3 In Hershey Get AHL Honors

The Washington Capitals show off their depth as three Bears make the AHL's All-Star Teams. Per Washington Caps PR:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Hershey Bears forwards Keith Aucoin, Alexandre Giroux and Andrew Gordon have been named to the American Hockey League (AHL) All-Star Teams, as voted by AHL coaches, players and media in each of the league’s 29 member cities, the AHL announced today.

Aucoin and Giroux were named to the first team – both for the second year in a row – while Gordon was named to the second team. Aucoin, Giroux and Gordon have all appeared in games for the Capitals at some point this season.

Aucoin (oh-KOIN), 31, established a career high with his 100th point of the season Wednesday night. The Waltham, Mass., native, who signed a two-year contract last month that will keep him in the Washington organization through the 2011-12 season, leads the AHL in points and assists and ranks fourth in goals. This is the fourth appearance on an AHL All-Star Team for Aucoin, the highest scoring American-born player in AHL history.

Giroux (jhi-ROO), 28, last season’s AHL scoring champion and most valuable player, leads the league in goals with 44 after scoring twice Wednesday against Syracuse. He scored his 300th career AHL goal on Sunday and has scored 104 goals in the last two seasons with six games remaining in 2009-10. He is currently second in the AHL in scoring with 97 points.

Gordon, 24, has been named to the league’s all-star team for the first time. Washington’s seventh-round choice, 197th overall, in the 2004 Entry Draft, is currently third in the league in goals with 36. He is also tied for the league lead in power play goals (18).

The Hershey Bears have been creating havoc on the history books as the team sails to new heights (and probably another Calder Trophy [knock on wood]).

Caps Notes:

• Brooks Laich makes his return tonight for the Capitals against the Atlanta Thrashers. Caps still are dealing with the injury bug for others though, John Carlson (upper body), Quintin Laing (lower body), Boyd Gordon (back injury), Scott Walker (knee) and Brendan Morrison (groin) are out.

Canadian Press Confused?

The following was posted on TSN.ca, a story by the Canadian Press on the preseason game between the Capitals and Rangers:

I think they meant Michal Rosival instead of Alex Giroux. But hey, it is preseason.

Caps Fall To Rangers In Preseason Action

Preseason: Capitals 2, Rangers 3
Scoresheet

Five games in eight nights is pushing it, even in NHL standards. So it is understandable if the Caps are a bit inconsistent coming into the last game of a back to back where travel was involved. The Capitals played a lackluster preseason game against the New York Rangers and just came up short 3-2.

"It's back to back for the first time this year," Bruce Boudreau explained after the game. "Here, you are flying into New York, with the traffic and you have to go early. I know it's an excuse, but I thought we hung in there really well. But with a little more fatigue than normal."

The Caps got scoring again from Keith Aucoin and Alex Semin. But it was poor defensive plays that lead to the Caps demise. John Erskine misplayed the puck early in the second period, giving Marion Gaborik a break away on Jose Theodore and beat him 5 hole. The game winner for the Rangers came when David Steckel failed to tie up Chris Higgins' stick in front of the net.

"I didn't know [Higgins] was there," Steckel said to reporters in the locker room after. "It was a mis-communication [with Jurcina]. But those are the kinda things that you have to weed out here in preseason."

The Capitals may have lost the game, but I am sure they don't miss Donald Brashear all that much. Brashear had 4 penalties racking up 14 minutes in sit down time in the penalty box and fought the same guy twice. The first fight Brash loses his balance after he lunges at Brandon Sugden, the second bout was pretty much a draw. No word on whether Sugden will stick around for Sunday's matinee with the Rangers at Verizon Center if Brashear stays in the line up for New York.

The Caps power play was non-existent. another 0 for 5, allowing a short handed goal and nearly another shorty where Alex Ovechkin had to take a penalty. A sort of Dr. Jeckel/Mr. Hyde effort; the Caps' PP has yet to be really worked on by the coaching staff.

"We are working on different stuff," Boudreau said of the inconsistent power play. "[The Rangers] came at us differently than Chicago did. [There is] no change from yesterday, we still haven't practiced it."

The poor special teams' effort aside, players fighting for roster spots played well. With one exception, Alex Giroux. After getting off to a great start in the preseason, Giroux has since cooled. He may be one of those players that does well in the AHL, but struggles in the NHL. Somehow he will have to find ways to score in a Capitals' sweater. His window for making it into the NHL is shrinking.

Aucoin, Jay Beagle and Quintin Laing all had good games and were singled out by Boudreau. Theodore also played well, but was hampered by poor defensive plays.

The Caps will play the Rangers once more Sunday at noon. It will be their last preseason game, and the roster should look as close to the final set-up as it can be. A few players will still get to hang around and get another look at the phone booth.

Caps Win First Preseason Game

Preseason: Capitals 4, Sabres 3 OT
Scoresheet

In a game when the Caps seemed to look a bit shaky for their first preseason game, Semyon Varlamov was anything but. Varly stopped all 17 shots in the first two periods and held on in the third to help his team beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 in overtime. Brian Pothier scored the game winning goal on a 5 on 3 power play carry over from the third period to give the Caps the win.

The Capitals didn't quite get the start they wanted in HSBC Arena at the start of the first period. They were badly outworked and out hustled. The Sabres offense seemed to be in fine form as the Caps struggled. Well all but one, Varly. Varlamov came up with save after save against the Sabres who were trying to score on the young goaltender by finding the open man across the ice. But each time Varly had an answer robbing Jason Pominville a couple of times with his athletic splits to cover the once open net.

With the Caps' goaltender keeping them in the game, the Caps seemed to get a good start as Alex Giroux scored the opening goal in the first period. He scored on a feed from Brendan Morrison and it gave the Capitals the early 1-0 lead. Thanks to Varlamov's heroics that scored held until the third period. Then the Sabres finally started getting the shots to go in.

The Sabres scored 2 goals jumping up to a 2-1 lead on goals by Pominville and Clarke MacArther. Mike Knuble tied things up with a goal right in front of the net. The Sabres answered with a goal of their own again going up by a goal. Just 23 seconds after the Buffalo goal, Jay Beagle tied the game.

Buffalo took a couple of bad penalties late, one was a delay of game foul called on goaltender Jhonas Enroth. The other was a check from behind by Mike Weber that had B. Mor injured on the ice for a spell. The Caps carried over the 5 on 3 power play into the overtime period where Pothier beat Enroth with a point slapper and wins the game for the Caps.

The standouts tonight for those gunning for jobs were Karl Alzner, Chris Bourque and Jay Beagle. Alzner cool, calm demeanor seemed to help the Caps get out of sticky situations. Bourque seemed to be Bruce Boudreau's safety blanket for this game. When his line was out there it seemed to even things out a bit. Beagle had 4 shots on net (second only to Nick Backstrom who had 5 shots) and scored the game tying goal just 23 seconds after the Sabres scored their go ahead goal late in the third.

Anton Gustafsson had his moments, both bad and good. The good was he did get his nose dirty in front of the net and that lead to some scoring chances and his two registered shots on net. The bad was when he broke his stick and went to the bench to get a replacement which gave the Sabres a scoring opportunity.

Joe Finley didn't really stand out at all, but he didn't make any glaring mistakes either. He registered two blocked shots and gave the Caps some good size up front.

The Caps come back to DC to get a few practices on Friday before heading to Chicago to play their second preseason game against the Blackhawks Saturday night.

Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images

A Double Cup Friday

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins on winning the Stanley Cup. You can call it sweet revenge as the Pens defeat the Detroit Red Wings on their ice a year after they lost the Cup on their ice. Boy, did Marion Hossa turn out to be a bad penny. Evgeni Malkin wins MVP honors (the first Russian to do so), although they should have given it to Max Talbot for his clutch goals in the finals or Rob Scuderi for his goaltending prowess.

However (and even more importantly), congratulations to the Hershey Bears on winning their tenth AHL championship last night. They beat the Manitoba Moose on their ice 4-1 to close out the series 4 games to two and hoisting the Calder Cup. Again, the Capitals top development team wins a championship, their second in four years.

Michal Neuvirth earned MVP honors as he posted a 16-6 record with only a 1.19 GAA, a .932 save percentage and four shutouts in the playoffs. He was the big reason for the Bears' championship run, not bad for a player that started the season in the ECHL with the South Carolina Stingrays. In game six he made 24 stops on 25 shots by the Moose. Neuvirth makes the Capitals extremely deep in the goaltending department with Semyon Varlamov, Jose Theodore, Brent Johnson (if the Caps decide to resign him) and a few other prospects.

The Bears got off to a great start in the first, putting the Moose up against a wall with a 3-0 lead in the opening period. Goals by Andrew Gordon, Chris Bourque and Alex Giroux. It was Giroux's playoff leading 15th goal, 28th point. The Moose were able to get a goal in the second, but the Bears held their 3-1 lead through half of the second period and through the third, eventually icing the game with an empty netter scored by Keith Aucoin.

The tandem of Stephan Kronwall and Dean Arsene lead to both players getting a +3 on the game, the Bears' best. Bourque had a goal and an assist as well as the game's number one star. Kyle Wilson had a pair of assists and also was the game's number 3 star.

The last time the Bears won the Calder Cup, many of those players went on to make the Capitals' squad: Mike Green, David Steckel, Eric Fehr, Brooks Laich, Tomas Fleischmann and Boyd Gordon (you could include Jakub Klepis in that list before he went off to play in the KHL). The Bears beat the the Milwaukee Admirals 4 games to two in that series as well. In their game 6 they also jumped up to a 3-0 lead in the first period and went on to win the game 5-1.

Bob Woods, rumored to be in the hunt for Jay Leach's old job, took the Bears to the promise land in just his second year at the helm. He also lead them to a Eastern Conference best 53-22-2-3 record finishing with 111 points.

Highlights of the Bears record breaking tenth AHL championship can be found here. Bryan Helmer, the Bears' captain accepted the Calder Cup along with assistant captains Aucoin and Quintin Laing.

The state of Pennsylvania has to be beaming with pride as they have won two hockey championships (Penguins: Stanley Cup, Bears: Calder Cup), a NHL championship (Steelers) and a MLB championship (Phillies). Pretty impressive in the same year. Now can we stop with all the "Boo hoo, PA teams never win" crap.

Bears Jump To A 2-1 Series Lead With Win

The Hershey Bears took full advantage of home ice advantage breaking the series stalemate to take a 2-1 series lead over the Manitoba Moose with a 3-0 win. Alex Giroux and Graham Mink scored power play tallies while Micheal Neuvirth stopped all 28 shots his way to give the Bears the lead in the best of seven series for the AHL's Calder Cup.

The Bears' power play was a potent 2 for 3 and was the deciding factor of game 3 with Steffan Kronwall assisting on both goals. Quintin Laing scored the empty net/short handed tally to ice the game and give the Bears the series lead.

But Neuvirth was the game's first star posting the shutout in an all important game for the Bears. His league leading 4th shutout of the playoffs came in a series with the Moose that had taken a few days off after game two in Manitoba on Tuesday night.

The Bears also were able to kill off all 5 of Manitoba's power plays. Five on five both goaltenders were spectacular with Neuvirth's counter part, Cory Schneider, stopping a slew of Bear's shots.

Just like the Capitals, the Bears had to make it interesting with Bryan Helmer taking a couple of late penalties to give the Moose a chance late. But the visiting team just couldn't cash in on their opportunities and the Bears look pretty sharp in their home whites.

Video highlights can be found here. Game 4 is a quick turn around with a 5 pm start tomorrow (Sunday) evening.

Moose Get Even

The Manitoba Moose did not want to go down two games to none against the Hershey Bears in AHL's Calder Cup Final and then face the next three games of the series on the road. The Bears will have to settle for a split on the road and come home with the series tied at one.

Alex Giroux got the Bears off to a good start, but the Moose fought their way back in the game with a power play goal. Jason Jaffray scored to even things up then scored the late third period game winner with under a minute left. The Bears lost their cool in the final seconds and Jaffray was able to answer Giroux's game one hattrick with one of his own on an empty netter.

Highlights of game two can be found here (if they have them up yet, which they haven't at the time this article was posted). The Calder Cup does not resume in Hershey until Saturday June 6. The next three games will be in Hershey then the best of seven will transfer back to Manitoba on June 12.

Meanwhile, another level down, the South Carolina Stingrays are on the verge of a Kelly Cup win in the ECHL. They were up three games to one in the series against the Alaska Aces (a series that stretches 5 time zones!) but lost Saturday night as the Aces stay alive still down three games to two. The Rays have a chance to ice it Thursday night at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage Alaska.

Bears Draw First Blood In OT

The Hershey Bears came back from a 3-1 Manitoba Moose lead to eventually take the lead in the third period 4-3 with under five minutes left in the game. But the Moose tie the game and the Bears are forced to kill a 5 on 3 in the waning moments of the game to send it to overtime.

Alexandre Giroux is the game one hero as he scores not only a hattrick on the game, but the overtime game winner off of a Tyler Sloan shot from the point. The rebound bounce right to a waiting Giroux and the Bears defeat the Moose 5-4.

In a thrilling game one, the Moose were able to get some great break away chances as the Bears' defense scrambled. If they didn't score, Manitoba was able to draw penalties.

Highlights of the game can be found here.

Oh, and the Red Wings take a game one victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins in a little thing called the Stanley Cup playoffs. Not as important, but I thought I should mention it.

Regaining Some Offense

There is a good chance the NHL will lower the salary cap for teams in '09 - '10 season. For those teams up against the ceiling it will be tough to put a competitive team on the ice for the campaign. The Capitals are one of those teams that are up against that level. But there will be some reprieve for them if Viktor Kozlov and Sergei Fedorov make the move across the pond.

That also leaves room for younger (and cheaper) talent a chance to crack the lineup. The newbies would have to replace 24 goals and 50 assists. That is the total offense of both Kozlov and Fedorov in regular season play. And the Caps do have some talent that could help in that regard.

Oskar Osala is one of those players that had a good year in the AHL. Osala, 6'4" 220 lbs., is a big kid that uses his size well. He was good for 23 goals and 14 assists in regular season play. His entry contract is a tad cheaper than the paychecks for Fedorov, but he still has to prove he is NHL material.

Another young prospect that could help replace the two Russians is Chris Bourque. Bourque had 21 goals and 52 assists for the regular season in Hershey, and like Osala saw some time up with the Capitals. Bourque has tried to break the line up for now four seasons and time is a factor for him (if his size isn't a hinderence already). But he has been a producer in the playoffs for the the Bears. In the post season he has accumulated only 4 goals, but has 14 assists.

There are others that can come in and make some noise if the Capitals chose to resign them. Alex Giroux is a UFA in the off season, but was Hershey's top scorer with 60 goals and 37 assists. He had his chances with the Capitals but only scored one goal and one assist in 12 games when called up to the big club.

Keith Aucoin has a year left on his contract and came in second in the scoring race behind Giroux. He mounted 25 goals and 71 assists and also saw some time with the Capitals. Aucoin is an energy guy who played well when he was called up.

The Caps will bring a few new faces into the fold for training camp in Anton Gustafsson and Jake Hauswirth. This will be the first time we will see Gustafsson at Capitals training camp since he was drafted by the Capitals a year ago. Hauswirth had a good rookie camp last year.

New Blood Can Energize

When Keith Aucoin was acquired in the off season, the Caps brass probably were thinking more of Hershey than DC. They wanted to make sure they had some back up in the wing division. What they got was a 5'8", 168 lbs. monster that has been a spark plug for the Capitals engine.

Now Aucoin is making it harder for GM George McPhee and the coaching staff to find a reason to send down the 30 year old. He has registered 5 points in five games at the NHL level. He is tied with team mate Alexandre Giroux for points in the AHL. He seems to be thriving on the aggressive system Bruce Boudreau likes to play.

"I've done everything they've asked me to do," Aucoin said. "I go out every shift and work hard. I've been rewarded the last few games. I've just got to keep doing that while I'm here."

Boudreau and McPhee have certainly taken notice of the veteran leader, even citing his play as an example to the rest of the team.

"Here's a 5-foot-7 guy, there's a reason he's leading the American league in scoring," Boudreau said. "He's 160 pounds soaking wet and he's finishing checks and winning battles against big guys. There's no reason that our other guys can't do that."

Undrafted, but never deterred, Aucoin has played a pivotal role in the last few games this season for the Capitals. It seems when something hasn't worked, Boudreau has thrown Aucoin into the mix and the ship gets righted.

Case in point, the Capitals' power play yesterday afternoon was struggling. They squandered their first four chances and the Thrashers took the lead on a shorthanded goal. Boudreau changed up the lines putting Aucoin out on the PP. From fourth line to first unit power play, Aucoin was in the right place at the right time scoring his first power play goal in the NHL off of a pretty pass from Alex Ovechkin.

From there it seemed the Caps got their spark, although it would take another period for the goals to come fast and furious. Aucoin's sharp play helped him secure the game's second star yesterday afternoon, helped the Caps secure second place in the East and gave the fans at Verizon something to cheer about in their last home game of the regular season.

Caps Notes:

• Anointing him the "patron saint of second chances," the Toronto Star did a piece on Bruce Boudreau. The coach of the Washington Capitals gets a little recognition outside the beltway. "Authentic. Real. Raw. Not a false bone in his body. A nice guy who took no shortcuts, asked no favours, despite decades of being handed the short end of the stick."
• Viktor Kozlov's play of late is nothing to write home about. He has only 2 assists and is a minus 4 in his last six games. Asked if the forward is nursing injuries and team officials clamp up. Whatever the reason, it's not where the Kozlov would like to be this time of the year, struggling.
• Speaking of the Southeast Division, the Florida Panthers just pulled out a monster game against Pittsburgh. The win will go a long way in trying to secure a playoff spot now that they are tied with the Rangers. More importantly, they kept Evgeni Malkin off the scoresheet, allowing Ovi's two assists pull him closer to the points lead.
  

Morning Notes

Alex Giroux just can't find his scoring niche on the big club. The Caps felt they could use his size and scoring ability against Philadelphia. They sent Giroux back down and called up Keith Aucoin for the Carolina game. I am sure this is just in case Sergei Fedorov is still feeling under the weather or if Matt Bradley can't play after getting his snoz reset.

Aucoin is the points leader in the AHL right now with 86 points and 64 assists among them. He has already debuted with the Capitals earlier this year against the Rangers and may be in the line up as Carolina will be in the phone booth.

The Capitals are looking forward to keep their winning ways going after their two, one-goal wins against Nashville and Philadelphia. Their next five games are all against Southeast Division foes. In fact 10 of the Caps last 13 games are against the Southeast. Points against their divisional foes are more important now than ever.

Notes:

• The Capitals embark on a five game road stretch as the Verizon Center will host the Frozen Four NCAA Championship games. The Caps will not return until almost 2 weeks from now to face Tampa on Friday March 27th.
• Jose Theodore has been stacking up the numbers in the last few games. He has stopped 62 of 64 shots in the last two games, and has posted a 1.71 goals against average in his last four starts. What goaltending problem?
  
• Final thought, I will be at the game tonight in a media capacity. My wife convinced me to apply for a media pass for tonight's game and the Caps' media relation department were happy to oblige. Apparently, they don't do background checks. So if you look up to the press box tonight and see a guy that doesn't look like he belongs, that would be me. That is if I can find the press box.
  

Putting Ovechkin's Snub In Perspective

Montreal will host a peculiar All-Star game that will feature a starting line up of nothing but Canadiens and Penguins. But if you are going to leave the voting up for fans to decide, then you are going to get results like this from time to time.

Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Canadiens Alexei Kovalev, Andrei Markov, Mike Komisarek and Carey Price makes the starting roster for the Eastern Conference. Since Malkin leads the league in points and assist, his selection makes sense. Crosby is going to get selected no matter what, he is the face of the league and apart of the NHL PR machine.

I can buy into Mike Komisarek and Andrei Markov, they are very good defensemen. Markov is seventh in the league in points and Komisarek is just a smart tough blue liner. Price is a stretch considering Manny Fernandez or Tim Thomas would be good selections considering the Bruins perch atop the Eastern Conference. Kovalev? No clue. He doesn't rank in the top 30 in goals, assists or points.

Alex Ovechkin is mysteriously left off the list with only 470,000 votes. It could be because of Ovi's slow start to the season or because Canadien fans who would vote in a rock dressed in a Montreal sweater. But another good reason for a low vote count is no one wants to face Ovechkin. The Capitals are quickly becoming the team that fans across the league hate to see playing their team. That sort of animosity could get a few people to choose Kovalev over Ovechkin.

It's not like Ovi is going to miss the All-Star game. I wouldn't be surprised if after the opening face-off someone comes off the ice and Ovechkin is the next player on. Two other Capitals make strong arguements to make the All-Star team in Mike Green and Nick Backstrom.

I guess I am not the only one who thinks that the fans voted weirdly. Craig Custance of Sporting News puts the 411 on who should really be there, for both Eastern and Western Conferences.

Caps Notes:

• Alexandre Giroux was sometime frustrated after getting open when he was a Capital. He would have a beautiful scoring chance that only turned into a great save. But in the AHL those shots are going in a plenty. Since being demoted back to the Hershey Bears Giroux hasn't found it hard to find the back of the net, including four goals last night against the Worcester Sharks. He has nine points in the past two games.
• Speaking of the Hershey Bears, bench boss Bob Woods was chosen for the AHL All-Star game. He will coach the Eastern Conference All-Stars.
• The game Tuesday against the Flyers could not only push the Caps up further away the remaining teams in the Southeast Division (currently 10 points better than Carolina), but it could also push them 7 points away from 3rd in the Eastern Conference, who just happens to be the Flyers.

Caps Cool Red Hot Bruins

Capitals 3, Bruins 1
Scoresheet - Wash Post - Globe

The Capitals had bad news, good news before the game against Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins. Bad news, Tomas Fleischmann would sit out this game with an injury and Oskar Osala got his number called up. Good news (and it was very good news), Tom Poti and Alex Semin were back in the line up. The Caps used it to their advantage as they beat out the Bruins 3-1.

Alexandre Giroux scored the game winner in the second. He could have had two goals when he was awarded a penalty shot but he missed just wide. Nick Backstrom's deflection opened the scoring in the first. It actually quelled any concerns early as the Caps got off on the wrong foot taking a penalty before the game was a minute old. Alex Ovechkin finished with an empty netter goal and an assist.

In a very tight checking game, the Caps held their own. Having Tom Poti back on the blue line was a welcomed sight. He played solid even getting an assist on the game winning goal. In fact a lot of this win was due to a great defensive effort.

Milan Jurcina had one of his better games. When a Boston shot from the point went wide of the net and bounced off the boards on the other side, Jurcina was there to knock over a Boston player that was looking at a wide open net. It was the defensive play that saved the game for the Caps.

Karl Alzner played one of his best games too. In fact he looked very much like a veteran out there, boxing players out, finding the open man and just making good decisions with the puck. Sean Collins has also played very well and nearly had a goal in the first following Backstrom deep in the offensive zone.

Brent Johnson played an inspired game. Even when it looked like the Caps' goaltender was injured, Johnny played through it and came up with some great saves. He was much better about his rebounds, although he still needs to control them better.

Whenever the Caps broke down though, Johnny was there. The only Boston goal was off a bad dump and a bad change late in the second. It ended up being a two on one with Phil Kessel feeding Milan Lucic a dynamite pass and Lucic buried it, Johnson didn't have a chance.

Call-up Oskar Osala played okay, but looked a bit lost at times. There were more than one occasion where he seemed to be on top of one of his linemates as if they were playing the same position. Most of that comes with spending time with your linemates.

Semin's return was okay too, nothing really special. He looks just a step off as one would assume after sitting out for a while. I am sure with a couple more games he will be able to shake off the rust.

Ovehkin's battling with Zdeno Chara was another one of those epic battles that I say ended up in a draw between the two. Chara plays with a lot of confidence against Ovi, and Ovi seems to welcome the challenge. The two were fun to watch all game long.

The Caps sent Bryan Helmer and Keith Aucoin back down. They decided they needed some size against the Bruins. It payed off as the bigger players seemed to cancel out the Bruins big bad guys up front. The Caps have some time to rest up for back to back games against Ottawa at home and then at Montreal Friday and Saturday nights. This is definitely a game the Capitals can build on going forward. As more players return from the infermary, the better this team will be.

Highlights by NHL.com:

Photo AP, Lawrence Jackson: Washington Capitals' Alexandre Giroux, left, celebrates his goal against Boston Bruins goalie Manny Fernandez (35) in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008. The Capitals won 3-1.

Caps Busy On Trade Day

Contrary to what George McPhee told reporters just yesterday, the Washington Capitals were in the deal making business. He made it sound as if the Caps were comfortable where they were. Trades would not make sense at this point. GMGM sure pulled one over on us.

There were some grumblings about the Capitals shopping Steve Eminger and Ben Clymer around the league. A trade seemed imminent, but it would see the Caps gaining more than dumping. McPhee did say he wasn't in the selling mood. The Caps make an astonishing 5 trades acquiring 5 new players and only losing two. All players the Caps acquired are unrestricted free agents at the end of the season.

The Caps jumped at an opportunity to land Cristobal Huet for a second round draft pick early. Already GMGM was turning heads. Huet, ranked 11th in the league for goaltenders with a 21-12-6 record and a 2.55 goals against average and a .916 save percentage, will certainly help the Capitals out in net. GMGM acquired Huet with the draft pick he obtained from Anaheim. It does stir a controversy in the goaltender position as Olie Kolzig and Huet will most likely be sharing duties. That leaves Brent Johnson out in the cold. Huet will be a UFA at the end of the season, so it's still unclear if this is just a rental type deal or if the Capitals are interested in signing the goaltender long term.

Then the Caps pulled Sergei Fedorov from Columbus for their next move. While he is no replacement for a Micheal Nylander, Fedorov does add experience in the middle as a solid second or third line center. He may see some time with both Alex Semin and Alex Ovechkin on a line, but I am assuming he is there to fill out their center position farther down the line. I don't see McPhee signing Fedorov in the off season, he would be a hefty price tag to keep. But you can not deny Fedorov's veteran status if the Caps were to make the playoffs.

Not long after that was announced, the Capitals made their move again swapping Matts with Vancouver. Matt Pettinger gets to go to his hometown to be a Canuck and Matt Cooke adds some gritty play to the Capitals line up. Cooke, an agitator, actually comes in with better stats then Pettinger. He will be a key checking line acquistion and will prove his worth in a division that seemed to beef up some at the deadline. Pettinger's season was a bit disappointing personally. A change of scene for both players may become a positive for both.

For the final trade, the Caps get back Alexandre Giroux from the Atlanta Thrashers right at the deadline. They give up Joe Motzko who seemed to vanish into the wood work in Hershey, while Giroux seemed to grow up a little. I think McPhee didn't feel right about sending Giroux to Atlanta, and he had an opportunity to get that piece back. But Giroux will be sent to Hershey as soon as he arrives.

The Capitals seemed to make the most head turning moves, and seemed to impress most of the analyst who are still scratching their heads on the Huet deal. GMGM did well, but are these only temporary band-aids for the rest of the season. Will McPhee sign any of the players he traded for. It seems that remains to be see.

Meanwhile Steve Eminger and Ben Clymer are still stuck in the system as neither player was moved.

Random Thoughts

I was thinking I would have some time off to take in some Capitals' rookie camp this weekend to give you my thoughts on it, but I don't. So instead your gonna have to take someone else's word on it. Tarik does an excellent job.

I saw that a couple of ex-Caps found new homes. Alexandre Giroux signed with the Thrashers. I think there was a lot of pressure for Giroux to make dividends for the Capitals that he couldn't deliver. So instead he will grow in the Atlanta farm system. We may see him in a Thrasher uniform a couple of times if injuries plague the Atlanta squad, but I do not see him making much noise there.

Lawrence Nycholat got a nice chunk from the Senators who have some faith in the young defender. I thought Nycholat never got a chance to really fit in to his NHL duds before getting sent down time and time again with the Caps. Ottawa would be smart to give this kid some more than just injury duty in the big leagues.

On a final note, I signed up DC Sportschick seeing how she approves of such behavior. I tried to get a private audition for Japer, but they said no.

Caps Split Series With Leafs

Capitals 5, Maple Leafs 1
Scoresheet - Wash Post

What a difference Olaf Kolzig makes in net. It's quite clear what kind of team the Capitals have without Kolzig in net. The Caps need that injection of leadership back in net to look like a semi-normal team.

Alexandre Giroux scored his first NHL goal off an weird bounce that confounded Andrew Raycroft. Also scoring for the Capitals were Alex Semin, Boyd Gordon, Kris Beech and Thomas Fleischmann. Alex Ovechkin was actually held pointless in this one. Where were these hot hands a month ago?

For the Capitals to have success they need more goal support which they enjoyed against the Leafs. Milan Jurcina continues to impress me with his play, making the most of his new start in a different uniform. Since being traded from the Bruins, Jurcina has been a physical presence and has been pretty good with the puck.

The Capitals face Tampa Bay on Sunday. Let's see if they can continue this little streak, it would go a long way to get a few solid wins under the belt before making those tee times.