Happy MLB All Star Day

Since news is grinding to a halt for hockey, I figure I would wish every one a happy All Star Day as the baseball devoted get their day at Yankee Stadium. Just a few things to mention.

If you haven't seen it yet, TSN.ca has the full interview with Ray Emery. I only bring it up because Emery actually put some of the blame on himself for it deteriorating the way things did in Ottawa. It's only now, when he has no job in the NHL, do we see him mature. Ironic.

I did hear back from a couple of sources that Shaone Morrisonn will "most likely go to arbitration." Both sides are negotiating still and that is a good sign. I am not sure what the hold up is, whether it's the contract length or the dollar amount that is keeping the two sides from agreeing. As long as they are talking, a deal could be struck before Morrisonn's hearing date of July 24.

Happy Belated Birthday to Japers' Rink. 3 years huh? Sounds like someone is just a couple months older than PHT. Has it really been 3 years? Dang.

Caps Draft Night

While the NHL Draft started in a frenzy of activity, the Caps waited for the right moment to make a move. They did so by picking up a familiar name to Capitals fans, Gustafsson. Son of the Cap great Bengt Gustafsson, Anton Gustafsson was drafted after the Caps made a trade to jump up to the 21st pick from New Jersey. They dealt the 23rd and 54th pick to draft the young talent.

Anton was scouted as a good talent but was placed lower on the draft list due to a partially herniated disc in his back. He was considered a draft wildcard due to his health. Gustafsson is a tall and strong two way player known for his playmaking ability with his good vision. He is still a few years away from a probable Caps debut, but should be in DC in July for development camp.

But the Caps didn't stop there. They then dealt Steve Eminger (who was rumored to be in trade talks before the draft) to Philly for the 29th draft pick. They took bruiser John Carlson for their acquired draft pick. Eminger, who found himself in the doghouse for most of the season, finally gets what he wanted: a trade. In return they get a second first round pick and Carlson and picked up a 3rd round pick as well.

Carlson is a big, tall, strong defenseman that plays with a hard shot and is a hard skater. He will return to his junior team the London Knights next season. He brings some skill on the power play with his hard heavy shot, and doesn't shy from being physical. Carlson was expected to take higher (some experts had him higher around 20 -22), but settled in for a 29th pick overall.

This year's draft saw an influx of defensemen signed for any one draft in some time.

As the Caps go, they did pretty well for what GM George McPhee had to deal with. He was able to tie up a lose end in Eminger and getting him to a team that may use him more than here. He still has a heavy contract for Ben Clymer and still has to finish the draft weekend and sign a slew of free agents, both restricted and unrestricted. The Caps have now made 15 first-round picks in the last seven years, four more than any other NHL team.

A special thanks to Japers' Rink that hosted a live chat throughout the draft. It was fun to see all the Caps bloggers initial reactions to each pick, whether it was the Caps' pick or not. To be honest though I had a bit of a headache trying to keep up with everyone. I wonder who I will have to bribe to get on that panel?

250th Post!

I am not one to blow my own horn, but...


Yup, my 250th post. I was hoping to get to 300 by the end of the season, but that didn't happen. I started this blog back in September of 2005 after reading a particular blog called Japer's Rink. Before that I had a piddly little geocities website that got very little traffic and was hard to update. I thought, "Well, if JP can do it, how hard can it be?"

Little did I know of the joy and hardship of putting together well thought out posts about a hockey team that has done little since the inception of this blog. I named it Puckhead's Thoughts because Puckhead was a nickname I was given by teammates when I played and mostly because "Garrett the Ferret" doesn't really scream hockey blog for a title.

I picked out three posts that were my most popular:

I Guess The Capitals Can Practice Now - Opening of the Kettler Capitals Iceplex at the Ballston mall. Complete with video.

Fearless Finals Prediction - I correctly predicted the NHL Finals with Carolina winning in 7 games. That won't happen for a while.

Ok Colorado, You've Had Your Night - The most popular post on Puckhead. Featured on deadspin.com and sort of put my little blog on the map amongst other blogs.

Okay, enough tooting my own horn.

--Other Notes--

• The race for the last coveted playoff spot in the eastern conference is making for high drama. The Capitals can play spoiler again against a team in the hunt. The Montreal Canadiens are knocking on the door of that 8th place spot held by Carolina. The Caps could make things a bit more difficult for that to happen.
• Earning official spots in the playoffs are Buffalo, Detroit, Nashville and Anaheim. No surprise here, but would like to see Buffalo steal the President's Trophy from Detroit.
• Todd Fedoruk's season has ended after taking a shot from Colton Orr during a fight in the Flyers/Rangers game. While this was a "clean" fight, NHL still has to face it's critics that the sport is too violent. My only response is that it's late in the season, guys are playing with sprained joints, bruised bodies and beat up faces. An 82 game schedule takes a lot out of a player physically. Fedoruk could have been able to withstand a hit like that earlier in the season. But when the body is worn, it's at it's most vulnerable.

That's all I got.

Caps Drop A Couple Z's

Dainius Zubrus is a Sabre and the Capitals send a defense prospect for rookie forward Jiri Novotny and a first round pick. One of the more quiet trades on trade day the Caps move a few large payrolls off their roster. GMGM just didn’t want to sign Zubie to a five year deal. Novotny is still recovering from a sprained ankle.

Caps also moved Timo Helbling for a frist round pick from the Sabres. Helbling only played two games for the Caps this year. He is considered a top defensive prospect and the Capitals get a first round draft pick in the up coming draft.

Jamie Heward was also moved today to Los Angeles for a fifth round pick. Capitals lose an experienced defenseman for a deep pick. I would have thought the Caps could get more for Heward.

I thought Zubie was going west, but here is a chance for the forward to do very well with a fast and fluid team. For Zubrus this is a good trade, for the Capitals, eh. Novotny is a very good rookie, considered a playmaker, but will not fill the void left by Zubrus.

What the Capitals really wanted was the first round draft pick, and they let Zubie and a defenseman go for it. Novotny was just icing. With a lot of big names being moved today, this one just sort of was a side note. Zubrus should add some consistency to the Sabres’ lineup. Caps also dealt Richard Zednik to the Islanders for a second round pick.

Other Resources:
Capitals Press Release
NHL.com
Japers Rink
Capitals Insider - Wash Post

Wrapping Up Before Christmas

Ok, a lot is going on. So I am going to catch up on much of it before I board a plane for Minnesota. Let’s take a walk around the league.

Peter Bondra finally scored his 500th career goal and joins 37 other NHL players who have reached that milestone. Congrats to Bondra, a long time Cap. It’s good to see him reach that milestone.

Pittsburgh is in trouble of losing its hockey franchise. Mario Lemieux upped the ante and talked of moving the team elsewhere. This is just to light a fire under the butts of the great elected officials that the people of Pittsburgh saw fit to hold office. Too bad it wasn’t enough of an issue during the campaign season. Maybe making those politicians promise to do something may have been an ace in the hole, but they probably talked about mundane things like education and the environment.

Meanwhile, many are calling for the team to move to Las Vegas or Houston rather than Kansas City. Vegas huh? You think that Carolina’s cheerleaders are cute, imagine some showgirls on ice! I hear it would be a toss up between Penn and Teller and Cirque doing the intermission shows. Maybe we will catch a player or two at the slots on the way from the locker room to the ice.

If the Pens become the Chips, that could move some teams to interesting new divisions and conferences and could bring a Western Conference foe to the East side. Speculation has been on Detroit getting first dibs on succeeding to the East. Others that might be good fits are Columbus, Nashville and of course Vancouver (hey why not?).

The league is thinking about reworking the divisions and shrinking them from 6 to 4. JP has the collar on this subject. Personally I would like to see the Caps face the Rangers, Islanders, Philly and Devils more. Most likely though the Caps will get shafted and will have to play AHL teams. Then maybe we can change the team name to the Lower Cases.

Have a great holiday!

No Puckhead

Not thinking clearly, I finished my Caps/Thrashers thread with hopes of getting to the Philly game tonight. Little did I realize that I was on a plane today and not only can I not post, but I won't see any of the game. That is what happens when life gets in the way of running a blog.

So since there is no hope of getting a post out for the next few days, here are a few that I am sure can pick up the slack:

Japer's Rink
Caps Nut
On Frozen Blog
Off Wing Opinion
And of course SESO

Last time I left the confines of the couch the Caps spanked the Aves at the Pepsi Center and Hitchcock and Clarke said bye bye in Philly. So I figure it's a good thing I am out of town for the next couple of games.

Remember to Vote November 7th. Be safe and I will see you Thursday (I hope).

Ovechkin's Hole-In-One

I take this as a good sign:

Alex Ovechkin hit a hole in one during the Caps Care Classic at the Springfield Golf and Country Club in Springfield, Va., today. Ovechkin took a shot on the par-3, 160-yard fourth hole that landed short of the green and rolled in.

You go Alex!

Update: Japer's Rink has the video on this slow news day story.

Childhood Games (I Got Tagged)

What the hell? I was tagged? I was king of home-base for years as a kid (and making up more home-bases as the game went along, “This blade of grass is home-base! Ha!”). So as not to be “it” anymore, here are my five things. Prepare to be impressed.

1. I just celebrated my 8th anniversary of a beautiful marriage to my lovely wife Katie in July. When we met, she was actually dating a guy at another college. Of course I had to end that right then and there. From then we just became infatuated with one another, and it really has never ceased. (Okay, mushy stuff over).

2. I met Lynda Carter at a Holiday party at Vice President Dan Quayle’s house. The highlight of my young life (I was 14 at the time). Since then I have always had an obsession with Wonder Woman. Lynda Carter can rescue me anytime!

3. I saved my Uncle Gary’s life by simply being there. My uncle runs a farm in Nebraska and he brought me along to fix a feed trailer when it collapsed on top of him. When it fell, I knew something was wrong because Gary was not standing next to it, he was under it. I freaked, and ran to the house and called 911. There were other people at the house that helped me out. We lifted the trailer with a tractor’s front loader. Lucky for my uncle, the ground under the trailer was sandy and soft so he mostly sunk into the ground. He is still working on the farm and is fully recovered after a few months in the Hospital.

4. I have worked as a Doorkeeper at the US Capitol building. It was one of the most interesting jobs I have had. I have met so many people who visited the Senate Gallery, which includes Michael Stipe from R.E.M., David Hyde Pierce and brother, Paige Davis (before Trading Spaces) just to name a few. During the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton I snuck a rock radio station DJ in the gallery (for some DC area people that may remember I was Mr. X. You get extra credit if you can name the DJ).

5. In 2002, I had the opportunity to go to the gold medal game in Salt Lake City. One of the coolest things I have ever experienced. We sat three rows from the ice and five seats from Canada’s bench. Close enough to hear Chris Pronger yell at Theo Fluery to get his ass off the ice. Although Team USA did not win (the look on Jeremy Roenick’s face during the gold medal ceremony was priceless, he kept rolling his eyes as they announced the names of the Gold Medal Canadian team), the experience was amazing. To see that kind of talent in a clutch game was awesome. We also met Wayne Gretzky’s wife and father after the game.

So there you go, I hope Japer is happy. I better Tag some others.