I hope you can come out to Kettler Capitals Iceplex and enjoy seeing some of our young draftees and prospects practice and eventually play a game later in the week.
You will enjoy their energy and their passion for the game. Practices are always free and it is cool inside with lots of your friends in attendance.
We are all excited about the development of John Carlson as just one example. Click here to see the article in the Washington Post. He is maturing and getting bigger and stronger and has an edge to his game coupled with great skating abilities and a good shot. He played for Dale Hunter in juniors so his game should also be entertaining and he is learning to play the right way with respect and grit. Dale will actually be at our practice today as well. It always makes for a fun time when Dale is in the house. We think John one day can be a top 4 D man on our team.
We believe - over time - that he, Karl Alzner, Mike Green and Jeff Schultz are forming a very good core of young D men. We love developing young players. We now have 8 to 9 NHL D men and in fact we lost two other young D men in the off season that played in Hershey to other teams that were signed to one way deals. So in fact we were overloaded with NHL ready D men. It is good to have many D men in the system.
We think we have multiple NHL goalie prospects that are young and talented and they are proving they are winners too.
We have multiple wings that are young and talented too.
We would like to draft and develop a power forward and a bigger D man in the future but so would every other NHL team.
Right now, we are situated well with young players being drafted and developed and many who are competing for NHL level jobs and minutes. The Carlson trade will probably go down as a “steal” for us. Time will tell.
On another matter, thank you Caps fans for supporting the Capitals Convention. We have now sold about 2,300 tickets. We would really like to sell to our max which is in the 4,000 to 5,000 total range. We should be able to comfortably process and host that many people and make the entire experience intimate and fun. We are trying to innovate here and make for a one-of-a-kind fan immersive experience. It will help our fans bond together as well as get deep into the minds of players and front office personnel. See On Frozen Blog for a good review of our plans. Click here.
The event is being offered as another service to our fans and our players are looking forward to it as well. This event is not replacing our season ticket holder benefit events. It is a new event and it is a way for us to use one of our NHLPA negotiated days with our team for public appearances in a way that scales and allows us to touch a bigger part of our overall fan base. It is replacing our golf tournament which, while a wonderful event, really only allowed our players and staff to meet less than about 200 people, some fans and sponsors.
I think it will be a wonderful day of all things hockey. It is not a business for us. It is a platform to be interactive and to meet fans and have fans really get closer to our franchise. One day, I would expect this event to turn a profit and when it does, it will be en economic engine for our Capitals Cares Charity Foundation. But for now, it is a start up. It will lose money or maybe we will break even. Come on out and enjoy this first ever event. If you like it, we will do it again and again. We will listen to what you want improved and will do our best to make this event world class and enjoyable. I also think you will be wowed by the new facility at Gaylord Convention Center. We think it is big enough and flexible enough to serve our ongoing and growing needs. Thanks for being open-minded and allowing us to innovate and try new things all in service to you, our fans and customers. Go Caps!
Tags: Hockey, Ted Leonsis, Ted's Take, Washington Capitals
thank you Ted! I will provide feedback after the event.
[...] Ted Leonsis blog [...]
That article on Carlson, the potential of Alzner and the signings of Knuble and Morrison really have whetted my appetite for the upcoming season. The schedule comes out in a few minutes then I’ll know for sure how long I’ll have to wait to see my Caps in action again. Keep working the plan Ted! Go Caps.
“the Capitals Convention… is replacing our golf tournament which… really only allowed our players and staff to meet less than about 200 people”
Ah! Now it all makes perfect sense.
As a fan who actually enjoys conventions — but has no use for golf — I thank you. (Now if you could just find a way to make the January outdoor practice a bit less exclusionary…)
Again, no offense but at over $100 for an average family, the convention is not budget-friendly (especially these days).