Boudreau gets the nod....

I've been out of commission the past few weeks moving and working on a busy project, but I'm hoping to blog more frequently again.

GMGM named Bruce Boudreau as the new head coach of the Washington Capitals today. He loses his interim title after coaching the Caps to a 7-5-3 record since November 22nd. I like Boudreau so far and the Caps are certainly playing better than they did under Hanlon this year. The young guys seem to be responding really well to Boudreau which isn't totally surprising since he coached so many of them under the Hershey Bears.

Coach Boudreau told the team that the 2nd half of the season starts tonight. That's a great message but I still don't hold out hope for this team to make the playoffs and then what? Does GMGM lose his job and the Capitals end up getting another new coach? Sigh....

The biggest concerns I have about the Caps right now are Olie's play and Ovie's contract. Olie is struggling and since the Caps don't have a starting goalie waiting around anywhere (the prospects are young!) that could mean the "rebuild is far from over". I'm one of Olie's biggest fans and I just got his jersey because he means a lot to me as someone who has slogged through the good times and bad times with the Caps and helped them reach their one and only Stanley Cup championship final appearance. Olie, pick it up. I know you can do it.

On to Ovie's contract. Hearing GMGM say "Ovie's going to be in Washington for a long time" doesn't make me feel any better about his lack of of a new contract. Ted said the same thing in September, three plus months ago. Get the damn deal done.

Caps play Tampa Bay here shortly.

Let's go Caps!

Finally...a win against Florida

The past few games haven't been as kind to new coach Bruce Boudreau as the first two under his reign, with a 3-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, an excruciating loss after an 11 player shootout session to Florida and a 4-3 loss to Carolina where Ovie put the puck into the Caps net (if that isn't indicative of the luck this team has, I don't know what is). So, to finally get 2 points after eking out a 2-1 win against the team the Caps can't seem to beat lately, Florida, is a small victory. I'll revel in it until the Caps play the Devils on Friday.

Kudos to Brent Johnson for making 24 saves, a few of them tough ones, after sitting out 7 games in a row. He looked sharp, not rusty as many of us expected and was awarded the 2nd star of the game. Well deserved Brent.

Ovie, with 1 goal and 1 assist, made 1st star again. He's so much fun to watch. Even with the Caps sitting in the basement of the NHL, I still enjoy watching Ovie. He keeps getting better and better.

I'm also enjoying watching Nicklas Backstrom. His confidence seems to grow with every additional game under his belt and he's quickly becoming an impressive hockey player and play maker. There's no doubt he's going to live up to the high expectations that people set for him even though..."the best Swedish hockey player since Peter Forsberg" is a pretty high bar.

Alexander Semin, thankfully, is back and has played in back to back games for the first time in a while since he's been constantly reinjuring his early season ankle injury. He looks a bit rusty, but his pretty moves are still there and I'm sure he'll be 100% soon.

Let's go Caps!