Boudreau gets yet another well-earned day in the spotlight, as ESPN continues their "surprise story" spotlight of the Caps with part three, a look at BB himself. Meanwhile over at WashingtonPost.com the coach took some time to answer questions from the fans, which included these little gems: Reston, Va.: Would you prefer to coach in a 1-0 game or a 6-5 game? South Riding, Va.: How do you pick players for the overtime shootout? Sandwiched between college football and NBA news...proof of ESPN.com's undying (and until now, hidden) love for the Caps
And of course this Bruce quote, pointed out by astute reader Victor:
Bruce Boudreau: Coaches love to be thought of as defensive gurus, but personally I just want to be the coach that has the higher of the two numbers on the scoreboard. So it does not matter to me.
Mohawk, MI: What do you miss most about coaching in the minor leagues?
Bruce Boudreau: McDonald's of course. And the movies on the bus.
Oh, Matt Bradley. We do love you.
Bruce Boudreau: You have your standard go-to guys, but you might sneak in a guy who is having a hot game. Or if you go 10 or 12 rounds then some of the guys just jump on the ice and go.
Then there's the AP story about how the Caps went from worst to first and why. Of course they point to the fact that the Southeast Division is the weakest in the league - and I have to say, I take issue with that. Not that it's a barn-burning division by any stretch, but Carolina got off to a very hot start and was right on pace with Detroit and Ottawa before a rash of injuries devastated the team and cooled them off; on the flip side, both Washington and Atlanta got off to a slow start and are just now getting hot.
It's not so much a weak division as it is an inconsistent one - should the Caps win the division and make the postseason I'm sure we'll have to revisit that discussion time and time again.
Here's the promising part, though. In Burnside's piece on Boudreau, he clearly states that this is not where they want to be. They want to be challenging the Senators, Habs and Devils of the league, not just the Thrashers and Islanders. As a Caps fan you have to feel encouraged by the continuing sense on this team that good enough is not good enough. And if that keeps up, whether or not the Southeast Division is weak or not may not be the story for much longer.
Continuing the ESPN lovefest, we have a question and answer session with Alex Ovechkin, again over on ESPN.com...they always did love us over there, didn't they? Nothing particularly earth-shattering, just more of the same lovable Ovechkin we see everyday. The kid was raised right for sure.
And rounding it all out, props for Boudreau from "the hairdo" himself, Barry Melrose - who needs to learn how to pronounce Semin's last name before the FCC steps in:
H/t to Peerless for the video
It's funny how getting first place in the division suddenly shines the spotlight on the little team that could, isn't it? Not that we don't welcome the attention, of course. We even got a little more love from ESPN last night, when one of the commentators followed up a blink and you miss it highlight reel of our game by saying "that's it, I'm officially a bandwagon Ovechkin fan."
Welcome aboard, friend. You're not the first and you certainly won't be the last - but there's room for all.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
All About Bruce
Friday, January 18, 2008
Matt Bradley: The "It" Man
Quotes of the night, courtesy of the eternally quotable Matt Bradley:
And one from the Coach for good measure:"I told him, 'I'll score, let me go. I don't think either of us actually believed what I was saying."
"I was hoping I got to go before (backup goalie) Brent Johnson went. I figured if I can go before him, I'll be doing OK."
"He just said, 'I'm going to score, put me out there,' and he jumped over the board and he went in. He told me, he didn't ask."
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Interim No More
Per the Caps website, Bruce Boudreau has officially been named the head coach.
McPhee has said that there was no timeline for them to find an official coach, but I think we every game we could see that Boudreau was "interim" in name only. This is a fantastic move by the organization and anyone who questions making an AHL coach into an NHL coach only has to look at the long list of distinguished NHL coaches, current and past, who got their start in the minors.
Congrats to Bruce - now let's see the Caps give him his first OFFICIAL win!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Gabby Gets Noticed
Here in DC we're used to everyone being ignored by the general media - local and otherwise. The number of times the Caps have shown up on NHL.com anyplace other than the Southeast Notebook could probably be counted on one hand. The amount of articles written about this team in the Canadian Press or the Associated Press that aren't related to the outcome of a game, just as infrequent.
Enter Bruce Boudreau.
He's the NHL's latest media darling, a good guy done good who has arguably become the biggest interview in Washington hockey. The focus has suddenly shifted from a superstar Russian phenom to a slightly chubby, talkative, middle-aged man with horrible taste in clothing and a refreshing outlook. He even got DC Sports Bog to write about hockey for a day...
It's not hard to see why exactly Boudreau is now the subject of so much interest. Besides having a quick wit and a conversational style that screams sound byte, the results on the ice simply can't be denied. The Caps have rebounded from a horrific start to the season, a stretch that saw losing streak after losing streak, crippling one goal losses and sub-par effort on a nightly basis, and are now chugging their way back into the thick of the race. Although still in last place, the gap between the Capitals and the coveted eighth spot has shrunk and teams ahead of them are starting to look over their shoulder.
The wins have been hard-fought; the losses often have been as well. Overtime wins against the Flyers and the Rangers, a one-goal thriller over the Devils, a blowout against the Thrashers - and most recently, an effort that saw the Caps go punch for punch with the league's best team, the Red Wings.
When asked about his success Boudreau's first response always seems to be that he just does what he's always done - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But it's clear that his dedication to three key concepts has gotten the team this far.
He preaches discipline. He preaches confidence. He preaches winning.
And after a less than stellar effort, Boudreau is the first one to name names, to single out players who should be playing better. And that means any player. Everyone from Kolzig to Pothier to Fleischmann to Semin has been called on the mat, but it's not in a Tortorella-esque way, where you picture the player in question cowering in a corner being admonished like a child. Instead he's matter-of-fact, respectful in his criticism and always grounding it in the belief that the singled out player can do better.
Therein lies the difference between a good coach and a blowhard...but that's an issue for another day.
Since taking over, Boudreau has managed to get good performances out of most of the team on a consistent basis. More notably, though, he's gotten great performances out of his young players who spent time with him in Hershey. Mike Green obviously stands out as someone who has blossomed this year, his confidence and his ice time increasing with every game.
But what about Jeff Schultz, who suddenly has five goals of his own? Or Brooks Laich, who has stepped up his game despite occasionally being on the fourth line and has developed into a consistently smart player? And let's not forget Quintin Laing, who has stepped in and put together an impressive stretch since being called up, doing all the little things that don't show up on the scoreboard and adding a few points as well.
This team is clicking on almost all cylinders right now. It's important not to get ahead of ourselves, and consistency will be the big test down the line. At the moment, though, this team is doing what they should have been doing all year long - proving people wrong.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Where We've Been, Where We're Going
- First and most importantly, the Caps are 6-3-1 since Gabby took over - that's 13 out of a possible 20 points, a .650 percentage. If the Caps continue at their current pace over the remaining games they'll have about 92 points...which if you recall was the exact number the Islanders had when they squeaked into the playoffs last year. (By the way, if you stretch that out over a whole 82 game season it would give the Caps 106.6 points.) Thanks to Biff for doing the legwork, aka the math, and for the heads up.
- Before Boudreau the Caps had only managed 3 or more goals seven times; only three of those times did the Caps score at least 4. Since then the Caps have scored 3 or more goals in six of their ten games; four of those games have seen the Caps score at least 4.- Two key guys over the last ten games have been Alex Ovechkin and Mike Green. Ovechkin
has contributed 25% of the team's offense since Boudreau came on - that's actually down from the close to 30% he has over the entire season...and it's down further in the last five games, to about 10%. Meanwhile Mike Green has gone on a tear, scoring 3 goals including the game-winner in overtime last night, and now leads the league in goals by a defenseman. He's also even in +/-...
Gabby says no.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Hanlon Out, Boudreau In
Anyone who has followed Caps hockey at all this season knew that it was not a question of if Glen Hanlon would be fired...but when.
And "when" becomes today, as it was announced this morning that Hanlon had been removed from his position as head coach. Serving as interim head coach will be Bruce Boudreau, bench boss for the Caps' AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears.
None of this is a surprise.
Hanlon's tenure here was overall a very successful one, creating a team that grew a reputation for being hard-working and feisty if not overly talented. He was the perfect coach for a young, rebuilding team - patient, calm, and always eager to teach. The problems started when suddenly this group of lunch pail guys was infused with more talent, and then magnified when the talent suffered a rash of injuries.
It seemed at times that the Caps simply stopped listening to him. Many players came out over the past week and defended Hanlon, saying he was telling them what to do and they just weren't executing - well, that's a problem. If the players aren't motivated to follow instructions that they know are right, it's time for a change.
So after a loss to the Thrashers last night the Caps find themselves under the guidance of 
Boudreau, a talented AHL coach who has led the Bears to two straight Calder Cup finals. Boudreau has the advantage of having coached a number of the Caps in the AHL and has been regarded by some as one of the better coaches not in the NHL - we'll see how true that is when the boys travel to Philly for a post-Thanksgiving matinee against the Flyers tomorrow.
Best of luck to Hanlon - I'll admit I'm sad to see him go, as much as I am looking forward with hope for a turnaround. And of course good luck to Bruce Boudreau in his new role...here's hoping he's got what it takes.
It certainly can't get any worse.
