Rookie Camp: Day 4

Anyone who made it out to Kettler this morning was treated to something we've been waiting for all week - rookie scrimmage!!

After days of drills, which while highly necessary and understandable are a little on the dull side, the arrivals of defensemen Karl Alzner and Josh Godfrey finally provided enough players to have a full scale, 5 on 5 scrimmage. Remember the scrimmages from July's development camp? Think the complete opposite of that - exciting, fast, smooth, and bursting with talent on both teams, today's game was really a great look at the future of the Caps.

Despite the occasional appearance of Dean Evason to set up a certain play or scenario, this was an actual game - offside, hand passes, even penalties.

Tsk, tsk...

Almost like real hockey, folks! Here's how the teams broke down:

WHITE - Backstrom, Beagle, Bouchard, Guerin, Kronick, Lacroix, Morin, Pinizzotto, and Werner up front; Alzner, Collins, Godfrey and Lepisto on the blue line; Machesney in net.


BLUE - Gordon, Joudrey, Leffler, Lynes, Maxwell, Perreault, Taylor, Wilson, and Brashear (yup, Brash stepped in to even out the teams!) up front; Hunt, McNeill, Pokulok and Sloan on the blue line; Neuvirth in net.

I'll admit, when I saw the white team lineup I thought naively that this would be a walk for them. Backstrom and four of our hotshot defenseman on one team? No contest. The blue team really pulled out strong after the first period, though, riding some strong play from Andrew Gordon, Sasha Pokulok and Tyler Sloan and killing off several penalties while netting a few power play markers of their own. Even Brash chipped in a goal as the blue team went on to win 5-3.

It's hard to really single out too many people as being standouts today. I can say that Backstrom was and continues to be just as impressive as expected and is obviously a shoo-in for a spot at training camp. Alzner was equally satisfying, steady and always in good position on the blue line, and Godfrey's shot (when it gets through) is as wicked as advertsied. Pokulok probably worked the body the most and did it well, throwing around his 6'5", 220 lb frame like it was a bag of feathers.

Other than that, though, there were just really good performances up and down each bench. Sure, there were rookie mistakes and plays that were glaringly amateurish, but there were also great passes, great plays, great saves and great goals aplenty from even the unlikeliest of people. So enticing was this game that at one point about six or seven of the Caps gathered around the glass to watch the end (although I think it was also partly to pick on Brashear...)

All in all, a good preview for what should be a good tilt as the Caps rookies take on the baby Flyers in thrilling Voorhees, NJ tomorrow afternoon. I hope to have some good stuff for you to wrap up this very successful rookie camp - here's to a Caps victory, the first of the season!

Seen and heard at the Caps' informal practice session:
- Locker leading the team in more drills that at one point seemed to even confuse the players...or maybe it was just me
- Clymer greeting many of his teammates for the first time since the spring, including a cute grin-filled reunion with Jurcina

Clymer and Jurcina...together again!

- Olie starting off the scrimmage with a reminder to show some effort. He actually didn't have to yell at the team during the game this time

Don't piss off Zilla

- A series of goals on Johnny leads to the inevitable smashing of the stick over the crossbar and the string of curses
- Tarik spotting! (It's about damn time...Corey's been out here for days)
- Nylander doing laps around the rink for about 10 minutes while the ice was being resurfaced. Yeah, the guy is in pretty good shape.
- A handful of centers took some time at the end of practice to work on their faceoffs...always a good idea.

Here's Sutherby helping out Laich and then Laich working with Steckel:


Laich working with Sutherby and Gordon...check out Boyd's mad skills, he hits it every time: Finally Laich vs. Sutherby:

And there you have it! More tomorrow...

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Rookie Camp: Day 3

More Rookie Camp MADNESS!!! Can you feel the excitement? It's impossible to put it into words, so feast your eyes on the multicolored, nameless jerseyed thrill ride that was Rookie Camp: Day 3.

Check out my rookie camp galleries for more exciting stuff:

Day 1
Day 3

Oh, and check out Kevin Hatcher Fan Club for a more detailed recap of today's events, including a fabulous Olie story from the Caps practice earlier today that I just can't put into words...and Biff's continued belief that Dave Steckel is trying to kill him.

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Rookie Camp: Day 1

Rookie camp! Yay!

Okay. So it's not as exciting as you may think, but it's the future of the team we're watching out there and it's important. Really.

Naturally it's still better to be watching hockey on an otherwise dull Saturday than to be doing almost anything else, and there were exciting moments. Some guys were good, some were a little rough, a few were spectacular - just what you'd expect. It's only day one, though, and drills are a hard way to get a good idea of the range of talent here.

Some special moments captured on film:

Coach Hanlon doing what he does best - working the wipe board
Watching attentively...
Perreault's posterior
Uhh...
Local boy Werner
Drills...
Learning more drills...
Backstrom - smile!
Michal Neuvirth posing just for me
Some of the guys had an interesting way of
picking up the pucks at the end
They gave up after a little while......but only for a minute:

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Hangin' with the Boys

As I'm sure everyone has heard, a number of the Caps are now in town and have been skating together regularly in a mini-training camp - something they are doing at their own cost, on their own time, and of their own accord.

I managed to venture out to Kettler yesterday morning for a little hockey fix and I have to say I got much more than I hoped for. 18 players took the ice and after about an hour of drills (led by Craig Laughlin) they launched into a high speed, end to end, four on four game of shinny that was highly entertaining and ended with a final score of...oh, let's say 8-4. I could be wrong.

Seen and heard at KCI:
- Donald Brashear in an elevator with a cup of coffee and a kind word for a speechless fan (who shall remain anonymous...)
- Milan Jurcina getting absolutely undressed by Brash in a passing/shooting drill that drew a roar from the team and a sheepish grin from Jurcina
- Boyd Gordon with some fancy moves that led to not one but two goals against Johnson...and more than a few chuckles from the team
- Matt Pettinger and Olie Kolzig talking smack through the whole scrimmage - it was hard to hear what they were saying specifically, but rest assured it probably wouldn't have been fit for public consumption anyways
- Olie doing push-ups after the blue team scored
- Olie's "temper tantrum" after the final goal was scored, which included stick-swinging and door-slamming on his way to the locker room...I'm pretty sure it was fake
- Nylander working with Backstrom on some sprint drills after most of the team left the ice

Here are some pics from my morning at KCI:

Laich and Green warming up with Johnny

Locker explaining a drill to Clark and Nylander

Brooks Laich

Mike Green

Boyd GordonBrian Pothier
Sutherby and Bradley
Punishment for being scored on...push-ups on ice
Waiting for the next drill

Scrimmage action:

(I have a newfound respect for camera operators, by the way...)

Follow the links below for some more live action thrills and chills:

Boys standing around
More boys standing around
(hey, this is stuff you won't find just anywhere, folks!)
Skating drill
Camera-stalking Chris Clark for no apparent reason
Camera-stalking Michael Nylander, again for no apparent reason
Brash doing his requisite push-ups

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Top 5: Caps to Watch This Season

Today's list:

5 Caps to Watch This Season

Alexander Semin: Semin's first season with the Caps was less than stellar. His second one could only be termed a breakout year. So now the question becomes what can we expect this year? The Alexander Semin we saw during the 2006-07 season was undoubtedly more disciplined, more consistent and more productive than the pre-lockout Alexander Semin. Still, there are some bugs to work out and he still has a tendency to be a little selfish on the ice. If he can knock off the puck-throwing and decrease the stupid penalties, look for him to hover near the 40 goal mark again this year.

Nicklas Backstrom: There is a lot of pressure on the young Swede to come over to DC and immediately make his mark on the team. He certainly has the potential to be one of the elite players in the league someday, but it may be asking too much of him to expect the kind of breakout year guys like Crosby and Ovechkin had in their rookie seasons. He'll have to adjust to a new country, a new league, and new teammates all while being asked to center one of the top two lines, and it'll be interesting to see how he deals with the pressure.

Olie Kolzig: Olie continues to perform consistently night in and night out, and his teammates and those in the organization marvel at his fitness level and dedication. Still, by the end of this season he will be 38 years old and his body will naturally start to show signs of wear and tear as the months go on. We saw what happened last year when he encountered what was probably his first serious, long-term injury. Johnny admittedly struggled at times as the temporary starter, but more often than not the team just didn't play as well in front of him. If Olie can make it through the season injury-free there are a lot of teams in the East who should be worried...if not, the Caps are in trouble.

Jeff Schultz: This will be an important year for Jeff Schultz, as it will be for a lot of our young defensemen. The Caps have a backlog on D with a number of hungry youngsters fighting for those last two blue line roster spots. Schultzie put together a solid season last year, especially towards the end of the year, and he developed a reputation as being the quiet, steady defender who did his job without drawing attention to himself. What he has in size, though, he often lacks in grit, knocking opposing players down more by accident than with an intentional body check. He'll need that little snarl to his game if he wants to make the jump and hang on to a permanent spot on the team.

Tom Poti: I'm singling out Poti from the other free agent signings because it is on defense that the Caps have been the most suspect in the past few years. Poti is a big, puck-moving defenseman and the power play quarterback this team so desperately needs. He'll almost definitely be in the top four defensemen on the team, meaning he'll pick up 20+ minutes a night, more on the power play. The knock on Poti over the years has been that he maybe doesn't use his size (6'3", 210 lbs) as much as he could and has struggled a bit with consistency, but last season was a career year for Tom and the Caps will be looking for more of the same from the veteran d-man.

Honorable Mention - Nylander/Kozlov/Ovechkin: There are a lot of expectations for these three as we head into the season, and many have predicted that this will be our new top line. For Nylander, he's looking to finish out his career in Washington and the Caps will look to him to create plays and open ice for Alex. As for Alex, he's coming off a "disappointing" sophomore season with a mere 92 points last year, but he's apparently changed his training regime and looks to be in great shape coming into camp. Kozlov is kind of the unknown variable in the equation - will he be consistent? Will he play center or wing? Will he start using his size? All questions that hopefully will be answered before opening night, but there's plenty of potential there for him to make his mark on this team.

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More Offseason News and Updates

- Check out Ovechkin's thoughts on the Super Series over at Dump and Chase. From the sounds of it this series, which could have been a great opportunity to encourage better relations worldwide, seems to be causing more tension between Canadian and Russian hockey. Sad, really.

- Montreal will retire two more numbers this season - Larry Robinson and Bob Gainey, 19 and 23 respectively. Not that those two don't deserve the honor, but this is getting a little ridiculous. I think this says it all:
- And finally, I'm sure many of you have heard that the goal judges in many arenas will be moved up to the concourse level, allowing for more seats and therefore more ticket revenues. I have it from a source with ties to the organization that the Caps will be one of those teams making the change. The goal judges will wait for the signal from the refs before turning on the goal light and the Caps get four more potential ticketholders in prime seats.

It's funny, the goal judge has always seemed like kind of an odd phenomenon to me. A little old man in a glass box who turns on a light, and that is his only job. How many times have we seen one with an itchy trigger finger, sending the arena into hysterics only to have the mood completely deflated when the "no goal" indication is given by the ref? I can't say this is necessarily a bad change...although it will look odd to go into Verizon center and not see them behind the net. I guess change is inevitable, though, right?

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Top 5: Reasons the Caps Will Make the Playoffs

Potential jinxing be damned. This team has never needed my help to shoot themselves in the foot before, why start now?

Today's list:
Top 5 Reasons the Caps WILL Make the Playoffs

Improved power play: It’s a well known fact in Washington that special teams have been a weakness for quite a while. Lacking that talented play-making center, lacking that specialized power play quarterback, the Caps have hovered between the middle and bottom of the pack on either end of the special teams spectrum. But with the additions of Poti, Nylander and Kozlov and the continued development of players like Matt Pettinger and Alexander Semin, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to think that the Caps could be in the top ten with the extra man this season.

Depth at center: It’s a strange phenomenon to go from having few options down the middle to having too many, but that’s exactly where we find ourselves. With Backstrom, Nylander, Kozlov, and potentially Steckel, the center position has been stabilized considerably and Hanlon will probably have the luxury of having 6-7 natural centers spread out among his four forward lines. That equals more faceoff wins, better offensive zone attacks, stronger passing plays – in short, more puck possession. And as we’ve seen so many times, it’s easier to score when you have the puck.

Veteran presence on the blue line: There are still a lot of people grumbling about the fact that the Caps are missing that gritty, stay at home defenseman, a Brendan Witt/Scott Stevens type of player who can patrol the defensive zone with a warning scowl and a booming body check. In the new NHL, though, these one-dimensional players are becoming more and more elusive. GMGM wisely went out and got a puck-moving defenseman in Tom Poti, a relative bargain pricewise, to shore up his blue line. With Poti’s addition the Caps now have a few defensemen with some experience and a young corps of blueliners who are starting to come into their own. Still craving that big, gruff defenseman? Jeff Schultz will be that for the Caps and much more as he continues to grow. Just have patience.

General suckitude of the Southeast: Okay, I don’t mean that to sound as harsh as it probably comes across, but let’s face it – the division wasn’t exactly sending teams running for the hills last season, and of the five teams the Caps probably improved the most. Sure, they needed to do the most to even get to the level of the other four, but the other teams were so stagnant this offseason they practically moved backwards. Florida picked up Vokoun and…Zednik. Tampa still needs consistent goaltending. Carolina’s blue line is collecting social security. And Atlanta lost Cap-killer Sim, still lacks a center for Kovalchuk, and picked up Ken Klee. Frankly I’m not worried.

Ovechkin/Semin: The Russian duo is really the ace in the hole for the Caps, and boy do they love feasting on those division rivals. Three hat tricks between the two last season, all against the Southeast. In 30 games, Semin had 38 points against our divisional foes - 21 goals and 17 assists. Ovechkin played in all 32 divisional games and picked up 25 goals and 18 assists for 43 points. And lest we forget, this is when the team apparently had no strong centers to anchor their offensive attack. Scary thought, isn’t it?

Honorable Mention - Optimism: The Caps have one thing going for them as we head into the preseason that’s frankly been missing these last few years, and that is a general sense that they can be a competitive team this year. That’s great for the team, but it’s even better if you figure that the other four teams probably don’t have the same positive attitude. Let’s recap: Atlanta suffered a humiliating first round sweep in their first playoff appearance; Tampa just experienced their second straight first round exit; Carolina missed the playoffs after winning the Cup; and Florida…is Florida. How optimistic can they be? So much of this game comes down to mental toughness – all other things being equal, you have to give the edge to the Caps on that one.

Next up: 5 Caps to watch this season...

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And So It Begins

- Per the Washington Caps' website, the rosters for rookie camp and training camp have been announced. Among the notables on the rookie camp roster are recent first rounders Karl Alzner and Nicklas Backstrom, as well as development camp standouts and Caps prospects like Kyle Wilson, Mathieu Perreault, Luke Lynes, Viktor Dovgan and Andrew Gordon.

The training camp roster includes the usual suspects as well as some new faces, with Joe Motzko and Jason Morgan joining the trio of free agent signings at Kettler. Caps fans will get another look at Hershey boys like Dave Steckel, Dean Arsene, Chris Bourque and Quintin Laing.

Remember, rookie camp opens this Saturday out in Arlington, and selected rookies will be asked to stay and join the 38 veterans when training camp opens September 14th. All on-ice stuff is free and open to the public, so come on out and get your hockey fix!

- Extra, extra - the boys are back in town! WOOOO! Oh, and so is Bondra.

Please don't start. He's just skating with the boys. To quote Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman: "I've got nowhere else to go! I've got nowhere else to go..."

- Also important news: the Caps have new underwear. Read about it at the DC Sports Bog, where resident Gilbert-phile Dan Steinberg continues his freakish streak of Caps news and info. No pictures of the undies, unfortunately, but you can check out photos of some of the other new gear...I guess that's almost as good.

- And finally, our owner is almost - ALMOST - as excited as I am for the season to start, and he's got 10 excellent reasons why. Can't help but agree...will it ever be October 5??

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Les Canadiens Sont Là

Finally, an offseason move by the Canadiens that I can get behind! The Habs unveiled their new jerseys today and, thankfully, they didn't mess too much with a classic look. It's a trend that the other Original Six seem to be following and it's one that all hockey fans have to be overjoyed about.

After all, why mess with perfection? The Habs' C, the blue Maple Leaf, the winged wheel...it doesn't get much better than that. Simplicity and tradition, that's the key.

...too bad no one told Vancouver that.

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Top 5: Storylines to Follow This Year

Today's list:
Top 5 Storylines to Follow This Season

Youth Movement: Say what you want about the NHL since the lockout – the new rules, the ugly jerseys, whatever. The biggest story of the last two years has been the extraordinary youngsters who are helping the NHL more than any gimmicks Bettman can throw out there ever will, and this year we’ll be treated to an embarrassment of riches putting the last two years to shame.
You’ve got your ’05 rookie class, with names way beyond just Ovechkin, Crosby and Phaneuf: Lundqvist, Svatos, Vanek, Miller, Prucha, Getzlaf, Higgins, Emery, Parise, Pomminville…just to name a few. Then you’ve got the ’06 newbies: Malkin, Stastny, Kopitar, Zajac, Kessel, Carle, etc. All talented and all a little more seasoned, a little more experienced, and soon to be potentially joined by Backstrom, Johnson, Toews, and maybe even Turris or Kane. It’s a good time to be a hockey fan, folks.

Free Agents: The free agent frenzy, also known as the “silly season”, may have started off slow but quickly grabbed headlines as semi-exciting names were being handed contracts of eye-popping amounts and lengths. Now all eyes will be on the winners of these massive contracts to see if they live up to the overhype. Which players will drag an underachieving team out of the cellar, and which ones will put them down there? Hard to say, although I know I’ve got my opinions. And that doesn't even take into account the upcoming UFA class, which could feature some of the most prominent players in the league...

Technology and the NHL: Here in DC we’re lucky to have an owner and an organization that understands the benefits of using the newest technology to reach their fan base, and has understood it for a few years now. Slowly but surely, though, the rest of the NHL is catching on. We saw it beginning last season, with an increase in the use of blogging and video capabilities to enhance the hockey fan experience. NHL Center Ice online should be greatly improved this year, and websites are being streamlined to offer more in depth coverage (whether you like the new design or not). It’s an ongoing process and if the NHL can harness the technology correctly, it could become the most instantly accessible league in the sporting world before too long.

Sleeper Teams: A recent Canadian Press story dubbed the Caps as a potential sleeper team this season, and whether that comes to fruition will obviously remain to be seen. But there is a strange uncertainty hovering over the upcoming season and its really hard to tell where anyone will end up by the time the season closes in April, let alone who will raise the Cup in June. Free agents, trades, trade potentials, slots still unfilled – there are a lot of unknowns and the reality is any team could be a sleeper team. Lest we forget everyone’s favorite fact, that two years ago the Hurricanes were ranked near the bottom of the league by many and they went on to win the Cup. My point? You never know.

Division Battles: If you thought things went down to the wire last season, just wait until the last few weeks of this campaign. I’m not one for making predictions, partly because I tend to stink at them and partly because hockey is so unpredictable at the best of times – but I will go out on a limb here and say at least 3 of the 6 division titles will be unclaimed by the last week of the season…and don’t even get me started on the remaining playoff spots. As far as I know, Columbus could win their division and the Rangers could end up in 15th in the East (oh, if only wishing made it so…).

Next up: 5 reasons the Caps will make the playoffs...

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Top 5: Stories That Won't Die

Continuing with our top 5 lists...

Today's list:
Top 5 Stories of the Summer That Just Won't Die

Buffalo’s Abandonment Issues: Okay, we get it. Losing both your captains sucks. But you don’t get to the Conference Finals two years in a row on the backs of just two guys, something a lot of people seem to forget. Buffalo fans, take heart – you’re not the first team to lose players to free agency, you won’t be the last, and (as much as I hate to admit it) you’ve got an immensely talented and incredibly deep team without those traitors. Just repeat to yourself the following: I will survive, I will survive…hey, hey.

New jerseys: Did you know that the league is making the change from the normal, traditional, classic jersey to the high-tech Reebok Edge system? I don't know why you would. After all, we’ve only been hit over the head with it since January. Teams are tripping over themselves to unveil new logos and designs, most of which could use a few more hours/days/weeks/months at the drawing board, and every other day it seems we have yet another picture of players standing around awkwardly in their new duds. It was cute when the Caps did it…now it’s just getting old.

Nashville: They’re moving to Hamilton. Nope, now they’re staying. Maybe they’ll end up in Kansas City. Oops, no, now they’re staying again. Geez – Nashville fans didn’t care much about this team until they were threatened with losing it, huh? Where were you during the playoffs? Not that I’m in favor of any fans losing their team, but come on. It’s Nashville. That sound you hear is millions of hockey fans not caring.

Michael Peca: This could really be applied to all the homeless hockey players remaining on the market after the initial frenzy, but Peca’s tale of woe was probably the most covered - at least after Souray finally suckered Edmonton into overpaying him. A generally overrated player with injury problems, Peca’s inexplicable rise to the spotlight ended when, after weeks of speculation on whether Peca would land in New York or Toronto, he ended up in…Columbus. How’s that for drama?

Edmonton’s offseason issues: Admittedly the Nylander saga might have skewed the coverage here in DC to make it seem more overwhelming than it was. Still, the media ate it up as this story went from strange to bizarre to downright annoying, with hockey fans everywhere watching a once sane and respected Kevin Lowe slowly came unraveled. His manic plotting finally worked, though – he got Dustin Penner. And at a bargain price of $4.5 million a year for the next 5 years.

Honorable Mention - Michael Vick: That’s how obnoxious this story has become – it’s not even hockey-related and it almost made the list. Therefore I’m going to leave it alone, saying only this: Vick is a jackass. Everyone knows Vick is a jackass. Can we move on now?

Next up: Stories You Should Follow This Season...

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Top 5: Teams with Something to Prove

As we inch closer to the season you'll see lots of predictions, lots of previews, lots of rankings of teams. Those are fun, really. Entertaining. Interesting. Thought-provoking.

Exactly why you won't find them here.

Instead we'll be taking a look at lists of five things of my choosing - as always, opposing opinions are welcome, as are suggestions for other "Top 5" lists in the future. Just toss them in the comments...anything to fill up these last few lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.

Today's list:

5 Teams with Something to Prove

Washington: Rebuilding is never easy for a team. Everyone suffers – management, coaching staff, players, and fans. But it’s done with the knowledge that the pain will eventually pay off, the waiting will eventually lead to something, the scrimping and saving will allow for better results someday soon. Someday is today, and you can feel a general excitement in the air for the first time in a long time. After imploding in ’03-’04 and posting two straight bottom-feeding 70 point seasons, everyone is ready for that next step. GMGM has addressed the needs to take them there and on paper this is a playoff team…now they just have to prove it on the ice, where it counts.

Atlanta: 2006-07 saw the Thrashers clinch their first division title and thus their first playoff spot in franchise history, but an embarrassing first round sweep at the hands of the Rangers left many people questioning whether they belonged in the postseason at all. Potent offensive talent that had dominated during the regular season was suddenly nonexistent, posting only 6 goals in the 4 games. Several months later and several players lighter, the Thrashers will have to put up a fight to prove that last year wasn’t a fluke.

San Jose: The Sharks have made the playoffs four of the last five seasons and in ’06-’07 they posted a franchise-best 107 points. Yet each year they’ve gone into the postseason as favorites only to be knocked out early, making it past the second round only twice in their 16 year history. They lost Hannan and Toskala this summer but managed to do the impossible and locked up Thornton and Marleau for at least a few more years. Now they’ll be looking to prove that regular season success can translate to postseason stamina, something they’ve yet to do.

Ottawa: After a rough, injury-plagued start to the season, the Sens gradually got their act together and rose through the ranks of the Eastern Conference, clawing their way into the postseason bit by bit. Eye-opening performances in the first three rounds made many people wonder if the Cup would indeed be returning to Canada at last and despite turning in a mediocre performance in the Finals the choking dog moniker seemed to be removed. Memories are short in Canada, though, and with most of the roster intact and a new face behind the bench, second best won’t be good enough for a lot of people this year.

Anaheim: Every year the team with the most to prove is the Stanley Cup Champion from the previous year, and the Ducks will be no exception. A team packed with both skill and grit, not to mention an enviable duo in net, dominated the league for most of the season and got stronger with each playoff round. Still there are questions lingering in the air, not the least of which is the status of superstars Selanne and Niedermayer. Once those questions are answered and if they can avoid the dreaded Cup hangover, the championship is theirs to lose.

Honorable Mention - Philadelphia: It’s hard to really say that the Flyers have a lot to prove. After a forgettable season that saw them set milestones aplenty (and not the good kind), conventional wisdom says they just need to not finish dead last to avoid complete implosion. New additions like Briere have to prove their worth while steady veterans like Gagne have to continue nurturing the crop of young talent that saw so much ice time last year. And time will tell if locking up semi-big names to mega-huge deals will be the key to a return to the top…or spell disaster.

Naturally with teams looking to prove themselves the conversation ultimately slides right into those coaches and GMs who find themselves on the hot seat (and yes, there are only 4...because I can do whatever I want):

Hanlon/McPhee (WAS) – Just as the team itself has something to prove, so do the top two engineers of the Caps’ rebuilding process to this point. With a recent influx of veteran talent and many of the youngsters starting to develop there can be no more excuses, and a lot of the credit or blame for whatever happens this season will fall squarely on the shoulders of Hanlon and GMGM.

MacTavish/Lowe (EDM) – After a summer that would seem comical if it wasn’t so sad, things are not looking good in Edmonton. Botched signings, ridiculous offer sheets, and the general need for bodies in jerseys have made Kevin Lowe age about 20 years in the last four months. And let’s not forget the ultimate sin – letting go of Ryan Smyth, the heart and soul of the team, at the trade deadline. MacTavish has the unenviable task of piecing together a roster from the scrapings, and it could get ugly.

Carbonneau/Gainey (MON) – Living in a virtual hockey mecca like Montreal is a dream for any hockey fan. It’s also a nightmare for any hockey player. All the pressure of playing in Toronto without the hometown appeal has made the Habs a last resort kind of town, and no one seems to want to play there. The problem there is the team has been mediocre at best for years now…and the locals won’t stand for it much longer.

Tortorella/Feaster (TB) – A new ownership can mean an influx of passion and money to a franchise. It can also spell doom for the existing GM and coach. With Tampa yet to regain their form from their Stanley Cup run and a huge chunk of the salary going towards “the big three”, Torts and Feaster need to scramble around for a solution that should include some solid goaltending or scramble for new jobs.


Next up: 5 stories of the summer that just won't die...

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Saturday Video

It's Saturday.

For now, it's just another day. Maybe you sleep in a little later. Maybe you go out late tonight. Maybe you sit on your butt and do nothing.

But in just a few weeks...



Of course, up north Saturday night takes on a whole different texture, an almost reverent stature in the cultural lexicon. Here's a look back at 50 years of CBC's legendary Hockey Night in Canada:

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Hockey Players in Cyberspace

I'm sure many of you did what I did upon hearing that Alex Ovechkin had ventured into the blogosphere - you went and looked at it. And then you said a silent prayer of thanks for Babel Fish's existence, because even though the translation provided by this language-swapping phenomenon is a little rough, at least now you can kind of figure out what Alex is saying.

Sort of.

Obviously there's not much on his blog yet, so I started looking around at the various links and I saw a few that looked like names. To my delight I discovered one that sounds familiar - Alex Kovalev. Well, naturally I had to go check out his site as well, right? All in the name of research...a blogger's work is never done.

A little more help from Babel Fish and I've discovered Kovalev is a big soccer fan. He is conducting youth hockey camps in Russia. He's got a book coming out with a terrifying picture on the cover (for details on purchasing this treasure visit his official website). He's a fan of the :=) smileys like Alex.

And my favorite part, very roughly translated from his first post:

It is very glad, that Ilya bryzgalov intends to bring in Togliatti, from where we are both by birth, Stanley's goblet. When I won its s "New York the Rangers", the possibility to transport it into Russia not it was. Give god so that this would come out in Ilya.

Ah, yes...Stanley's goblet. The ultimate prize for the medieval hockey team.

I could spend hours mocking Babel Fish translations, but I do have a point here. I just find it really fascinating to see how the explosion of various online communities and user-generated content have suddenly given us access into our favorite player's lives. When the internet first emerged we saw a few scattered player sites, licensed by and produced for players, but even those were rare because they took money and time in order to look somewhat presentable. Rarely was the content entirely written and generated by the player himself, save for a token greeting message and maybe an occasional letter to fans.

Now (as I prove every day) any idiot can have their own little corner of the web. LiveJournal, WordPress, Blogger, Facebook, MySpace, etc. - all provide anyone with a computer and a little spare time an outlet for their opinions, a means of communication with friends and family, a gallery for their photos. It's a new media that frankly isn't that new, just relatively untapped by the public...until now.

Now there are handfuls of younger NHL players all over Facebook and MySpace (although you obviously have to be able to distinguish the real ones from the fake...) Team sites often feature player blogs or diaries where we get to see just how good a writer these jocks really are. Already it seems like it's becoming common practice for Russian athletes to go on LiveJournal and I wouldn't be surprised if in the next year we see more and more NHLers following Ovechkin and Kovalev's example.

And why not? It's easy to do and it gets you a little closer to the fans that make your profession possible in the first place. For a sport like hockey where the players tend to be a little more humble, a little more gracious to fans than other professional athletes, it seems a natural progression that every player will soon have some sort of blog-esque site.

At a time when the league and the teams are looking for ways to reach out to the fans and make the game more accessible, it looks like everyone else is catching on to what our owner has known and preached for years - the technology is out there waiting. You just have to use it.

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