Training Camp Schedule

The rookie and training camp schedule has been released - check out the details on the website, including information on the Caps FanFest to be held opening day of camp, September 14. (Guess none of the top Caps' brass are Jewish...)

Remember, all on-ice activities are open to the public, so I hope to see a lot of you out there getting a quick fix of hockey before the season mercifully gets underway!

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What Balanced Schedule?

With all four major networks releasing their broadcast schedules yesterday, I thought it would be fun to look at how each team is represented from coast to coast...fun being a relative term as I've basically just run out of things to talk about.

It is, overall, a slightly more balanced schedule than last season, but again that's a relative term.

I was all set to complain about how underrepresented the Caps (with a maximum of 14 games airing nationally in the US or Canada) are this year until I realized it could be much, much worse. Look at the Islanders, with 9. How about Florida, with only 6? Poor little Columbus, Nashville and St. Louis with 4, 3 and 4 respectively.

A few things jump out at me right away - first of all, obviously, is the prevalence of Penguins games. I get that Sidney Crosby is the anointed one, the holy spirit, the second coming, whatever you want to call it. But this is also a team whose greatest achievement in the last five or six years is not getting swept in the first round of last year's playoffs. Do we really have to see them 35 times? That's behind only Toronto and Montreal, whose numbers are artificially inflated because they obviously dominate CBC broadcasts.

Think of this fact: the Penguins appear on CBC 7 times (same with the Rangers); that's more than Boston, Buffalo, Colorado and Minnesota, each of whom is actually in a division with three other Canadian teams. They appear on TSN 13 times; that's more than Ottawa and Toronto combined.

Does anyone else find that strange?

Okay, so my second issue - Detroit. They are, for whatever reason, the Pittsburgh of the Western Conference. They're not young or exciting, but they apparently have a lot of fans. And it is because of them that some teams even get on TV. Just go back to Nashville, whose 3 games are the fewest in the league - 2 of those games are against the Wings. Columbus and St. Louis each have 4 games, tied for second fewest, and they also have 2 apiece versus Detroit.

I understand the limitations of marketing in these so-called "non-hockey towns". I get that your ratings are theoretically higher when, say, the Rangers, Penguins or Red Wings are playing versus when Tampa Bay or Phoenix is playing. But that still doesn't completely excuse the totally unbalanced menu we're being given this year. If that's the case, explain the 11 games going to New Jersey (3 against the Pens, by the way); give me a reason for 9 games for the Islanders. Detroit may call itself "HockeyTown" but Minnesota is and always will be the State of Hockey...and the Wild has only 7.

Buffalo, a team that has reached the Eastern Conference finals 2 years in a row, has 19 - that's the fewest in a division whose other teams haven't made a playoff splash in years. Carolina and Tampa? 7 games, and those are two of your last three Stanley Cup Champs. Ottawa was a Finalist this year and yet they have only 1 game in the States.

Oh, yeah, and that reminds me, what about those 2007 Cup Champs? 10 games. 10.

Way to go, NHL.

If you're a numbers geek like me, enjoy:
Atlantic Division - 103
NJD VS 3; NBC 1; CBC 3; TSN 4 = 11 (3 vs Pit)
NYI VS 5; NBC 0; CBC 1; TSN 3 = 9 (2 vs Pit)
NYR VS 8; NBC 8; CBC 7; TSN 5 = 28 (7 vs Pit)
PHI VS 8; NBC 4; CBC 3; TSN 5 = 20 (6 vs Pit)
PIT VS 8; NBC 7; CBC 7; TSN 13 = 35

Central Division - 42
CHI VS 2 ; NBC 2; CBC 3; TSN 2 = 9 (1 vs Det)
CBJ VS 1; NBC 1; CBC 1; TSN 1 = 4 (2 vs Det)
DET VS 8; NBC 7; CBC 3; TSN 4 = 22
NSH VS 1; NBC 2; CBC 0; TSN 0 = 3 (2 vs Det)
STL VS 3; NBC 0; CBC 1; TSN 0 = 4 (2 vs Det)

Northeast Division - 144
BOS VS 6; NBC 4; CBC 5; TSN 9 = 24 (1 vs Pit)
BUF VS 7; NBC 3; CBC 2; TSN 7 = 19 (1 vs Pit)
MON VS 5; NBC 1; CBC 17; TSN 13 = 36 (2 vs Pit)
OTT VS 1; NBC 0; CBC 20; TSN 6 = 27 (2 vs Pit)
TOR VS 3; NBC 0; CBC 28; TSN 7 = 38 (2 vs Pit)

Northwest Division - 88
CGY VS 1; NBC 0; CBC 14; TSN 6 = 21 (1 vs Det)
COL VS 8; NBC 1; CBC 3; TSN 8 = 20 (2 vs Det)
EDM VS 1; NBC 0; CBC 13; TSN 5 = 19 (1 vs Pit)
MIN VS 3; NBC 0; CBC 1; TSN 3 = 7 (1 vs Pit)
VAN VS 2; NBC 0; CBC 14; TSN 5 = 21 (1 vs Pit, 2 vs Det)

Southeast Division - 44
ATL VS 4; NBC 1; CBC 2; TSN 3 = 10 (2 vs Pit)
CAR VS 5; NBC 0; CBC 1; TSN 1 = 7
FLA VS 1; NBC 0; CBC 2; TSN 3 = 6
TB VS 2; NBC 0; CBC 2; TSN 3 = 7
WSH VS 4; NBC 3; CBC 2; TSN 5 = 14 (2 vs Pit)

Pacific Division - 38
ANA VS 4; NBC 2; CBC 2; TSN 2 = 10 (1 vs Det)
DAL VS 4; NBC 2; CBC 2; TSN 2 = 10 (1 vs Det)
LA VS 1; NBC 0; CBC 3; TSN 2 = 6 (1 vs Det)
PHO VS 1; NBC 0; CBC 5; TSN 0 = 6
SJ VS 2; NBC 1; CBC 1; TSN 2 = 6 (1 vs Pit)

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Mark Your Calendars

This post is entitled "random thoughts from the Cheap Seats until CapsChick flies away to get her hockey fix by attending the end of today's baby Caps scrimmage".

(But we'll call it "Fred" for short.)

Your frozen moment for today:Hey, look! Sheldon Souray playing defense...sort of.

Poor Huet. No matter what jersey he's wearing he has to bail ol' Shel out. Can't imagine why no one's snapped up #44 yet.

- Finally! Here is the 2007-08 Washington Capitals Schedule. We open in Atlanta October 5, then back to VC for our second consecutive home opener against the 'Canes. Seemed to work out pretty well for them the first time around...

Preseason schedule is as follows:

Sun Sep 16, 2007 Capitals @ Hurricanes 3:00 PM ET
Thu Sep 20, 2007 Capitals @ Senators 7:00 PM ET
Sat Sep 22, 2007 Capitals @ Lightning 7:30 PM ET
Tue Sep 25, 2007 Hurricanes @ Capitals 7:00 PM ET
Wed Sep 26, 2007 Capitals @ Flyers 7:00 PM ET
Fri Sep 28, 2007 Flyers @ Capitals 7:00 PM ET
Sun Sep 30, 2007 Senators @ Capitals 5:00 PM ET

Bastards. Three home games and I'm out of town for all but the last one. I know they're meaningless, but this hockey withdrawal thing will be at critical mass by then. And so I repeat...bastards.

A couple of things that stick out on this year's schedule:

- The Caps kick off the season in full gear, playing five games in five cities over eight days with only one home game during that stretch. That's going to be fuuuun.

- Our one visit to the Western Conference will be to the Central Division, which features at least a few teams that have improved themselves (at least on paper) and the old farts Detroit Red Wings. The Caps get a reprieve from the Pacific Division and the defending Champs but will host the Northwest Division.

- No road trips longer than 3 games until, get this - the end of March. A big, fat 6 game road swing right when (we hope) the Caps will be in the thick of the playoff race. The first two games of the trip see the Caps taking on Nashville and Chicago, then down the coast to face all four division rivals.

- Three home games finish off the season after that long road trip, as Carolina, Tampa, and Florida all stop by for a visit.

- At first glance it looks like we won't have to suffer through another home and home and home stretch against any of our Southeast friends this time around, nor will there be any periods of time where we see one team 5 times in 2 weeks or anything like that. Chalk one up for the scheduling gods for that one...

- ...but take it away again for trying to kill me at the end of January. A home and home against my Habs? Booooo. In fact the Caps have two straight home and home series, one against the Leafs a little less than a week before.

- The traditional New Year's Day game will feature a visit from the other nation's capitals, Eastern Conference Champion Ottawa.

- Sidney alert: the Penguins and all their mulleted friends slide into DC on October 20th and March 9th

- Jagr alert: the Rags will be in town December 12th and February 10th...get those boos ready!

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