Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Buh-bye, Joey

Hang in there, Caps fans - one more day until we get to put this losing streak behind us and get back to some real hockey...

- That "paper" transaction has now become a real transaction, as Joe Motzko is headed back to Hershey. Poor Joe. It's not really his fault. Had he been used on a third or fourth line rather than thrown to the wolves alongside Ovechkin and, dear god, on the power play point, he might have made a better impression. As it was I think the majority of people saw what I saw - a fairly balanced combination of decent plays and forehead-slapping blunders. Back to Hershey you go, Joe, and best of luck.

- Motzko's departure means but one thing - Alexander Semin is back. And not a moment too soon, if you ask me. Scary stat of the day: Semin's power play goal total from last season (17) is greater than the total number of goals scored by the entire team to this point (14).

- Hanlon is taking the opportunity (i.e. the horrific losing streak and continued ineffectiveness of the power play) to mix things up a bit, moving Clark back up to the top line alongside Ovechkin and Kozlov and shifting Steckel up to the checking line in his place.

This is one of those "good in the moment" moves, because as much as I like Clarkie and as much as I want to see some sort of production out of him, he's really much better suited to a checking line role. And anyone who doubts the beauty that was the Pettinger-Gordon-Clark line only has to see the number they did on Crosby Saturday night - the Kid had only 2 shots. That's it. Brilliant, brilliant work against a very tough player.

- Tinkering continues on a flailing power play and Mike Green makes his return to the point alongside Poti, which is good news for everyone. I know that ideally you want at least 4 forwards out there, but Greenie's got more points than a lot of our forwards right now and he doesn't seem to have this crippling fear of shooting the puck. And with Semin coming back you have to think that they're bound to get one in eventually...right?

- Good piece in the Times today about bloggers working with the Caps to lead the interweb revolution, filling a void left by shrinking mainstream media budgets and attention spans. Oh, the irony.

- Kind of a big night around the NHL, as the Canadian media is wetting themselves over Ryan Smyth's return to Edmonton - the city he left in tears last season. Meanwhile a true battle of the titans takes place across the border as the Maple Leafs host Atlanta, and Sidney Crosby is revealed tonight before the Pens-Rangers game. Revealed as what, they don't say...I'm guessing some kind of robot.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm just hoping it's not "revealed" as in the Sidbits. I don't think my psyche could take that.


Also, I'm wondering how much of the HBear willingness to put up with me is direct trickledown from the Caps' embrace of bloggers. I keep wanting to throw my nose into those arguments and yell "MEE TOOOOOO!" but that seems rather, uh, undignified.

Or somethin'

-Teka (on the wrong Gmail account)

njnigh said...

hey caps chick.. whats the word on Ben Clymer? When/Is he coming back from hershey? I miss his beautiful face. (He isn't married or anything is he?) thanks!

CapsChick said...

Teka: Please never say Sidbits around here again. Ugh. My psyche can barely take reading that word - did you watch it? What did they reveal? Does he have a birthmark in the shape of Mario's head or something?

Nicole: The best answer I can give you is...I don't know. In my opinion, though, things aren't looking good for a return trip to DC for Ben. I'd have to think the team is trying to shop him around and the adventure on the waiver wire a few weeks ago was probably a way of testing the waters. Once teams get a bit deeper into the season and injuries pile up the interest might pick up as well. Sadly I just don't see them paying someone 2 million over the next two years just to play in the AHL.

As for the married thing, from what I hear he is very much single (although he could have a girlfriend stashed somewhere, I don't know).

Anonymous said...

No. What they revealed is that Sidney Crosby is a talking head who wanted to be a goalie when he was little.
The whole show, as I keep saying, was like "Crosby for Puckbunnies with ADD." Whoever they got to do it had some spaz issues in the editing room.
However, VS does know how to light Sid's big brown doe eyes too damn well. I kept almost falling for it., which could have been DISASTROUS, as we all know I'm much more into his bestest friend evar.

Clymer wise,I could see them leaving him in Hershey to mentor Beagle and the other younguns' who are there for a little while.. with Deano out the next highest rankers are Cassivi and Robitaille, and while you might learn alot about stopping pucks with body parts from Cassivi and racking up penalty minutes from Louie, having a solid on-ice presence with some real NHL experience is probably good for the little boys.


(Hershey won't be clamoring to get rid of him either, as he scored 2 of 3 goals in the home opener.... I'll poke my nose around if I make the box this weekend and see what I can gather.)

Oh, and can I call them the BennyBits?

njnigh said...

Teka, okay, i just laughed out loud... BennyBits probably the best the thing i've heard in a while.

Victor said...

She should be banned for mis-using and abusing the Sacred Tim-Bits!