I wanted to thank you all again for your support and for the genuine respect and love you have all shown for our team even in defeat in Game 7 of Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The two minute standing ovation to our team at game’s end is the talk of the league and several executives from other teams and the league itself have called me to mention it. Thank you again. That was very classy and elegant and nice. Our team’s salute to you on the ice was heartfelt. Our fans are special and one of a kind.
Here is a nice piece by John Feinstein on our fan base and team and on the authentic out pouring of emotion by the community towards our team. Click here to read it. Yesterday was quite remarkable. I received more than 300 emails; more than 200 of them were just thank you love letters regarding the season. Another 50 of them were about how good the experience was this season and where we could improve it and the team. Thirty of them were voicing happiness with our season and team but voicing concerns about NHL officiating. Ten were from fans disappointed in our continuing struggles in the playoffs against the Penguins. Five were from gloating Penguin fans and five were very negative from Capitals fans, two from out of the area and two from Capitals season ticket holders. One email was from a gentleman who has complained to me for 10 years about everything. You know who you are, right?
Hearing all of your voices is very instructive and most appreciated. Our season ticket holder base – our life blood - is satisfied with the season but expects us to continue to improve and to set a very high goal for the franchise. That is our promise. We only have improvement in mind now this off season. We hope to mature as a team. We hope to add some selected new blood to make us better. We want to keep the core of our team together and we hope to go even further into the playoffs next season. We will not rest until we craft a championship performance for our loyal fan base and our community at large.
Today Bruce and George meet with the players; discuss individual expectations with each of them; give out season ending performance reviews; and then the players pack up and get set to leave. It is a very quick end to the season, very humbling and very sad for all of us.
Watching the other Game 7s last night was very sobering. Watching the Red Wings win on home ice was very interesting to me. I wish we had held serve so much for our fans. It feels so great to win a Game 7 on home ice. Then watching the Bruins lose their Game 7 in OT on home ice was equally sobering. That brought back a bunch of bad memories to me, as you can imagine.
There is nothing like the competitiveness of the NHL playoffs. We must never take any of our involvement in it for granted. We thank you all again for your support. It is appreciated. It will never be taken for granted I promise. Go Caps!
Ted,
First, I probably whine about this more than I should but I really think the biased officiating we Caps fans have to endure year after year really, more than anything else takes away from the enjoyment and satisfaction of sticking with our team through thick and thin when we always feel just a little cheated or have to wonder “what if”.
But that’s not in your control. As for what Caps ownership and management can control, I think that you guys really have delivered. There have been quite a few pleasant surprises grown out of the ashes of the dreaded “rebuild”. And I think that the character of the players you guys have brought in is top-notch.
DC is now as much or more a hockey town now than ever. That is no small feat being only 18 months from the bottom of the league.
Sapper
As a lifelong fan now living in New York, it has been great to see the Caps getting much more support and attention than they ever got during their heyday in the 1980s. Thanks Ted, for making that happen. And appreciate you knowing that there are still steps to be taken.
Ted,
Thanks for a great year. I grew up a caps fan in the 80′s and now am taking my kids (4 & 7) to games despite moving to the outskirts in Frederick. The Caps have become a family passion and special time for us together. The team is inspiring and wonderful role models for my young boys. After a partial plan this year we moved to STH for next year. I thank you and the team for the joy and excitement they have brought to our family and the entire area. We can’t wait for next year.
Mr. Leonsis,
Congrats on the Caps season. Despite the way it ended it was still a successful one and no doubt next season will be more fruitful. I’m a St. Louis Blues fan but I have a love for the Capitals as well now and that’s due to you and Ovie of course.
I hope the guys take heart and realize the building blocks are there and they will be a force to be reckoned with next season.
Cheers
Mr. Leonsis:
No complaints here – thanks for leading a totally classy organization. Also more importantly like “hockeybob” and Ken Fisher above thank you for providing a great venue and vehicle for me to connect with my son over the past five years.
I’ve already posted a more detailed explanation on what Caps Hockey means to me and a public thank you to you, the rest of Caps Ownership and the enitere team and organization on my blog “Mark’s Musings” on blogspot. It’s pretty sappy but I really feel gratful for the opportunity Caps games give me to spend time with folks I like and the exhilaration I get supporting such a great organization.
I now share my two season tickets in Section 103 with a college classmate who also often brings his one of his two sons to games as well. We’ll gladly be back next season as well.
Thank you once again,
Mark Bonatucci
Bristow, VA
Thank you
Ted:
Congrats on a good season. We were better than we were last season, and with the right decisions, will get better next year. I look forward to much more exciting hockey in DC.
Jeff
Thank you for a wonderful season! It was a great ride that I got to share with some wonderful fans and my daughter who will be heading off to college in the fall. We had a blast! The guys are awesome, the coaches are awesome, and the owner is awesome. It is only a matter of time before the Stanley Cup is being hoisted around the Verizon Center Ice. I can’t wait for next year!
Great season Ted. Disappointing end, but I am a new season ticket holder and am jacked about next season, the new blood coming in, and our future.
What a great and fun season! Thank you for your continued follow-through. We have had so much fun at the games we attended this season and feel like the players are ‘our boys’ since we’ve seen a lot of them come through in the AHL. As you’re fond of saying – Onward. Let’s Go Caps!
The very fact that we all expected a better result is a testament to how great this team is. The improvement over the past few years is vast. The optimism that we could of done better is such a change from even the year previous when I went home content with what had been accomplished. We are not content with this season. We know where we are going and the future is so bright. I must thank this organization from the bottom up for the quality of entertainment I expect and receive. The best days are ahead of us. The hard work and the passion that everyone who works for this team has really shows. It’s really great to be a Washington Capitols fan right now.
Thanks for a great season. I must admit, I thought we would be going to the next Round. But my goals for the team were to get into the playoffs last year, and get to the Second Round and make a good showing this year. As you like to say “check and check.” Next year, of course we expect even more, but I am sure you are glad to take the challenge.
To those that left early from Game 7 – you missed a very unique exchange of gratitiude between the team and fans. It was nearly as emotional as if we had won the game.
Being from New Brunswick, Canada, I only get to see the Caps once every couple of years in Montreal. But, being a fan of this team since the days of Mike Palmateer I have been through a lot of disappointment, but the last several years have been awesome (SCFs were pretty good too). To see a Caps game @ Verizon center is on my LIST. I hope I get a chance to personally say Thank You to you Mr Leonsis….keep up the great work.
Mike Francis
Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
Thanks for acknowledging the standing ovation at the end of the game. It’s very gratifying to hear it was appreciated since it was certainly heartfelt from those of us who stayed to the end. I’ve never left a game early and I’m so happy I didn’t start that night since those two minutes helped me, through the tears, cope with such a disappointing loss. The salute from the players was a special moment even though they couldn’t have been feeling much worse at that point…
Thanks for a great season and we’re looking forward to the changes you make in the off-season to improve the team and hopefully get us closer to the goal we all have, the Cup.
and another thank you to you…. TED-
in short thanks for a great season, thanks for the best owner’s blog in sports, and most of all thanks for being the best owner in sports.
i also very much hope you had as much fun as we did!
As a long time Caps fan now exiled in Philly, I am so thrilled with the magnificent accomplishments this season, less so on the ice than off — you were right, DC IS a hockey town now. We have all “good problems,” including a wealth and depth of stellar goaltending talent; fabulous game-changing forwards both in DC and Hersey, and a base of young and improving Defensemen. With a couple of old-fashioned grinders up front and a solid D-man or two, we’re destined to host another Cup final in the next 1-2 years. Again, good problems.
When does training camp begin?
Thanks, Ted, for a great season! I have enjoyed watching every game; we -the Caps- have such and exciting bunch of guys, and they truly seem to like each other (I don’t take that for granted). My husband and I had season tickets in the past but have been unable to do it for a few years, but hoping to again in a year or 2. Thanks again.
Bravo! I can’t wait for next season to start. The enitre Caps organization did well this year. I can’t think of the last time I had more faith in an organization to do the right things in the offseason. My only complaint: When do we get Brett Leonhardt bobbleheads? Maybe a poster of of “2008-2009 Washington Capitals Goalies with Jose, Brent, Brett, Michael, and Simeon”?
One more thing…it’s bad enough when you’re a bad loser but when you’re a bad winner, it’s the Pitts–absolutely no class to come to this website to gloat about a victory that was clearly so painful for us. Yeah, good for you Pitts fan, I’m sure you’re all better people because your hockey team beat an injured Caps teams with a rookie goalie. No class at all.
When’s opening day 2009?
I can’t wait…
Dear Ted, Iso enjoy the Caps and you. I have taken the kids I take care of to many events that you have put on. The two I have brought most often are the two kids in very first of the Mike Green at Wendy’s clip. The players have been wonderful to the kids. Sergei Fedorov came out to meet Sarah on her third B.Day in Feb. She had made him a Valentine. We were taken in special and he only met her that day!! She was so happy that he signed her puck. She told everyone when we got back to the gate that she was VERY SPECIAL because Sergei had came out for her by herself. It was great!! Also Ryan has spoken with you a couple of times. You might remember that he call you “The guy who gives the chips to Ovechkin.” the first time he met you and you signed his stick. He was nor quite 3 at the time. He is now very close to 5 and he is playing hockey. We cheer loud and long for you and the team. Can’t wait for next year to be watching and cheering again!!!!! Ryan Sarah LynneDee
Congrats Ted,
Job well done. You have made DC a “hockey town”. A feat I didn’t think was possible when I moved out here 20 years ago from the midwest where I grew up playing hockey just about everyday. Even in ’98 when the Caps made the Cup Finals I was able to get a ticket with little problem. It has been so great to see everybody in DC rally around the Caps. I was talking to a taxi driver who in broken english told me he was so nervous he couldn’t even watch Game 6.
And then to be there in person and witness the standing ovation at the end of Game 7 was one of the most moving experiences I have seen at a professional sporting event.
Thanks to you, the team and the entire organization for such a great year. I can’t wait until next season!
Ted,
It was a great year, 50 wins, 108 points. Divison Champs again. Game 7 victory in round 1 and taking the defending EC Champs to a game 7. Plus add in all the personal goals that the players did this year.
The standing ovation was deserved for what this team did, I was there in my season seats in 411 and with about 5 mins left in the 3rd i wanted to stand then..
Thank you for all that you have done, And I cant wait to see how we improve in the off-season… Sept cant get here soon enough!!
Ted:
I’ve been meaning to write this all season.
Thanks for the great season. The Capitals have become one of the leading organizations in the NHL in just a few years and it’s clear to me that it’s not just AO (who is great, of course) but head to toe the entire structure of the franchise is just world class.
Thank you.
Matthew Langley
Applauding the team at the end of Game 7 was just the right thing to do – I was there and clapped as loud as I could. This is my team. Thank you and the entire Capitals organization for a delicious season and wonderful fan (and new season ticket holder) experience. Can’t wait til next fall!
It was a great year… it could have been better (they always can, unless they go 82-0-0 and 16-0 in the playoffs….not gonna happen.)
I was there for the handshake and the end… and I’ll be there for the first preseason game next year, and all the others (and if the rumors are true, I’ll be at Fenway for the Winter Classic!!!)
Like the song says, see you in September.
I, as many of the fans, was disappointed with the out come of game 7 but very happy w/ the season and direction of this team. We are so close you can almost feel it.
I felt myself at first being negative w/ the team over game 7 and then I realized I wasn’t mad at the team or Mgmt but just sad that the season was over because I was having a great time. This season, the fans, VC, Media, it was just wonderful.
Thanks so much for keeping your promise to work as hard as you can to bring us a championship here to DC. I know we are just about there.
It was a great ride and I can’t wait for next year to start. Is it Oct. yet?
In the mean time I plan on watching and supporting our young talent in Hershey thru the Calder Cup playoff’s.
The Caps future is bright. Young talent in the minors and an owner who is committed. At the end of the day that’s all I could ask for.
Hears to a great season and an even better one next year.
Thank You, and the Capitals’ team from top to bottom, for a great season. It really was an amazing season, we all know that, and appreciate the effort put forward by everyone. If we keep at it, we will achieve our goals.
Here are a few thoughts that I’m sure you’ve heard but wanted to say anyway hoping they make sense and if achieved they will help the team:
1- I think playing more of a defensive game as a team throughout the whole season will help the team be ready for the playoffs, it just seems at times that the team tries to play D only in the playoffs and that seems a bit too late to start focusing on D. If we look at how many wins we have and how many shutouts (2) and compare to other teams that made the playoffs, we’re probably at the bottom in shutouts. Shutouts come from great goalies but also great Defense.
2- Our offense is great, but to see our top players sometimes just wait by our blue line and not help on the back check hurts. They are awesome players, but sometimes that little poke, or following their guy back behind the goal, will help in avoiding a goal against us
3- If the refs have their opinion on Semin as a diver, I think it’s time to teach Semin how to keep fighting a little more and force the refs to see that he’s not a diver and he deserves the call
4- Mike Green needs to practice more D as well. He was outplayed on multiple occasions against the Pens, we all love the guy, but sometimes what you practice in September will help you in May.
All these comments are not to say we’re that bad at any of these things, it’s just pointing out that some extra work on some of these things could help push us towards the cup:) which is what we all want. Thanks again for a great season, we have the best player in the World and we can’t wait to see him and the Caps organization win the Stanley Cup
Walid Jaklis
GO CAPS!!!
Ted, as a season ticket holder, I was obviously very disappointed at the game on Wednesday–certainly not what we expected! But, despite the embarrassment I felt for our players, we never thought of leaving. And I was so glad that the vast majority of the crowd stayed to the end. And how great–and fitting–was it that Horn Guy led us, one last time, in a sustained “Let’s Go Caps!” cheer! Speaking for myself, I felt we owed that to this team. How many great nights did they give us this year? How many amazing (“I was there for that!”) moments and goals did Ovi give us? The guy played his heart out every game and every shift. I will never forget the roar of the crowd at the end of game 7 against the Rangers–a once in a lifetime type experience. And game 2 against the Penguins was another great experience.
As a father, I want to tell you that this is the best thing I have going with my teenage boys. To a man, every one of the Caps is a great role model for our kids, and my boys will, I’m sure, remember the Caps games as one of their favorite times growing up. I have never seen my (very reserved) 17-year old more excited than he was when I turned to look at him after Fedorov’s great goal in game 7. So, although we hate that we lost to the Penguins, and we’re now in “hockey withdrawal,” I would not have traded this year for anything. In many ways, I thought the end of the game on Wednesday was, strangely, one of the BEST moments of the year: a chance for us to show our appreciation at the hardest–rather than the easiest–moment, when the players had to know it was really from the heart. And it was great to see the players salute to know that the message was received.
Clearly, the team needs a couple of more pieces to go the next step. But we were very close this year, and let’s hope that the players will learn from this experience and go to the next level.
Ted,
I was surprised to read that you received negative comments from Caps fans. Very surprised. I think the season was exceptional. Reflecting on it, it was thrilling, exciting, frustrating, depressing and every other emotion you can think of. It was in so many ways perfect.
Throughout this season, I have gained so many friends, and have really had the opportunity to spend a ton of time with my son. We went to so many games, and after returning from Iraq, I really felt the need to take advantage of the time we have together. We did that through Caps Hockey.
Thanks for a great season and we can’t wait for the next!
v/r
Ken
Thanks, Ted – for the post but more importantly for a wonderful season. I’ve shared a Caps full season plan with two others (4 seats) since 1991. (We now sit ten a few rows just below you – Row L, Sec. 101.
No complaints here. This was a terrific year from players…management and ownership. Keep it up. Hey…even the food and beer selection @ Verizon improved!
We look forward to seeing what you can do for the next season as the team no doubt improves.
Cheers.
–Norm & Joy St. Landau
Centreville, Md.
I thank you and the team for giving us a reason to cheer. Our team has worked hard even in defeat and I can’t ask more than that. As usual, everything surrounding the Caps season had been great.