Opening Night Roster Set

- Postgame from Sunday's loss to Carolina will not be available due to the fact that I am still pissed about it and choose to ignore this game altogether. Please see WashingtonCaps.com for more details...

...and please ignore Dave Fay's implication that Eminger is on his way out. I refuse to speculate on whether our 2002 first-round draft pick will be gone because he's had a subpar preseason and was benched for most of the 'Canes game. They know what he's capable of and I doubt they would get rid of someone with so much potential based on a meaningless two-week period. Moving on...

- The opening night roster has officially been set, with Alexandre Giroux being sent down to the AHL and Matt Pettinger being placed on the IR. Hopefully whatever is ailing Pettinger is minor and will not keep him out of the lineup for too long. As for Giroux, I did really like the little I saw from him, and I'm sure he will be back later in the season as injuries and/or performance require.

It's important to note that guys like Beech, Klepis, etc. are still not guaranteed a full-time place on the roster once Pettinger gets back, so those guys will have to continue to scrap it out. As impressed as I was with Klepis up to now, I personally would like to see Beech stick around if only because this is likely his last chance (as I and many others have mentioned ad nauseum), and I think he's earned this roster spot. Klepis is a few years younger and will probably make the team in the next year or two, but another year in Hershey won't hurt. Having said that, I don't think you could really go wrong with either one at this point - that's my wishy-washy answer and I'm sticking to it.

And so, I proudly present your 2006-2007 Washington Capitals! (For now...)

Forwards
Kris Beech, Matt Bradley, Donald Brashear, Chris Clark, Rico Fata, Boyd Gordon, Jakub Klepis, Brooks Laich, Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Brian Sutherby, Richard Zednik, Dainius Zubrus (+ Matt Pettinger)

Defensemen
Ben Clymer, Steve Eminger, John Erskine, Mike Green, Jamie Heward, Shaone Morrisonn, Bryan Muir, Brian Pothier

Goaltenders
Olie Kolzig, Brent Johnson

- Ovechkin continues his success in all sports - I don't think he's going to pull a Michael Jordan anytime soon, but I thought this was pretty funny...especially if anyone saw that clip of him swinging a golf club at the auto show.

- Speaking of Ovechkin, this article just increased my love for him...how cute is it that he used to call Zubrus four or five times a day?? (I'm sure Zubie is glad that number has decreased, but still...)