate. Several of the top players were not on the ice. The lines from yesterday's practice are going to be the same tonight. Tomas Fleischmann will be inactive along with Steve Eminger and John Erksine.
8-92-17
28-25-18
21-39-15
87-19-10
3-23
26-52
2-55
Bruce Boudreau has certainly shown he is not afraid to shake up the lines, and there are more changes today. Here is what they look like at the early stages of practice:
Ovechkin-Nylander-Clark
Pettinger-Kozlov-Semin
Laich-Steckel-Gordon
Brashear-Backstrom-Bradley/Fleischmann
UPDATE: This appears to be the defensive pairings for today:
Poti-Jurcina
Morissonn-Green
Schultz-Pothier
Erskine-Eminger
So those who are regular readers of our newspaper see weekly staples like the MLB Report, the NFL Report and the NBA Report. Some might even randomly wonder 'Where is the NHL Report?' Well, our paper has not had one in a while, but that is no more. I am a few weeks behind on getting this up and running, but from now each week (probably on Sundays but for this week, Monday) there will be a look around the league in the NHL Report. For now, it is a blog-only, internet special (maybe someday when it is an internet phenomenon it will make its debut in a print edition). There will be a few regular features, such as power rankings, stories of the week, trophy watches and a short Q&A with a player (mostly Caps, but not exclusively) to be determined. So without further ado, here is the NHL Report's maiden voyage.
TOP HEADLINES
COUNTING THEM DOWN
30. Los Angeles Kings: Mike Cammalleri has two goals in 13 games after starting with 10 in 10
29. Edmonton Oilers: Team is league best 6-1 in shootouts, league worst 3-13 in regulation
28. Washington Capitals: There is life in Washington with new coach Bruce Boudreau
27. Toronto Maple Leafs: Giving up a league-worst 86 goals cannot be a good thing
26. Pittsburgh Penguins: Vanna, can I buy a goaltender?
25. Buffalo Sabres: Four wins in a row, all against Canadian teams
24. Atlanta Thrashers: 11-6 since Don Waddell moved behind the bench, but -17 goal differential still an eyesore
23. Florida Panthers: Have won four of five, including two against reeling Caps; Two with surging Caps up next
22. Calgary Flames: Shouldn't a veteran-laden team with one of the five best players in the league be better than this?
21. Phoenix Coyotes: Ilya Bryzgalov has won four straight since being claimed on waivers
20. Tampa Bay Lightning: Quite a roller-coaster ride – four straight losses after winning five in a row
19. Vancouver Canucks: Roberto Luongo has allowed two goals or less in six of eight after rough start
18. New Jersey Devils: Four straight wins on the road to move back into playoff contention? Ho-hum for Martin Brodeur and Devils
17. Nashville Predators: Maybe beating Detroit will help Chris Mason find the form he's had in part-time duty the past two years
16. Boston Bruins: Who's next in line to try and pry the No. 1 job from Tim Thomas? He just keeps outplaying the competition
15. Anaheim Ducks: It looks like the Ducks are waking up from the Cup hangover
14. New York Islanders: If this team even sniffs the playoffs, Ted Nolan should be the runaway choice for the Jack Adams trophy
13. St. Louis Blues: Wins in six of seven and Manny Legace looks like a top-10 netminder
12. Colorado Avalanche: They are scuffling a little and could maybe use a boost (Peter Forsberg, perhaps?)
11. San Jose Sharks: Seven days between games? No wonder they were sluggish against L.A.
10. Columbus Blue Jackets: Just when it looks like they are crashing back to reality (losses in 8 of 10), the Jackets beat Minnesota and Detroit
9. Chicago Blackhawks: No points in four straight for super rookies Pat Kane and Jonathan Toews
8. Montreal Canadiens: Back-to-back losses to Buffalo, but power play still top notch
7. Dallas Stars: Mike Smith, not Marty Turco leading Stars to top of their division
6. Minnesota Wild: Still hanging on in tight Northwest while trying to get healthy
5. New York Rangers: Offense looked improved (four goals in three straight) but not so much recently (seven total in last four)
4. Philadelphia Flyers: Wins at Carolina, Ottawa wrapped around home loss to Washington? Someone (or several someones) didn't get enough sleep for 1 p.m. start
3. Carolina Hurricanes: Keeping Erik Cole healthy, getting injured D-men back is critical
2. Ottawa Senators: Even the deepest of teams aren't immune to struggling with injuries
1. Detroit Red Wings: Chris Osgood still seriously outplaying "starter" Dominik Hasek
TROPHY HUNTING
A look at who is setting the pace for some of the league's coveted hardware:
HART TROPHY
1. Ilya Kovalchuk, Thrashers
2. Vincent Lecavalier, Lightning
3. Henrik Lundqvist, Rangers
CALDER TROPHY
1. Patrick Kane, Blackhawks
2. Tobias Enstrom, Thrashers
3. Jonathan Toews, Blackhawks
VEZINA TROPHY
1. Henrik Lundqvist, Rangers
2. Pascal Leclaire, Blue Jackets
3. Tim Thomas, Boston
JACK ADAMS TROPHY
1. Ted Nolan, Islanders
2. Jacques Lemaire, Wild
3. Don Waddell, Thrashers
GET TO KNOW...
A few minutes with Matt Bradley of the Washington Capitals:
Bradley was born in Stittsville, Ontario and was a 4th-round pick by the San Jose Sharks in 1996. He has played for San Jose, Pittsburgh and Washington. He has 31 goals, 49 assists and 303 penalty minutes in 322 career NHL games.
Q: Favorite player growing up?
A: Cam Neely
Q: Favorite team?
A: Boston Bruins
Q: Favorite food?
A: Fast food, any fast food. Actually no, poutine
Q: Favorite video game?
A: Super Mario Brothers
Q: Favorite city to play in?
A: Toronto
Q: Favorite car?
A: Aston Martin DB9
Q: Biggest phobia?
A: I don't really like feet
Q: Favorite fight?
A: Any fight that I don't get knocked out
New Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said before Saturday's game that Steve Eminger would be in the lineup soon, and it appears he was not kidding. The Caps are wrapping up the morning skate here at K-Plex and the two defensemen still on the ice are Jeff Schultz and Milan Jurcina. Maybe the bigger news is the one forward is Matt Pettinger. Alexander Semin went through the skate and was in his normal spot on the second line. Pettinger has been snakebitten this season, scoring once in 47 shots, which have included several near misses. Boudreau has praised the fourth line after both games, so it is not crazy that he wants to keep them together for another game. Expect Olie Kolzig in net again. Here is what it looked like in color coordinated form:
Ovechkin-Kozlov-Clark (red)
Fleischmann-Nylander-Semin (grey)
Laich-Steckel-Gordon (green)
Brashear-Backstrom-Bradley/Pettinger (blue)
Poti-Pothier
Morissonn-Green
Erskine-Eminger
Schultz-Jurcina
Plenty of news out of Bruce Boudreau's pre-game talk. Alexander Semin skated this morning but will not play tonight. The only lineup change is John Erskine will be in for Jeff Schultz, who will sit for the first time since being recalled from Hershey on Oct. 18. Boudreau said he has eight defensemen and he will use all eight. When asked about Steve Eminger, he said Eminger will be in the lineup soon as well.
Olie Kolzig is in net tonight; it's the first time this season he will play in back-to-back situations. Boudreau said he plans to play Olie a little more frequently, so predicting when Brent Johnson will be in the lineup might be a little tougher.
Because the Hershey Bears are also in town tonight (and the same building, no less) the official Caps media wagon (i.e. my car) is sticking around for some AHL action before Tarik, Mike and I return to Washington, where I hope the victory celebration does not leave any permanent damage.
Tim Leone of the Patriot-News was pretty adamant that us media types would be pretty happy covering Bruce Boudreau on a daily basis. Two days in, I have to say he is right. Here is some stuff from Boudreau that did not make the game story tomorrow:
"It feels kind of cool. This has been a good 24 hours. I think the mindset of the team today was they weren't going to give in and that's all credit to them and the leadership in the room."
"It would have been very easy when you have a 3-0 lead and you seem to be controlling the game and they come back and tie it to just say, ‘Oh man, here we go again,' but their mindset was pretty good."
ANY SIGNIFICANCE IN STARTING GORDON/STECKEL/LAICH?
"No, I just figured they would start Briere. That was my first mistake and the game hadn't even started."
FITTING THAT MIKE GREEN SCORED FIRST?
"Yeah, I thought that was pretty cool. He gave me a little smile when he came off. I was really happy for him and I was happy that the power play worked and that things worked out."
"The fourth line was great tonight. You tell me a shift where Brash and Brads and Nicklas had the puck in our zone and I won't know it. I thought they were the best line on the ice. Every time they were on the ice they outhit the other team and I thought that was great."
(UPDATE: Here is more some of the good stuff from Boudreau that won't find its way into the newspaper:)
ON THE WAY WASHINGTON WON YESTERDAY:
It is an adrenaline game no matter who is behind the bench when you make a change. When the other team ties it up, especially late, it would have been easy to say, 'Well, we worked hard but we got a point.' The resilience of them wanting to succeed was really neat to see. It proves we have a good group of guys here.
I think it was good for them to win that way. If Steckel or Gordon, whoever had that chance when it was 3-0 had scored to make it 4-0 and you win 5-1, then [people] would go, 'Aw, Philly just wasn’t into the game.' But they had to fight adversity in a lot of situations. Not just the change, but the comeback, the penalties not going in your favor. They did it, and they did it by staying strong together on the bench.
ON HEARING FROM GLEN HANLON:
Glen phoned me and he was so magnanimous in wishing me well. He is such a class guy. He said he thinks they need a different voice and he's happy it is me and I wished him well. I mean, I was the one thinking, 'Oh wow, what a great guy. I don't think I could do that.'
Bruce Boudreau just went through his first pregame press conference. The big news is Alexander Semin did not make the trip. He left practice early yesterday, and his right ankle is acting up again. This will be the 16th game of 22 that Semin has missed with the injury. The theme of Boudreau's talk was simplicity - he said when he was a player, he wanted less information instead of more. John Erksine and Steve Eminger are the other scratches.
UPDATE/ 1:50 p.m.: We just got done talking to the players, GM George McPhee and Bruce Boudreau. McPhee said he started to think about a change after the second period of Monday's game but wanted to see if the team responded last night. The players talked about Boudreau's reputation as an aggressive, offensive-minded guy.
Toward the end of practice the team was working on the power play, and there were some interesting new combinations. Alex Ovechkin was working up front with Michael Nylander and Nicklas Backstrom on one unit. Viktor Kolzov and Chris Clark were working with the second group, while Matt Pettinger and Tomas Fleischmann rotated. Some combination of Tom Poti, Mike Green and Brian Pothier was manning the points. It should be noted that Alexander Semin had left the ice by that point.
UPDATE/ 12:10 p.m.: Bruce Boudreau's first practice as Caps head coach is underway. A quick observation is that I hear Boudreau's voice during these drills more than I use to hear Hanlon's. For what it is worth, the lines look pretty similar to yesterday's game, though Matt Pettinger is back with Boyd Gordon and David Steckel and Nicklas Backstrom is centering Brooks Laich and Donald Brashear.
8-25-17
43-92-28
18-39-15
87-19-21/10
Glen Hanlon has been fired and will be replaced on an interim basis by former Hershey coach Bruce Boudreau. Jay Leach and Dean Evanson will stay on as assistants.
Hanlon replaced Bruce Cassidy, who was fired on Dec. 10, 2003. He was 78-123-9-29 in his tenure. Boudreau was in his third season with the Bears. He led them to a Calder Cup in 2005-06 and a Cup finals appearance last season. Seven current Caps (John Erskine, Boyd Gordon, Brooks Laich, David Steckel, Tomas Fleischmann, Steve Eminger and Jeff Schultz) have played for Boudreau in Hershey. He also won the Kelly Cup in 1999 with the Mississippi Sea Wolves.
More to come, obviously.
Glen Hanlon just wrapped up his pre-game talk with the media. The scratches (Matt Bradley, Steve Eminger and Milan Jurcina) remain the same. Olie Kolzig will be in net, and he will face Johan Hedberg, even though rookie Ondrej Pavelec dominated the Caps two weeks ago in Atlanta.
There was a lot of stuff from yesterday's practice that did not make the newspaper, so here is some of the cutting room floor material.
From Chris Clark
On the one-goal losses: "It is harder to lose those, because you are in it right to the end. You are battling right to the last minute. I don't know how many times we've pulled the goalie this year. But then again it does that we are not that far off. We're not getting blown out."
On the line shuffling: "It is tough for coaches and management to find out who is going to click. That is probably the hardest job and you think you can figure it out during training camp and over the summer."
On the fans voicing their displeasure: "We need passionate fans. It is good. They are intelligent fans and if we are not playing well, then they should do that. It is good for us to know that they are paying attention and watching and wanting to see some hard work and wins out there. If they’re not doing anything, then it is no fun to play in front of them."
From Olie Kozlig
"If guys want to hang their head and feel bad, these next 60 games could be disastrous."
"It is different this year because of the expectations. We are a good hockey team. It sounds like a broken record and the reporters probably get sick of hearing us say this, but we are playing a lot better than we have the past couple of years. The points aren't in the standings and obviously the goal-scoring isn't there like it was the first part of last year."
From Glen Hanlon
"I've never seen our team tight. In all the years I've been here, I've never seen our team play tight, and we could have been tight a week ago or two weeks ago. I think it was a culmination that got to a point – we're addressing it as that's the breaking point. We've identified that you can’t play this game tentatively."
"I don't think any team can come out and play well from start to finish every game. I haven't seen three periods where we played totally different [until Monday night]. I think for the most part we've been pretty consistent."
There was a tweak to the defensive pairings. Shaone Morrison was skating with Jeff Schultz and Brian Pothier was with John Erskine. The last 20 minutes of practice the team played a continuous game of 3-on-3 to work on a few things that will be part of the story in tomorrow's paper.
Another morning practice and more lineup changes for the Caps. They follow the theme from the third period last night, with a wrinkle. It is still early in practice, so this could be subject to change:
Ovechkin-Kozlov-Clark
Semin-Nylander-Fleischamnn
Pettinger-Backstrom-Laich/Bradley
Brashear-Steckel-Gordon
The 'D' pairing remain the same (Poti-Green, Pothier-Schultz, Morrisonn-Erskine, Jurcina-Eminger)
Brian Sutherby has been traded to Anaheim for a second-round pick in the 2009 draft. Once considered a key piece in the Caps rebuild, he has been squeezed out by a numbers crunch this season and has dressed for only five games. He deserves a chance to play somewhere, and if he gets a chance to play regularly with the defending Cup champions, then good for him. It was pretty clear that guys in the room had great respect for him, even with him being on the outside looking in most nights. This also has to be considered a pretty nice return for the Caps, who needed to make a move and fast, considering Alexander Semin is coming off injured reserve this afternoon to play tonight and the Caps had one too many healthy bodies.
UPDATE: GM George McPhee met the media to talk about the Brian Sutherby trade before the game. Here is some stuff from him that is not making it into my article for the paper:
"We had talked about it for a long time. We knew at the end of camp we had what we thought were some good players in a penalty kill role with upside so we were going to have to make a move there."
"It only gets more expensive to make trades as the year goes on, so I think Anaheim was aggressive in stepping up with that kind of pick to do it."
"We wanted to give it some time to make sure we evaluated everyone properly, but during that time we were making calls. It is really difficult to make trades right now for a whole host of reasons."
-- Corey Masisak
There is a junior hockey game on the second stage and some little figure skaters running around, so there are people everywhere here. Alexander Semin is out there, and the line shakeup is pretty interesting.
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Clark (the same)
Fleischmann-Nylander-Kozlov (the same)
Pettinger-Gordon-Semin (interesting)
Brashear-Steckel-Laich
Bradley-Sutherby
Poti-Green
Potheir-Schultz
Morrisonn-Erskine (interesting)
Jurcina-Eminger
UPDATE: Glen Hanlon said after practice that Semin will play tomorrow against Florida, barring any unforseen setbacks. He said Semin will skate with the third line and play on the top power play unit in order to keep his minutes down. He will take Viktor Kozlov's spot on the top extra-man unit.
And so it continues. There was a small window of hope last night, but the Caps were left still searching for answers. It was almost as if the game was a mirror image of recent losses, but pushed forward 20 minutes. In recent games the Caps have come out flying, not scored and then the problems started. The Caps had a few chances to regain control and take a 3-2 lead early in the second period, but it didn't happen.
Some extra thoughts from Friday night:
* That was clearly not Brent Johnson's best night in net. He was screened a bit on a couple of the goals, but a team with a struggling offense is probably going to need a great night from its goaltender to snap out of this. Still, if management wanted to replace Johnson, they had a chance yesterday but chose not to. With the fewest points in the league, the Caps had first crack at Bryzgalov, who is an unrestricted free agent after the season (so is the No. 1 guy on this team, in case anyone forgot) and is making $563,000 more than Johnson this season. Three reasons for not making the claim are 1) What do they do with Johnson?, 2) Being worried about Olie Kolzig's reaction and 3) Money. Still, a young, quality, cheap goaltender is available for nothing, well, almost never.
* Alex Ovechkin was everywhere during the game last night, and he definitely took the loss pretty hard. He had a ton of shots, threw his body around and even played a little goalie after the Caps pulled Johnson but ended up spending most of their 6-on-5 time playing defense. Glen Hanlon has said before that he is harder on Ovechkin than any other player, and if I were following his lead, I'd say while he certainly was busting his butt, the Caps probably needed him to cash in a couple more times. He had some great chances, and Johan Holmqvist made a couple of great saves, but this team is struggling and could use a monster night from somebody. Of course, Alex could have had a hat trick last night and it might not have been enough.
* Any criticism of Ovechkin, small or large, has to be accompanied by a simple question: When is he going to get some help? He's scored a higher percentage of his team's goals than any player in the league, save for Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk. Saying any team needs two or three goals from one guy to have a chance is not a good thing. Maybe getting Alexander Semin back this week will be the magic cure, but he alone is not a long-term fix. Even when this team is at full strength they are going to need more from everyone. The reality is only Ovechkin, Michael Nylander, Brooks Laich and maybe Tomas Fleischmann are scoring goals at a pace commiserating with preseason expectations. Before the season, the Caps would have been happy to have Ovechkin on pace for about 55, Nylander in the low 20s, a dozen or so from Laich and 15-20 from Fleischmann. They would not have been hoping for Viktor Kozlov, Chris Clark, Semin and Nicklas Backstrom to be on pace for about 25 -- combined, injuries or no injuries. Even with Laich's three, the team also isn't getting nearly enough out of the third and fourth line guys. In short, this team needs more goals from everybody and some goals from anybody.
I had some internet connection issues yesterday, both at the arena and my hotel, but I am back in business here in Tampa. It was an optional skate this morning, and only the three healthy scratches (Eminger, Erskine and Sutherby) were on the ice. The big news from talking to Glen Hanlon is that Alexander Semin is now officially "close" to returning from his ankle injury, and Hanlon said the team is expecting sometime next week. Hanlon played coy about who would start in net, but I saw Brent Johnson in the hallway at St. Pete Times Forum and he said he was playing. No other lineup changes tonight against the Lightning, who have won four in a row by a combined score of 19-5 including a 5-2 win at Verizon Center six days ago.
So my plan yesterday was to put some leftover stuff on here from Thursday's "what is wrong" story. Since I could not find my onto the World Wide Wed, it had to wait until today.
From Glen Hanlon:
"We've held chances down and done some really good things, but it is hard to keep telling the guys they are playing well until they see points in the standings."
"You just don't see the glaring errors and you don't see the desperation. You don't see the fire drills in our d-zone. We're just doing things better. We have some better players. Now we just have to score. It is our problem, and it has caught me totally off guard. I never would have thought with this group of players that this would be an issue."
"We look at our record and feel it is a little misleading. We've improved in a lot of areas and our defensive play has been a lot stronger. But we haven’t been able to score goals partly due to not paying the price it takes to score and a little bit to do with personnel - personnel not being in the lineup with [Chris Clark] and Alexander Semin out of the lineup."
From Olie Kolzig:
"Anytime you go on the kind of winless streak we have, you almost have to turn the tables and do the exact opposite to get back in it. You can't win three and lose five, win three and lose two. The teams that make are the ones that consistently win. They win five, six, seven and lose one, then win three and lose one."
"It is our special teams. In the games that we have won - in Toronto we didn't give up anything and in Ottawa we didn’t give up anything on the PK and we chipped in on the power play. It is a matter of getting it done on the special teams and chipping in once in a while 5-on-5."
From Chris Clark:
"We are playing our system and we're playing it well. Things are working the way they are suppose to, but we're just a goal shy - and a timely goal shy. We get those first period and second period goals it puts the other team back on its heels."
"There is pressure from everywhere, but guys put the pressure on ourselves too. We know that over the summer management put a good team together and brought in some guys to help us attain our goals to win. They've done their part and now we have to do our part."
From Alex Ovechkin:
"We don't think about playoffs right now, we just think about our game. The key is to just win a game and then think about the next game."
From Brian Pothier:
"It seems like right now we are competing and we are working and we are doing a lot of good things, but the one mistake we make, they score. They're not hitting a post or missing - if they have a chance, they bury it. We're trying to turn the tables a bit."
If all of those quotes sound pretty similar, it is because they are. There are only so many ways to spin the same general theme. If the Caps start scoring some goals, they might give themselves a fighting chance. If not, well, start getting to know these guys [http://www.mynhldraft.com].
A tip of the cap to J.P. for linking to this earlier, but Caps goaltender prospect Michal Neuvirth has been traded.
I wrote about him before the season started and how he wanted to play for Hershey in part because Plymouth was expected to take a step back this season. Getting to play some games in front of a lesser team was probably good for his development, and I am sure the Caps management were looking ahead and thinking this might happen. Plymouth had two NHL prospects in net and now the team is languishing a bit in the standings. Since Jeremy Smith is a year younger, Neuvirth was the obvious choice to move.
Now Neuvirth is back on a team expected to contend for the OHL title, something he won with the Whalers last year. It will almost certainly earn him more postseason starts than he would have seen with Plymouth this year, and that can only be a good thing for him.
The Caps are almost done with practice here. The power-play guys were out on the ice about 30 minutes early to get in some work.
Two notable things were Chris Clark back in his spot on the top group as the guy in front of the net and Matt Pettinger taking a shift while wearing one of Brent Johnson's goalie masks. It was a funny gag, but remember that both he and Clark have taken a slapshot off the head in that position. The lines looked the same as they have been, with Clark on the top line with Ovechkin and Nylander.
After two splendid days in Toronto, I made it back to Arlington in time to catch the end of practice today. I cannot say enough good things about the luncheon to honor Dave Fay and Bill Hewitt yesterday. Dave's wife, Pat, and Bill's daughter gave incredible speeches, there were NHL legends everywhere and everyone had great stories to tell about Dave.
As for practice, Alexander Semin skated today before practice, which is the first positive step forward for him in a while. Glen Hanlon said Chris Clark is definitely ready to go Thursday after a few days of practicing.
--- Corey Masisak
I have to say that with a trip to Ottawa coming just a few days after experiencing the greatness that is Toronto for the first time, my expectations were not very high. But downtown Ottawa is a pretty cool place, even if it is overshadowed by Toronto and Montreal. Scotiabank Place is not in downtown Ottawa, or anywhere near it for that matter (Side note: especially when the guy at the hotel tells you to go east on 417 for 20 minutes and not west - when that happens, you are well on your way into the Ontario wilderness.)
The arena does kind of just pop up in the middle of well, not much in the suburb of Kanata. It is a big building, but it looks massive with nothing but parking lots around it. There is nothing special about the seating area, although it should be noted that the upper deck is a lot bigger than the lower bowl. Given the way the game went, it is hard to say if the place can really rock or not because the hometown squad didn't give the faithful much to cheer about.
Two very cool things to point out - one was the pre-game intro. Whatever was being shown on the jumbotron (do people ever call them that anymore?) was also transposed onto the ice along with some cool Senators logos/graphics/etc. It was a bit like a laser show without the lasers, if that makes any sense.
The other thing was the incredible amount of history on the walls of the top floor. Basically the entire floor is an ode to hockey, with one section dedicated to old barns like Maple Leafs Garden, Olympia Place and Chicago Stadium. Another was a bunch of famous photos (for instance, when you exit the press box, the first photo you see is the famous flying Bobby Orr shot). Another wing had famous newspapers from the Senators era. The Senators franchise isn't all that old, but they were sure to pay homage to the game in grand fashion anyway.
They also take their pee wee exhibitions a little more seriously. The kids played for a full 20 minutes before the game, with stoppages for line changes and whistles for offsides, no less. The craziest thing of the two days was listening to the postgame show while waiting for an elevator at about 11:30 p.m. The host was summing things up by saying it was not time to "blow it up" but there were the concerns about the team not being physical enough. Yea, he was talking about a team that had just lost to "fall" to 13-2 on the season.
All things considered, Scotiabank Place is probably in the top half of the league's buildings but not among the elite.
--- Corey Masisak
So I typed up a long blog post yesterday while sitting in the Detroit Airport, but a string of internet connectivity issues prevented it from ever reaching the World Wide Web. I was in Detroit on my way to Toronto for the Hockey Hall of Fame festivities. Dave will be honored at a luncheon this afternoon and then the players' ceremony is this evening.
Getting into town yesterday provided me with a pretty cool opportunity – I went with Mike Vogel, former play-by-play man Ron Weber and longtime stats guru Carter Myers to Oshawa for my first Major Junior game. And a game in Oshawa isn't just any old OHL contest, but a chance to see hockey's Next Great Hope, John Tavares. The kid who broke Wayne Gretzky's record for most goals by a 16-year old with 72 is five days too young for the 2008 draft, so where he will play next season (Oshawa? Europe? Not in the AHL apparently) will be an intriguing storyline this summer.
Oshawa was playing Peterborough for the second straight night, and there was some, uh, unfinished business from the night before. There was a fight at the drop of the first puck, one 40 seconds later and yet another in the second period. For being teenagers, these things were great theater. They drop the gloves, roll up the sleeves, drop the helmets, dance a little and then go at it. The entire game was pretty chippy (more on that in a second).
Oshawa exacted revenge from the night before with a 4-1 win. Tavares had a goal and an assist, but was given the boot with about 17 minutes left for an open ice knee. The guy he hit, Kenzie Sheppard, was on the ice for a long time, but then came back pretty quickly and he was showered with boos every time he came over the boards or touched the puck the rest of the game.
Tavares was really good, but it wasn't one of those wow nights. He’s strong, incredibly smart, makes nifty passes and will get dirty, but he certainly didn't appear to have that extra gear that Ovechkin and Crosby have. Besides the major penalty and game misconduct for kneeing, he also took an unnecessary shot at a guy earlier in the game. Still, he's only 17.
The other stars of the night were the goaltenders for each team. Peterborough's Trevor Cann (a 2007 second-round pick of Colorado) had to turn away several point-blank chances in part because his team just couldn't match up with Oshawa's forwards. Oshawa’s Jakub Kovar stopped 41 of 42, and the Philadelphia Flyers property really made sure the Petes never got back in it after his team went up 3-1. Tavares' power play sidekick, Brett MacLean had two goals and an assist. He was a second-rounder in June for the Phoenix Coyotes and is another guy with a pretty bright future.
The whole experience, from the intimate arena with a pretty boisterous crowd to the often up-tempo and extremely passionate action to the car ride over listening to some great stories from guys who have forgotten more about hockey than I know, was pretty fantastic. I know today is going to be a special day, and I'm pretty sure I will remember yesterday as one too.
The Caps are wrapping up the morning skate, and I just talked to Glen Hanlon. Milan Jurcina will be back in the lineup after a one-game absence. Steve Eminger is back out after one game, though he will be on the 23-man roster as a healthy scratch now instead of in purgatory on IR. The forward lines from last night (Ovechkin-Nylander-Bourque, Fleischmann-Backstrom-Kozlov, Pettinger-Steckel-Gordon, Brashear-Laich-Bradley) will remain the same.
--- Corey Masisak
I'm here at Scotiabank Place while the Caps are going through the morning skate, and I realize that I've gotten a little behind on my mini-reviews of the different arenas on this adventure otherwise known as the 2007-08 season. It has been almost two weeks since the Caps visited Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Some people remember it as the Kiel Center. Others refer to it as the Savvis Center. In short, the building is less than 15 years old, but it has had many names.
The outside of the building is very nice. One side is all glass and comes to a point on the corner of Clark Avenue. The inside reminded me a lot of the HSBC Center in Buffalo, which is to say it was very expansive and very blue. There were some pretty cool features on the concourse, but the best one was a little exhibition on the Blues' hat trick history, with a bunch of old hats inside. Needless to say, there were a lot of listings for one Brett Hull on there. The coolest non-hockey aspect was the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame. The building hosts the Valley's conference basketball tournament every March 9 (affectionately dubbed "Arch Madness"). Another interesting note was the Bernie Federko's statue, which is inside the barn on the main concourse, instead of say, outside like most I've seen.
--- Corey Masisak
Just got back to my hotel in downtown Ottawa, which feels like it is 700 miles (or kilometers, I guess) from Scotiabank Place, but part of that might have been going the wrong way and rush hour traffic.
Anyway, the Caps did skate this afternoon. Alex Ovechkin, Viktor Kozlov and Michael Nylander were given the day off. Coach Glen Hanlon said he gave Tom Poti the option to rest or skate, and he chose to practice. Chris Clark is not here, and Hanlon does not expect to have him tomorrow night.
What he does have is eight healthy defensemen on the roster and some decisions to make about who will play against the Eastern Conference-leading Senators. More on that in tomorrow's paper.
Here are some mostly meaningless line combinations from today:
Fleischmann-Backstrom-Bourque (this probably just confirms that Flash and Bourque will remain on the top two lines tomorrow)
Pettinger-Steckel-Gordon
Brasher-Laich-Bradley-Sutherby
All signs point to Kolzig in net, and he will apprently be facing Ray Emery, and not the league leader in wins, Martin Gerber.
If it happens, that will technically be three straight backups in goal against the Caps, although Emery is really Ottawa's No. 1 but missed the start of the season while recovering from wrist surgery and Gerber has played too well to give him the job back yet. Toronto might have set a record earlier this year by seeing six straight No. 2s.
--- Corey Masisak
The Caps are practicing later today in Ottawa, but I had some free time this morning during my layover (at Dulles, no less) to ponder this current funk/slide/freefall. The team did play better last night than it has in a while (except for in Toronto, of course), but the Caps were also facing an early favorite for the draft lottery.
It seems like I've written ad nauseam about the Big Three injuries during the past couple weeks, but it is hard to quantify exactly how much the Caps have missed Alexander Semin, Chris Clark and Tom Poti. While the players and coaches have continued to say injuries aren't an excuse, it is hard to ignore when it is those three guys. Poti came back last night, and said afterward he only felt like he was at 70 percent, but needed to get back with the team reeling. Clark and Semin's injuries are tough to diagnose a return for, and Semin especially needs to get right before trying to come back again.
Yes, every NHL team has injuries but not that many lose three of their top six offensive players at the same time. And regardless of whether or not the Caps spent more money this offseason, they are still near the bottom of the league in payroll and are not as deep as they need to be. So each injury, especially to a prominent player, is magnified.
Look back at the team's roster in the last weeks of the season in 2006-07, when the Caps were crashing to the end of another disappointing season, and compare it to the one they have trotted out there the past four or five games before Poti returned. How different are they? The Caps added three veteran free agents and rookies Nicklas Backstrom and David Steckel to last year's post-trade deadline group. So if you take away three top veteran players with injuries, there really is not that much of a difference. They basically traded Alexander Semin and Chris Clark for Michael Nylander and Viktor Kozlov. Without Poti, the defense corps was essentially the same, save for a dramatically improved Mike Green. Backstrom and Steckel have more permanent spots that guys like Jiri Novotny, Kris Beech, Jakub Klepis and Ben Clymer held.
If the Caps didn't add any free agents before the season, and people went into this season with the assumption that the team's improvements would come from adding a couple of rookies and getting a marked improvement from one guy on defense, would those people have expected this team to jump from 70 points to the playoffs? I don't think so.
Should the organization have spent more money? Maybe, but early season attendance at Verizon Center has not been conducive to helping this franchise's bottom line. Have enough of the young players taken a step forward in their development? Maybe not. Alex Ovechkin has been a much better defensive player, but as Mike Vogel has pointed out a few times, his radar is off at the offensive end. Green is definitely better. It is hard to say that with the other young defensemen (Morrisonn, Jurcina and Shultz). Boyd Gordon has been great at the defensive end, but his offensive production has not improved. Tomas Fleischmann has had a couple of decent games but is far from proving he is a top-six forward every night. And Semin has been a non-factor because of the ankle injury.
The moral of this story is, while the Caps might be deeper than last year, they just aren't deep enough to overcome injuries to three impact players at the same time. The additions of Backstrom and Steckel and the improvement of Green (and Ovechkin on defense) has gone a long way to turn 7-1 and 5-2 losses from the end of last season into 4-3 and 2-1 defeats. But the Caps have to get healthy if they're going to win consistently enough to get back in the playoff picture.
--- Corey Masisak
Just got done talking to Glen Hanlon. Steve Eminger will make his season debut tonight in place of Milan Jurcina. Hanlon said Jurcina's absence is "a coach's decision." Juice did take a bad penalty that led to Carolina's first goal and then was out there for the second one in which Cory Stillman went in all alone on Olie Kolzig. Tom Poti will take the warmup skate and be a gametime decision. If he plays, the Caps will dress seven defensemen and Brian Sutherby will be scratched.
Chris Bourque will begin the night on the top line with Alex Ovechkin and Michael Nylander. It will be the first game that Ovechkin and Nylander begin the game on the same line. They did take some shifts together last night.
Here are the projected lines, although Hanlon said they could change quickly:
Ovechkin-Nylander-Bourque
Flesichmann-Backstrom-Kozlov
Pettinger-Steckel-Gordon
Brashear-Laich-Bradley
Sutherby?
Morrisonn-Eminger
Pothier-Schultz
Green-Erksine
Poti?
Brent Johnson will be in net for the Caps. Atlanta will go with Ondrej Pavelec in his second career start instead of Johan Hedberg. Pavelec is a 20-year old from the Czech Republic who starred in the 'Q' the past two seasons and could be the Thrashers Plan B in the future if Kari Lehtonen cannot stay healhty or departs.
UPDATE: Poti is in the lineup and Sutherby is out.
The Caps have recalled Chris Bourque from Hershey and he will make his NHL debut tonight here in Atlanta.
Bourque is a 5-foot-9, 173-pound forward who was a