MVN - Most Valuable Network

Panic In D.C.!!!

Joking.

Well, it wasn’t the best way to start a season that is for sure.  You would have thought these were the Caps of last year the way they came from 3 goals behind to tie the score, but suspect goaltending from both goalies and sloppy defense cost the Caps on opening night in a 7-4 loss to Atlanta.

I’m sure not ready to jump ship, heck it’s only one game.  It gives the Caps something to work on and if they thought things would come easy considering the way they ended last year, they are sorely mistaken.  Teams now get up to play the Caps, much like Toronto got up and beat the Red Wings on Thursday.

As much as the Caps dominated most of the game, it was those little lapses that cost them.  In Bruce Boudreau’s system, there will be odd man rushes, and it seemed nearly every one of those were in the back of our net.  Some of them you could not blame on the goalies, but there were plenty of soft goals given up by both Jose Theodore and Brent Johnson.  They need to step up their games big time.

I’m sure everyone is thinking there is a goalie controversy after one game, and there may have been with the way Johnson played after coming into the game.  But the goals he gave up late in the 3rd period were suspect and I would expect Theodore to be back in net Saturday night against Chicago. (By the way, Cristobal Huet-lovers.  He gave up 4 goals in a loss to the Rangers, so I don’t want to hear any of that garbage.)

Theodore was skaky at best.  He made some decent saves, but you could tell he was not comfortable from the start.  He deserves at least 10 games before we start to worry as this system is completely different than the one’s he has played in before.  He is getting to know his new teammates and that will take some time.  However, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned a bit.

On the positive side, coming back from a 3-0 deficit was impressive and the Caps had so many chances during the game, they could have scored 10 goals.  I liked what I saw with the power play and the PK was impressive after an early goal.

I still have no concerns with this team, and it’s better that they be brought down to earth in game 1.  Boudreau will likely have lambasted his team after that effort and I would expect them to bounce back in front of the home crowd on Saturday.  We are raising a banner and there will be much to celebrate.  But when it’s all said and done, last year is history.  This team has to prove it is ready to take that next step and one bad game shouldn’t worry them or us… yet.

Remember, Redskins fans were ready to run Jason Campbell out of town after one game, and now he is the “next coming”.  Theodore and the goaltending will improve.  I hope.  Check back in a few weeks and we’ll see where we are!

Season Predictions

It’s always fun to go around to the various sports websites and read what the so-called “experts” think about the upcoming NHL season.  I look at most of these predictions as fun ways to get riled up over journalists most of whom don’t know enough about the teams they are talking about.  One example being ESPN’s ‘expert’ Linda Cohn picking the NY Rangers to win the Cup and the Lightning to win the Southeast.  Hmmm.  ESPN is a NY city hype machine and their former colleague Melrose is now leading the way in Tampa.  Interesting selections Linda.

Anyway, I’m never offended when I feel the ‘experts’ disrespect my teams, because they just see the highlights of certain teams and have not watched them play or know what they are all about.  That being said, it was very interesting to see where many websites/magazines picked the Caps.  Here is your list:

Sportsnet in Canada - 1st in Southeast, no finals.

ESPN - Consensus was 1st in Southeast, no finals.

Sports Illustrated - 2nd in Southeast behind Carolina, no finals.

CBS Sportsline - 3 of 5 ‘experts’ picked 1st in Southeast, no finals.

Fox Sports - 2nd in Southeast, 6th in conference, no finals.

The Canadien press stated the Caps were the league’s most overrated team.  Can’t really believe that since I’ve yet to see a prediction that the Caps would even sniff the Finals.  Everyone seems in love with Montreal and their up and down young goalie, yet every write-up on the Caps says their goaltending is suspect.  I watched every single game last season and while Cristobal Huet was great and definitely deserves credit for the run to the playoffs, this team was peaking even before the trade deadline.  This is a very good team that made what I think is a lateral move in net, in the least.  They have a goalie (Theodore) who is on a 2 year contract.  He’s not filthy rich and set for the next 4 seasons like Huet is in Chicago.  I’m curious to see how Huet plays this year compared to Theodore.

I’m not saying Theodore will be the second coming of Patrick Roy, but at least he has won a playoff series.  Multiple playoff series’.  Every series he’s won is one more than Huet has won.  If the Caps didn’t start the playoff series slow against Philly, the goaltending would not have mattered.  They were the better team in the final 3 games and it took a blind ref and an opportunistic and gritty Flyers club to beat them.

Now, this team may still be a year or two away as their defensive corps still is learning on the job, but it’s hard for me to say the Caps could be overrated.  They are listed as a ’sleeper’ team in many publications and what’s wrong with that?  The NHL is a funny league.  Nobody saw the Lightning or Canes winning the Cup, but they did it, so why not the Caps!

Alright, I’m off my soap box for now, what do you readers think the Caps will do this season?

Caps Make Cuts; Ready to Drop Puck

The Caps made their final cuts on Monday and while they were expected, I’m sure it hit those players hard.

Chris Bourque and Karl Alzner were sent to Hershey and Quintin Laing was placed on waivers with the intent of assigning him to Hershey should he not be claimed by another team.

For Bourque and Alzner, they will be the first players called up in case of injury or poor play.  Bourque can shine, getting tons of ice time with the Bears and Alzner gets to be the number one defenseman and begin to learn professional hockey.  Could Alzner play in the NHL today, yes, but with the Caps deep on the blueline, they can afford to have him start the season getting 25+ minutes a night in Hershey and he’s only a phone call away.

As for Laing, it’s a tough one.  He’s a hard worker and a fan and player favorite.  On most teams, he’s on the roster, but somebody needed to go and unfortunately he was the odd man out.  If one of the Caps checking forwards go down, he’ll be back in a heartbeat (as long as he does not get claimed by another team).

So the roster is set and we are ready to make our run at another division title.  I can’t wait until Friday to see the guys play a meaningful game once again and I’m jealous of all of you Caps fans in the D.C. area who are going to the game on Saturday night.  It should be a wild atmosphere and hopefully just the beginning of opening night celebrations.

Let’s go Caps.  Let’s start off strong and send a message to the league that we are here to stay!

Update - Laing cleared waivers and will start the season in Hershey.

Roster Coming Together

We are about a week away from the start of the regular season and some of the big questions regarding the Capitals roster are beginning to be answered.

The team made another round of cuts on Thursday leaving what looks to be the defensive corps all set.  Sami Lepisto, an up and coming young defenseman who saw time last year and proved he could play in the NHL, was cut leaving rookie Karl Alzner as the 7th defenseman.

Bruce Boudreau has not announced that Alzner has made the team, but if they are going to keep 7 blueliners, Alzner is in.  In an interesting turn of events, Sergei Fedorov practiced as a defenseman on Wednesday just in the event they decide to use him on D this season.  Fedorov’s ability to play defense allows the team the luxury of carrying only 6 blueliners if they choose.

I would think that holdovers Milan Jurcina and John Erskine will be on a short leash and if either of them struggle, you could see Alzner get into some games early on.  If all top 6 are playing well, it would not surprise me to see Alzner sent down to Hershey, since it’s better he get on the ice and play rather than sit in the press box watching the big club.

On the offensive side, there is still a logjam of forwards trying to make this team.  If I had to guess the opening day lines, I would go with:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Kozlov (Kozlov does have a groin injury, but is expected to be ready in a week)

Laich-Fedorov-Semin

Fleishmann-Nylander-Clark

Brashear-Steckel-Bradley (you can add Boyd Gordon to this line as well)

That leaves Eric Fehr, Chris Bourque and Quintin Laing as the outsiders at this point.  Fehr would have to pass through waivers in order to be sent to Hershey, so he’ll either be with the Caps all season or be traded.  Bourque has impressed so far this pre-season, so he’ll likely be one of the first guys called up in the event of an injury.  Laing is a tough, tough player that probably deserves to be on that 4th line and on the PK unit, but the team is so deep now that quality NHL players will not make this team.  Laing will likely be a healthy scratch for the first few weeks.

In goal, Semen Varlamov battled an injury for the latter part of camp and was sent down.  He’s expected to be the man in Hershey, and I’m sure, when healthy, he’ll get a spot start or two with the Caps at some point during the season.

Look for Jose Theodore to play the remainder of the pre-season schedule in net.  I think he’ll likely get off to a slow start just getting used to the Caps system and getting used to his teammates.  So, Caps fans, if Theodore struggles a bit early, don’t lose your minds.  Give him some time!