It is a very busy time of year and made doubly so by the economy for several of my start-up ventures. Our new season is about to start and we are focused on the team and our present and future which looks pretty good right now.I receive hundreds and hundreds of emails at my WashingtonCaps@aol.com address and I try to read and respond to all of them. I took a look at my mail box for the last 60 days and was surprised at how many emails I received many from the same small set of fans rehashing things and looking in the rear view mirror or frankly writing about things that aren’t as important to us or many of our fans. Hence, starting today, I will no longer respond to any emails that demand an answer on the following:

Kono trade;

Bondra trade;

Jagr trade;

Gonchar trade;

Witt trade;

Grier trade;

Halpern non-resigning;

Olie to Tampa;

Capitals Spirit Squad;

Mike Gartner number retirement ceremony;

And if you get banned from the message boards.

I am not trying to be disrespectful. I am just trying to manage my time better and focus on our present and future. To get into email debates about trades made four years ago seems counterproductive to me or to get into flame wars with fans over individual players that have retired or left our team seems inappropriate to me. We need to be focused on our team and our current players. So I apologize in advance if I don’t respond to your email or request to discuss something about these subjects…just about anything else is fair game to write about. I have exhausted all my words on the subject above and have moved on. Onward and thanks for understanding. Go Caps!

It means nothing if you think we played well. Thank you but don’t get too excited. If you think we didn’t play well - understood- but relax as it doesn’t mean anything. It was only preseason. And if you are mad at me because you think we really went 5-2, I am only taking the stats from the AP story within.

The best thing about this preseason is that we suffered no serious injuries and that we have had a spirited and competitive camp. We learned that we have many additional young prospects that will push our veterans to play better or they won’t be playing with us much longer. That is the kind of system and team-oriented approach that we all want to see. We have been drafting and developing our players very well of late. Hershey should be terrific this year and that will help reinforce our “culture of winning and excellence.”

This week, Coach will skate the guys hard. He will focus on the system and special teams. George McPhee has some tough decisions to make as to the final roster and then we play for real this weekend; Friday at Atlanta and Saturday at home against Chicago. I hope to see you all at our home opener on Saturday night at the Verizon Center. Rock the Red! Go Caps!