Twas great to see that BOTH Alex Ovechkin and Mike Green were named first team All Stars by the Sporting News. Click here to see the voting and lineup. I don’t think the Washington Capitals have ever had two players in the top six first team All Stars in the league in our history as a franchise — so kudos to our young core of players for being recognized by the experts and the league itself.
This vote follows on the news of Alex Ovechkin being voted NHL player of the year in the NHL — which I provided a link to the story last week.
Alex Ovechkin is chilling out in Russia and getting ready for the NHL Awards show in Las Vegas — Mike Green will be there as well; as will I . Read this article to see Alex’s thoughts about our playoff performance — and his healthy attitude towards the gaming tables in Las Vegas.
I have watched all three Penguins vs Hurricanes games to date — I must admit I am very impressed by the Penguins performance — both Crosby and Malkin have stepped up their games and are truly the difference makers. They may be the best team in the NHL right now — it is frustrating to be watching the games and I don’t feel any better about losing to them because they are performing so well.
It is interesting as a challenge for us on how to craft our team — on the go forward — as we will no doubt face the Penguins many times in the playoffs. They are built around their center ice — they go three deep and are skilled — big — fast and dangerous. They have very good goal tending; they have a high scoring D man — and then they fill in around the that core group of players. We have one world class young center to their three — but we have other worldly wings in Ovechkin and Semin — and we also have a world class high scoring D man — and now we believe we have great strength in goal — who has more options in goal now than us?
So — we have to build up our strength at center ice as priority one, I believe. We have to improve everywhere — but it isn’t a coincidence that the two best teams in the league — Detroit and Pittsburgh — have the most strength at center ice. To beat Pittsburgh — we will have to be bigger and faster at center ice position. And of course — stay healthy when we play in the playoffs. We have lots of work to do — but we all love a challenge.
I am receiving many emails from folks frustrated that they can’t buy season tickets anymore from the Washington Capitals and that they have been forced onto a waiting list. We have had a higher than expected renewal rate from our season ticket base — we will finish I believe at over 96 percent renewal; and we sold a boat load of new season tickets for next season during the playoffs. We could sell out the building now for next season with just season ticket holders; but we do not think that is fair — we want to have tickets to sell to groups that were always loyal to us over the years and have single game tickets to sell to get new Caps fans into the building on a game by game basis. Thank you for understanding.
Went to see two films so far this weekend — Terminator — which was a real disappointment and Night at the Museum 2 — which was fun in a mindless summer entertainment sort of way. I also watched the Wrestler on DVD — as I was working out; wow — now that is a great film and Mickey Rourke’s performance was the role of a lifetime. Rent that DVD asap.
We are going to the Nationals game today — have you ever seen a team lose as many games in the late innings as the Nationals?. I believe this augers well for the team — they are young — exciting — they can score runs and play defense — they just need a bit more experience in pitching and some help with a seasoned closer. There is nothing as relaxing as an afternoon baseball game — during a three day weekend in the summer.
I believe the “econalypse ” — (economic – apocalypse ) is nearing its end — and it is time to start to buy at great prices — my family just made an offer on a piece of real estate in downtown DC; and we just bought a new car — I believe we offered and paid fair value — and that if the deal on the real estate is closed it will represent — a win — win for both parties. Everything is on sale and we may have hit the bottom in the market — it may never be cheaper or easier to buy things of value than right now.
Ted,
I would like to make a suggestion.
Two players I would definitely trade for is Slava Kozlov and Radulov.
Slava Kozlov is super smart and can score, he brings mentoring like Federov to the young Russians. He also scored 21 goals I think this season for Atlanta.
Radulov is on a contract dispute, but he is a very talented RW. Is it possible to make a trade to Nashville for his rights and lure him here with our two great Russians?
Ted I think our problems are more than centers, but a scoring RW, and tough d. We need more dmen like Erskine who are big and in your face.
Also our execution:
1) Why did our d and team not get the fact that you do not dump an outlet pass along the boards as a pass to a forward to only get intercepted and trapped in the neutral zone. It was so predictable, hopefully Alzner and Carlson can make outlet passes.
2) The way our team and d does a sweep to one side to close off the opposing puck carrier to only have it sent across ice to an open man was ridiculous. See this in the PK and neutral zone. Defensive coach should be fired.
3) We need a puck crashing forward, like an Eric Cole. Our forwards do not know how to get their nose dirty, except Ovi. How many times did our forwards show that they can cycle the puck and eventually lose the puck, no one thinks to crash the net. So many times they cycle the puck till they are tired along the boards or lose it.
I think GMGM has already started the process of improving the team when he made the assistant coaching change. I’ve felt that the defensive players had the skills we need but appeared to be unprepared for some games – it is the responsibility of the coaching staff to prepare the players for each opponent. Kudos to McPhee for making a gutsy move.
Wings in 4!!!!
ted…gotta agree about the Terminator.
i was very very disappointed as well. should’ve been rated R!
Wow – people are complaining they can’t get season tickets to see the Caps? Washington, at least for now, IS a hockey town. Keep working the plan Ted and I have no doubt DC will be a hockey town for years to come.
Ted, I’m still smarting over game 7! Won’t be better til we as fans are given redemption. I LOVE this team you’ve put together! Not since Bobby Bethard & Joe Gibbs and the “Squire” has this town had a sense of confidence versus ANY opponent in their league. But, I HAVE to know why our team ran out of gas right when we needed them most?
I can’t STAND the Penguins or their success. And I really expected more from Carolina- a team that effectively handled us during the season. Some would offer that as validation for this Penguins team! I don’t accept that- I can’t wait til next season.
Yes, we need an enforcer around our goal to make Malkin and Crosby think twice about coming into our zone. But, we have in Semin, Backstrom & Ovie the best puck handling skaters in the LEAGUE! I just didn’t expect what happened in game 7, nobody saw this coming…our season will be forever marred by this loss.
I can’t wait til next year.
Ted: Insightful comments on the Caps, although I’d point out the need for a bit of extra defensive strength as well. I understand that the organization feels that the help on that side may come from within the organization. My only question is whether that help will come in the form of the full needed maturity in the next couple of years. We’ll see, I guess.
But in the meantime, I think it’s time to set the record straight on a couple of things, and face a few facts.
(1) I’ve seen so-called analysts talk about the need for more maturity, getting over the psychological hump, playing with more heart/discipline, etc. all because of game 7. That’s all baloney. The Caps lost game 7 the way they did because they ran out of gas, plain and simple. Too many elimination games they had to face, and they finally ran into one they weren’t prepared to handle. Koslov said as much in a very insightful interview he gave after the season, and other players hinted at it, though they didn’t say it as clearly as Koslov did.
(2) How could this Penguins team have been #10 in the conference at the 3/4 mark of the season? The answer, of course, is that that team was not the team that is playing now. Forget the coach issue – relatively speaking, the team coasted through most of the regular season, and turned it on only at the end. This brings up an interesting point. Although fans and even the coach may not like it, it may be necessary to not drive the team 100% through the regular season. Maybe AO needs a game off here and there. Green could certainly have used a little time off. Heck, I wanted Boudreau to rest Varly and Federov in game 4 of the Penguin series. Let’s face it – the Penguins are relatively fresh and healthy at this point, and it may be from having conserved their strength. The hockey season the Caps want to be playing stretches for 100 games and more, and hockey is not baseball. The team may need to be managed with that reality in mind.
(3) Good for you to be wanting to improve the team to compete with the Penguins, but it won’t be easy. Why?? Because the salary cap limits what you can do from outside the organization even if the players were available, and our record is now good enough that we have no shot at the top draftees. A part of the Penguins success story that is not discussed is this: The reason the Penguins have the team they do now is that in the early – mid decade they were bad enough for long enough, and fortunate enough in the draft process, that they drafted Fleury #1 in 2003, Malkin #2 in 2004, Crosby #1 in 2005, and Staal #2 in 2006. There is the very core of their team. By comparison, in the same period, we got a #1 – AO – and a #4 – Backstrom. That disparity in absolute, practically guaranteed top-of-the-line talent is really the difference between these teams right now, although Varly may have offset the Fleury draft selection from lower down in the draft. Overcoming that won’t be easy.
Thanks for your ongoing insightful comments, Ted, and giving us the opportunity to respond.
Center ice yes.. but please please please don’t forget our defense. We have no one close to being an Orpik on our team, and then they have Gill who is a physical force as well…. both our physical but yet are good puck movers, something we dont have.