Caps' Baby D Getting Some Love

NHL.com is spotlighting our young defensemen, who appear to be making the rounds of NHL world after appearing on XM yesterday. Nice to see - let's hope they can shut down Jagr and friends tonight, continuing the buzz that's starting to be generated.

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Spooky Wednesday

Happy Halloween!

It's a non-gameday Wednesday, so of course that means assorted goodies for your reading pleasure.

- First up - Mike Vogel, of course, has a great piece on Peter Bondra's retirement over at the Caps' website. Reading about the various milestones, the franchise records, the evolution of one of Washington's great athletes just reminds me how amazing he was as a Capital - something I think we forget from time to time with a couple of young superstars burgeoning here in the District.

- Morrisonn, Green and Jurcina stopped by the NHL Store in Manhattan and made an appearance on NHL Live on XM Center Ice. Some highlights:

• Jurcina talking about having to learn English and about the difference between playing in Boston and Washington.
• Morrisonn discussing getting "jumped" by Vinny and offering the quote of the day: "Next time I don't want to lead with my face onto the ice." Indeed.
• Mo grew up idolizing Cam Neely, switched his allegiance from Vancouver to Boston when Neely was traded and had the opportunity to meet him when he was drafted by the Bruins; Green idolized Scott Niedermayer; Jurcina was a fan of the Red Wings and Canadiens but loved Chris Pronger
• Favorite movies: Morrisonn, Braveheart; Green, Dumb and Dumber (oh Mike...really??); Jurcina, no favorite movies
• What they do on days off: sleep. Bet you didn't see that one coming.
• By the way if you've never heard Green, Morrisonn and Jurcina talking together before and you get the chance, be sure that you're caffeinated. Let's just say that Mo was probably the most animated of the three...

- Karl Alzner was voted team captain by his Calgary Hitmen teammates, a process the team does later in the season to allow the team to get to know one another. Said Hitmen coach and GM Kelly Kisio, "I think Karl is a student of the game. He's there every night and competes hard every night." Karl will look to lead the Hitmen out of a recent slump in which they've dropped 5 of their last 7 - this is after starting the season 9-1. Good luck and congratulations to Karl!

- Mr. Happy Sunshine Guy Tarik reports that its not looking good for any of our three injured players returning tomorrow night against the Rangers. Clark is still day to day, Semin skated with the team but not at full speed, and Poti is still nursing a groin injury - and we know how long those can take to fully heal.

People need to stop panicking, though. We beat Toronto...and no, the Leafs are not exactly a formidable opponent. Who says the Rangers are? They have Jagr and a slew of centers unable to play with him; they have a defense about as good as Toronto's; their only asset really is their goaltending. If the Caps play like they did north of the border, they'll be fine.

Plus I'm not ready to count Clark out for the game until I hear official word otherwise. The fact that he flew to NYC when the Caps return home again on Friday gives me hope that he'll be back sooner rather than later - I guess we'll wait and see.

- Finally, happy 24th birthday to injured (or "injured"?) defenseman Steve Eminger - you still have the love of the Cheap Seats, Stevie!

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Gentlemen, Start Your Engines!

Training camp! It's official, we're underway for the 2007-08 season - it's the first day so it's really just a lot of drills and a scrimmage and stuff. I have no real observations from today since...well, it's the first day. Maybe I'll have something of merit tomorrow. For today, though, I'll share with you my new weird obsession with Milan Jurcina.

Observe:

Milan making a weird little faceMIIII-LAAAAN
Milan and Poti
Morrisonn and a smiley Milan
Jerky and Mo, together again

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Jurcina Re-Signed

Big, exciting news out of Capsville - the Caps have avoided arbitration with defenseman Milan Jurcina, signing him to a two-year deal that will pay him $850,000 next season and $912,500 the season after. That's a significant raise over the $500,000 he made last year, a price at which I think we all can agree was a steal for the steady, gritty blueliner.

Good news for the team and for Jurcina, great news for fans, and the best news? No more arbitration! That just leaves a few RFAs to sign - Fleischmann, Klepis and Erskine. If Kevin Lowe happens to come sniffing around Flash and/or Klepis, he's welcome to them...

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