Ovechkin’s signature shot and Carlson’s presence

Alex Ovechkin’s signature shot made an appearance in game 2 of the series versus the Philadelphia Flyers. It is his blast from the left half wall on the power play shot. The one he has blasted past every team and every goalie in the NHL. It does not matter that he is still showing that same shot in his 10^th year of playing in the NHL. It still works and is a piece of what makes Ovie so special to Caps fans.

Ovie scored an even strength goal the 2^nd period of game 3. T.J. Oshie made that one happen by abusing Claude Giroux, grabbing the puck, sending it up ice where Ovie picked it up on his entry from the bench and blasted a wrister past goalie Steve Mason. He netted a second power play goal on multiple penalties when the Flyers tried to kill Dmitry Orlov by throwing him into the boards in the middle of the 2nd period.

John Carlson’s presence on the ice has been noticeable during the first three games of the series. That will be critical after Brooks Orpik got slammed into the glass in the 2^nd period and shows no sign of returning. Carlson’s offensive presence includes 3 power play goals, one in each game, and three assists. His strong defense, including giving Brayden Schenn the shove off in game 2 before scoring, and outlet passes keep the Caps moving the puck and will continue to be critical in the playoffs.

Carlson and Ovechkin are now tied for goals. Oh, and the Caps power play that lacked at the end of the regular season is fixed with a 5 of 9 performance in game 3.

The Flyers will be out to kill more Caps on Wednesday so play safe Caps.  

Let’s go Caps!

When adversity strikes

The Washington Capitals place on top of the Eastern Conference by nine points could not have come at a better time. The season is nearing its mid-point at 38 games and key injuries are piling up for this team. The Caps wins have come in a variety of ways, but they have also benefited from Goalie Braden Holtby’s Vezina contending season to get them on top and keep them there.  Now, with key players out the Caps get to display how they react when adversity strikes.

The injury roundup:

• The veteran leader of the defense and for the team as the assistant captain, Brooks Orpik played his last game on November 10^th and the up and down nature of his recovery is not encouraging.
• John Carlson, the blue liner having a strong year and picking up for Orpik’s absence, got injured in Montreal on December 26^th.
• Jay Beagle, the faceoff and penalty kill specialist, had hand surgery today and is out for six weeks. The Caps are 21-0-5 when he scores. Beagle scored in his last two games and was the first star of the game twice against the Montreal Canadiens and the Carolina Hurricanes. He is the hardworking checking line forward that always puts his heart and soul on the ice. According to his Coach Barry Trotz, he is also the practice guy, motivated to practice like he is motivated to play. That help to the accountability culture will be missed.

The Caps lost their past two games to the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Carolina Hurricanes. This is the first losing streak of the season for the Caps. The competitive NHL means that 9 points is nothing and can vanish in under a week. The team behind them is the Florida Panthers and the Caps recent performance against that team is not encouraging with a 1-4 loss on December 10^th and a 2-1 overtime win at the end of October. The Caps need to deal with the adversity and get back to winning with a new mix of line combinations and defensive pairings.

The best news of the day is that Carlson and Orpik are traveling with the team. Neither is expected to play, but the fact that they are on the trip is encouraging.

Let’s go Caps!

The most important game of the Caps season

And they get destroyed by Buffalo.  What a gutless effort for a team now outside the playoff picture.  I don't even get disappointed anymore because I expect to be disappointed.

The highlights:

• The awesome defensive pairing of Jeff Schultz with John Carlson helped to hand Buffalo an early 2-goal lead.  Carlson was minus-3, in 4-minutes of work, and Schultz was minus-2.
• Ovie lost the puck during the power play, which lead to a short-handed goal.  He was playing the point.
• AHL goalie, Braden Holtby, got pulled after letting in three goals.
• The Caps collectively took too many low percentage scoring shots that were never going to get past Ryan Miller.  Once again, they refuse to get dirty and go to the net.  How many times have I heard that and how many times have the Caps actually done it?  Too much talk, as usual.  How about a little more do and a little less talk, Caps.
• They racked up 14 giveaways as of the end of the 2nd period and 17 for the game.
• The once loud and proud phone booth had a lot Buffalo fans cheering for the opposing team tonight.  I remember those days pre-lockout.  Not fun.

Need I go on...

I've been watching this shit since 1974 and nothing ever changes.

At least, I got to watch the Minnesota Wild game live on Sunday.  I enjoyed that Caps game, which has been an all too rare occurrence.  

Let's go Caps!

The Blue Liners

But, first a rant. The officiating against the Caps recently makes me want to throw up. Two slashing penalties, one against Alex Ovechkin in St. Louis and one against Jeff Schultz in Dallas that both ended with broken sticks and didn't get called. Schultz got a penalty because he pushed the guy into the boards although I'm glad he did. Then, Jason Chimera is bleeding everywhere after three non-slashing calls in the game against the Atlanta Thrashers. Really refs?

Now, back to tonight's subject. The Caps much maligned blue line got better with the acquisition of Scott Hannan from the Colorado Avalanche for Tomas Fleischmann. I don't agree with columnist Adam Proteau that the Avs got the better player. Regardless of Fleischmann's potential upside as he's only 26 v. Hannan's 31, the Caps got the player they've needed for several years and Fleischmann struggled in Washington this season. He became an unnecessary spare part on a team full of talented forwards, he was not effective as the team's second line center and he gets pushed off the puck too easily, especially in the playoffs. However, I wish Fleischmann the best of luck in Colorado and I hope the change of scenery is a good one for him.

Scott Hannan, on the other hand, finally, gives the Caps a veteran stay-at-home defenseman that has 73 playoff games to his credit with the San Jose Sharks and the Colorado Avalanche, including an appearance in the Western conference finals. He's also known for his durability and consistent play. Everything I've read about him and seen, so far, including his vocal leadership on the ice, tells me that the Caps found the perfect person to mentor this young corp of blue liners starting with John Carlson.

Carlson played horribly tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but, in general, has been impressive this season. There's no doubt he's going to be a super star in this league, but he's also going to have more games like tonight where he's caught out of position and isn't moving bodies out of the crease like he needs to. He's only 20 and yet he's tied for the lead among rookies in plus/minus at +8 and shares the team lead with Jeff Schultz in blocked shots with 62. Carlson is also in the running for the Calder trophy and leads all rookies in time on ice. One of his best games, worthy of the 2nd star, came against the Tampa Bay Lightning where he blasted a shot off the faceoff from Marcus Johansson past Mike Smith to start the scoring. More importantly, he and Karl Alzner shut down the Steve Stamkos, quite a feat against the top scorer in the NHL.

Karl Alzner is more confident playing at the NHL level this season. He's playing plus-1 hockey, prior to tonight, and has 31 hits and 38 blocked shots. Alzner struggled tonight, too, but the Carlson-Alzner pairing is a strong one. They play well together and appear to be taking their AHL chemistry to the next level.

John Erskine spent his summer conditioning with the goal to make more of an impact for the Caps this season and it has showed. He's been a beast on the ice, playing in all games until the last two. He's got a blast of a shot and netted a game winner and first star performance with it against the Atlanta Thrashers back on November 14th. His career high 3rd goal came in the Caps blowout and best game this season against the Tampa Bay Lightning on November 26th. Erskine's been defensively responsible, too, and has 68 hits and 43 blocked shots. I've always liked what Erskine brought to the table as he's a tough hockey player, but I like the new and improved Erskine even more.

Tom Poti's been hurt more than he's played this season so I hope that groin is fully healed as he was paired with Hannan tonight. He's a decent defenseman with a nice shot, but, there are times when he frustrates me. This year, however, he's been a steady defenseman making key poke checks or goal saving shot blocks just when it's desperately needed. He's the other veteran d on this blue line with 51 playoff games and I'd like him to stay healthy.

I left the one-two pairing of Mike Green and Jeff Schultz for last. The Caps top duo disappears during the playoffs so they both have a lot to prove this season. After a league leading plus-minus of 50 last year (and, plus-minus is not an accurate measure of defensive play as being out of position can lose a game, for ex, but it's a useful tool for comparing seasons), Schultz is only +5, more than a quarter of the way through the season. He's struggled, at times, this season. On the positive side, he's also tied for the team lead with Carlson in blocked shots with 62.

Mike Green's defensive play has improved this season and it's clear he's focusing on it, but there are still times when Green loses focus in games. He also missed another five games with a shoulder injury. One of his strongest games came against the Calgary Flames back on October 30th. Green picked up a goal, an assist, blocked 3 shots, had 2 takeaways, 3 hits and ended up the night plus-1 for a second star performance. Then, there are nights like his minus-2 with 2 giveaways to go along with his 2 takeaways night against the Toronto Maple Leafs on November 3rd.

My hope for the defense is that Mike Green and Jeff Schultz find that consistency and show up in the playoffs, that the rookies John Carlson and Karl Alzner continue to develop, that the new and improved John Erskine hangs around, that the injury prone Poti stays healthy and that newly acquired Scott Hannan teaches all of the them how to clear the crease, how to play the body instead of the puck, when needed, and how to get them all to stay focused on sound defense. I've already seen him do all of that. A tall order, I realize, but that's what I'd like to see and before April.

Other Caps notes:

....Caps took a four goal lead into the 3rd period against the Toronto Maple Leafs and blew the game against the 16th seed in the Eastern conference in a shoot out. Once again, the Caps let off the gas and collapsed in the 3rd period. This is an all too frequent occurrence and the players should be held accountable for it. Whether or not they will be is another question.

....The Captain. After giving up an empty netter goal to end his goal drought by passing to his teammate Nicklas Backstrom, Ovie outdid himself as captain tonight. Colton Orr harassed Ovie early on in the game against the Maple Leafs so DJ King took him to task and they both went off with 5-minute fighting majors. Ovie scored and skated over to the penalty box to tap his stick against the glass in a salute to King. Classy move.

...Mathieu Perrault announced his intention to compete for the second line center with his energetic two goal and 2nd star performance in his latest call up from Hershey. Here's hoping he can show the consistency he needs to stay.

The Caps play the Florida Panthers on Thursday. I hope they show up for it since they're no longer number one in the East and Florida's ranked 13th.

Let's go Caps!

60 Minutes of Beautiful Hockey & A Natural

The Washington Capitals played their best sixty minutes of hockey last night and, boy, was it fun to watch. They took their game to the high flying Tampa Bay Lightning and stifled them with defense. Yes, that's right, the Caps shut down the league leading point and goal scorer, Steve Stamkos, who made one shot on net and ended minus 2. Martin St. Louis, the other top 10 league leading scorer, managed two shots on net and ended minus 1.

That the two rookie blue liners John Carlson and Karl Alzner were asked to shut down the Stamkos line and did so effectively says a lot about the future of the Caps defense. Carlson played a Calder Trophy worthy game on defense during his 24:55 TOI. He unleashed a shot past net minder Mike Smith off of a beautiful faceoff win by Marcus Johansson, blocked 3 shots and ended the night plus 1.

The rest of the blue liners chipped in, too. John Erskine got the second goal to start the second period barrage and ended the night plus 1. Tom Poti blocked 4 shots and potted the last goal of the 6-0 domination.

By pure luck, I happened to be sitting on the side of Verizon Center where the Caps shoot once so I witnessed the enigmatic Alexander Semin natural hat trick show about ten rows off the ice behind that goal. It took him 4 minutes, 29 seconds to score those three goals. The first one he connected with as it bounced off the ice from a pretty Johansson pass. The second two were from plays started by Alex Ovechkin and passes from Nicklas Backstrom.

Semin's play was impressive on both ends of the ice and his penalty killing just keeps getting better and better. All the Caps, in fact, played well on both ends of the ice keeping up their forechecking throughout the game and sacrificing their bodies when necessary. It's a rare sight to see that for sixty minutes from this team.

Semyon Varlamov didn't get much work last night, only 17 shots, for which I'm grateful. Although his play in net impresses me and he got the shutout, his groin problems make me fear for his longevity.

The other player I have to mention is Marcus Johansson. After starting out slowly and working through an injury already this season, he appears to be coming into his own and adjusting to the smaller NHL rink. His beautiful pass to Semin and key faceoff pass to Carlson netted him a 2 point night. He looks more and more confident, too, as he gains experience and his skating ability stands out.

Was Coach Boudreau's intense practice after two horrible hockey games the inspiration for this performance? I hope so and I hope they keep it up. No matter how talented a team is, it takes effort to win hockey games in the NHL and even more so in April, May & June. The Caps forget that more than they should and it bites them every time. Last night, they played the way their supposed to and the results showed.

Carolina is next up tomorrow.

Let's go Caps!

And, so it begins

Another hockey season has started and the Washington Capitals have much to prove after the disastrous end to their season at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs. Being a Caps fan since the beginning, I knew in my gut they weren't going to win game 7 so I couldn't even watch that train wreck. I adopted a dog instead. Some might call me a fair weather fan for that attitude...so be it. The real story is I'm too emotionally invested in a team that has crushed my dreams to see the Stanley Cup come to Washington time and time again.

There are many questions about this team that won't be answered until April, but there is a regular season to play first. And, what have the Caps showed us in their first two games this season.

• They still take games for granted. That lackluster effort against the Atlanta Thrashers on Friday is unacceptable.
• Instead of "Stay angry. Believe in yourself." as their team motto, this team should adopt "defense first" as their motto. Their play in their own end floundered and resulted in Atlanta beating the Caps 4-2 on the opening night.
• Saturday's game against the New Jersey Devils, on the other hand, showed what the Caps are capable of when they turn it on. They didn't do that until the second period when they were trailing 3-2 after, once again, playing sloppy defense.
• The Caps stood up for each other, which is good to see. Four third period fights while the coaches yelled at each other showed a frustrated New Jersey team and a Caps team willing to drop the mitts.

So, while the Caps slog through the long regular season, here's what I'm looking forward to:

• Watching Alex Ovechkin. I'll never tire of watching the most scintillating player in hockey generate three points in a night like he did against New Jersey.
• Seeing how John Carlson develops. I've watched him and followed his career since his first rookie camp and I like how he plays. He had one goal and two assists against New Jersey and I expect to see more offense from him this season. But, his defensive play will be even more important for the Caps, particularly, come playoff time. I think there's no doubt Carlson will be in the race for the Calder Trophy this season.
• Following Marcus Johansson's rookie year. The highly touted Swedish center is expected to improve Washington's depth down the middle. So far, he's adjusting to the smaller ice and playing pretty well. His faceoff win percentage took a leap in his second game, but I suspect he'll continue to struggle there as his countryman, Nicklas Backstrom, still does.
• Continuing to watch Nicklas Backstrom become an elite center in the NHL. Seeing Backstrom control the game with his vision and making sublime passes is fun to watch.
• Celebrating when Mike Knuble and Brooks Laich bag garbage goals with their grit and determination.

Assuming the Caps make the playoffs, these are the questions that will remain unanswered until April.

• Can the Caps find the mental toughness and commitment to defense to make a long playoff run?
• Will Mike Green show up in the playoffs?
• Will John Carlson and Karl Alzner develop enough to shore up the blue line?
• Will Semyon Varlamov stay healthy and will the rookie goaltending duo of him and Michal Neurvirth be good enough for a long playoff run?
• Will the penalty kill improve?
• Will the Caps commit to shorter shifts for players like Mike Green and Alex Ovechkin who cannot do it all?
• Will Coach Boudreau learn that matchups are important in April and May and June?

Many unanswered questions and a long season ahead.

I'm looking forward to my first live game tonight.

Let's go Caps!

Unlikely heroes

After being on the road much of the month, I'm finally home to watch the Caps in the playoffs.  I missed their best game of this series, the 3rd one at Bell Centre, but I was thrilled that the Caps finally seemed to get their game back.  The team infuriated me in the first two games, even though they won the second one on the crucial game tying goal by the rookie John Carlson.   I wear number 74 with pride. He's one of the unlikely heroes in this series, so far. 

Carlson, a mere 20 year old blue liner, and called by Caps defenseman, Tom Poti, the "best defenseman on the ice" in the playoffs has been impressive.  After racking up 76 points playing juniors for Dale Hunter's London Ontario Knights last year, he made a pit stop in Hershey, to play 16 games for the Bears while winning the Calder Trophy.  

This year, Carlson played in Hershey with a brief side trip to beat the Canadians in the World Junior Hockey Championships with his no look game winning goal.  That gave the U.S. the gold medal for the first time in five tries and was the subject of many conversations I had while in Canada in February.  I didn't take my 74 jersey to watch hockey in Canada and I swore I wouldn't rub Carlson in, but when two Canadians ask you, "Do you even know who the hockey team is in Washington?," they were destined for an earful.  I looked at Jeff, who gave me his "go for it" look and responded, "Do you recognize the name John Carlson because that's the jersey I now wear to Caps games?"

They laughed because they knew then that we knew hockey.  "You mean the one that inspired the newspaper headline, 'Canadian pride dented,'" they said.  That cracked me up.  Carlson has made quite a name for himself in his short career.

I'm not surprised.  Carlson intrigued me when he was drafted 27th overall in the 2008 entry draft.  Once I saw him play at rookie development and training camp, I knew he was going to be special.  But, I can't say, back then, that I expected him to be playing for the Caps this playoff season with the poise and confident play of a veteran defender.  Now, I'm relieved he's here.  The Caps need him.

The other unlikely hero, so far, is the much maligned by the Caps faithful, Boyd Gordon.   That Coach Boudreau selected the quicker, right-handed checking forward to go against the Habs speedy lefties over David Steckel proved to be the right call.  Gordon stole the puck for a short-handed goal in game 3 to start the scoring in the 2nd period.  In Wednesday's game, he took the puck short-handed again and lofted it smoothly to Mike Knuble who bashed it into the net.

Gordon struggled with back problems, earlier this year, and only played 36 games during the regular season. But, he's proving his mettle in this playoff series and that's the only thing that matters.

There is no question that the Caps offensive stars, Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, are doing their part, and their young goalie Semyon Varlamov is doing his part in net, but it's the unlikely heroes that this team needs to keep moving forward.

I hope the Caps put it away tonight. 

Let's go Caps!

p.s.  Thank you Ottawa Senators for making the Pittsburgh Penguins play through 7:02 in the 3rd overtime and then winning the game! Let's go Sens.

The ups and downs of this Caps team

Prior to producing two solid wins against the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-1 on Friday, and the Philadelphia Flyers 5-3 yesterday, the Caps became the team that frustrates their fans in their little tour of the Southeast Division.  They reverted backed to their lazy ways and took it too easy against the Tampa Bay Lightning, for a 7-4 thumping, they managed to eke out a win in the shootout against the Florida Panthers and they played their one good game with a 8-1 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers.  The Caps performance at the Atlanta game is what championship teams are supposed to do and they're supposed to do it every game night.  Take their two points with conviction when the opponent is struggling.   The Caps tend to forget that lesson, at times.

The Caps are back on top of the Eastern conference again, for the moment, so why am I calling them out for their unforgettable performance against the Southeast?  Because, I want this team to play hungry every night and I want them to remember that they have won exactly nothing.  I do realize that no team plays on the top of its game every night during an 82 game season, but laziness cannot became a habit of a contender so I'm happy to see they played with more energy the last two games.

Positive observations:

• Brooks Laich ended his scoring drought against the Flyers, collecting two goals - one short-handed - after having a video review session with Coach Boudreau.  Brooks is always a hard worker and I'm thrilled he ended his scoring slump.
• The Caps defense, as a unit, is playing better this season.  Another year of experience under the belt is helping players like Jeff Schultz and Mike Green.   Green made a spectacular poke check deep in the defensive zone yesterday that had Craig Laughlin saying it was a "Norris worthy" play.  Schultz looks more comfortable in his body and it's showing. His +/- at +27 is second in the NHL only to his team Captain, who leads the league at +28.  Green and Schultz both still have to prove themselves in the playoffs so this season is a big test.
• Alex Ovechkin seems to be taking his game to a whole new level recently as his 5 point night (1-4-5) against Toronto showed.  His playmaking abilities are beginning to match his goal scoring abilities, as he now has 34 assist and 30 goals for 64 points.  Ovechkin has found strong chemistry with Mike Knuble and Knuble, since recovering from surgery on his finger, has become that net crashing, garbage goal scorer Caps fans were hoping for when he was signed. 
• Jason Chimera took a little while to settle in with the Caps aggressive offensive system, but he's stepping up now.  He's a big guy at 6'2, 216 lbs, he plays physical and I liked it when Chimera defended his teammates on Friday night against the frustrated and chippy Maples Leafs.
• John Carlson, he of the recent game winning gold medal goal for Team USA fame, received an ovation Friday night when his name was unexpectedly announced in the starting lineup.  I cheered wildly in my Carlson jersey.  Brian Pothier is hurt so Carlson is playing.  His confidence level from the junior world hockey championship carried over into his play during the last two games.  Carlson played +2 hockey in 14:32 of work against Toronto and had 2 missed shots, 1 hit and 1 giveaway.  He played +2 hockey in 15:51 minutes of work against the Flyers, had 2 takeaways, 2 blocked shots and 1 giveaway.   The jitters that showed when Carlson made his NHL debut against the Montreal Canadiens in November are gone and he is playing like he belongs.  Carlson was sent back to the Hershey Bears today, but I have no doubt we'll see him again soon.

Nagging Concerns:

• Goal tending - is Semyon Varlamov going to be a healthy, productive net minder? I don't doubt his ability to be a #1 goalie in the NHL, just his resilience.The jury is still out as he gets injured every year and has been out since early December, except for playing one game in Hershey where he managed to injure his right knee.  Michal Neuvirth gets overwhelmed when the Caps defense is playing poorly and the forwards aren't back checking as effectively as they need to be.  He has a 5-4 record with a .892 save percentage, so he's not playing horribly, he just needs more experience.  And, Jose Theodore is 13-7-4 with a .902 save percentage.  At times, the Caps play horribly in front of Theo and, at times, Theo can't get his rebounds under control.  All of this makes me wonder if the Caps currently have what they need in net to contend for a Cup run and the answer is "not right now". Thankfully, it's only January.
• Penalty killing - the Caps penalty kill has dropped back to 25th in the league at 78.6% effectiveness.  That needs to improve before the playoffs.  The Caps are doing somewhat better at avoiding untimely costly penalties, but they need to kill off penalties better.

The positives outweigh the negatives so let's keep it up Caps.

Detroit Red Wings are next.

Let's go Caps!

 

 

John Carlson's sublime finish for Team USA

John Carlson streaked up the ice in overtime against Canada for the gold medal and set up for the pass.  And, without looking at the goalie, he whipped a shot right past him for the game winning goal in Team USA's upset win over the Candians at the World Junior Hockey Tournament.  It was Carlson's second game winning goal in a row in the tournament.  But, it was his defense (he is a defenseman, after all) that was just as impressive as his canny ability to find the back of the net for game winning goals.  He ended the 7 games of the tournament playing +8 hockey, he blocked shots, made smart outlet passes, hit plenty, battled hard and made the safe dump play, when necessary.  Carlson's offensive ability was definitely on display, too, with 4 goals, 3 assists for 7 points in 7 games.  Not too shabby, at all.  

John Carlson's NHL debut started against the Montreal Canadiens on November 28th.  It went okay, not great as his nerves showed, but he was credited with 5 hits that night (correction from my post last night - Carlson was #1 in hits that night with the #2 guy being the now team captain, Alex Ovechkin).  His second game agaimst the Toronto Maples Leafs, he ended with 1 hit, 1 blocked shot, 1 giveaway and 1 takeaway for a -1 night.  Carlson's final game against the Ottawa Senators, where he only had 11:33 minutes of work, he had 2 blocked shots and ended +1.  Overall, not great, but not horrible.  He needs more experience and he'll get it with the Hershey Bears this year, but, if his development continues as it has, I expect to see him on the Caps next year.

And, tomorrow at the phone booth, I will proudly sport his #74 Caps red home jersey for the first time.  There is no doubt we'll see him in it again this season.

Meanwhile, the Caps bounce back from a three game losing streak to win 4-2 against the Canadiens under the first game of unanimously voted in team captain, Alex Ovechkin.  He game them new energy last night.  Congrats Ovie! Now, take this team to the Cup :)

Tomorrow night, the Ottawa Senators.

Let's go Caps!

I hope John Carlson gets a sweater tomorrow

John Carlson, first round draft pick of the Caps in the 2008 entry draft, is practicing at Kettler Iceplex because Milan Jurcina and Shane Morrisonn are both nursing injuries.  I'm going to the game tomorrow night and I want to see Carlson make his NHL debut.  

I first watched Carlson play in the Caps rookie development camp the summer of '08 and, boy, was I impressed.  I haven't been following prospects or rookies for that long, so I don't know a lot about evaluating rookies, but Carlson stood out to me.  I went back to watch him play when the Caps played the Flyers in the rookie scrimmage and, again, his smart hockey sense, great play along the boards, hard hitting, precision passing out of the zone, and offensive prowess all made him my favorite prospect that camp.

The thing I liked most about Carlson beyond his athletic ability is his willingness to do whatever it takes to play in the show.  Coach Boudreau apparently spent some time telling Carlson after that first rookie camp what he needed to do to succeed in terms of training and effort.  Carlson took him at his word and came into rookie camp showing it this year, even after playing an extended season through the OHL and the Hershey Bears championship run.  

Carlson looked like a veteran out there directing the defensive plays.  The suicides didn't leave him gasping.  He was completely comfortable.  Carlson got cut before too long during the Caps camp because Boudreau wanted him back in Hershey knowing he'd start his season there. 

Between camps, I followed his career while he played for the OHL London Knights under the tutelage of Coach Dale Hunter.  What better person to mentor the young Carlson I couldn't imagine (as a Caps fan anyway).  Carlson played great racking up 16 goals and 60 assists for 76 points in 59 games while playing +23 hockey.  Not bad!  Then, he went on to play 16 games for the Hershey Bears in their successful quest to win another Calder Cup, getting 3 points and playing +3 hockey.

Now, I don't expect much from Carlson tomorrow night, I'm just excited by the possibility of seeing him play.  He's the real deal and is going to be an impact player in the NHL.  I can't wait to see him develop.

If you get that sweater tomorrow, John, good luck!  I'll be cheering for you.

Let's go Caps!

Welcome Mike Knuble!

I'll be so much happier to see you in a Capitals uniform than a Flyers uniform.  

I like what I've read about Knuble's vocal leadership.  The Caps need that in the locker room. Thank you GMGM for finding a RW replacement for Viktor Kozlov that scored more last year and crashes the net.  Whippee.

Now, onto the criticism.  "At defense, we're fine."  Seriously?  Semyon Varlamov stole a couple of playoffs game for the Caps and covered up for the defense that didn't get the job done. Not that other players weren't responsible for that game 7 debacle against Pittsburgh. There was plenty of blame to go around, but the defense needs an upgrade.  Maybe he's being the cagey GMGM that plays his cards close to his chest, but we won't know the answer to that, for a while, I suspect.

The Caps also have other needs, like a 2nd line center, but GMGM didn't say they were fine there.

I get that there isn't Cap space and there weren't really any good free agents on defense to go after so I don't hold out hope anything will happen during this period unless a trade happens. Now, I'm a huge fan of John Carlson, having tracked his growth this past season and last summer, but I don't know if he's ready to be an impact player.  I'd rather play him than Jeff Schultz though for his physical play alone.    

It sure was an interesting day for Caps fans today.  

Let's go Caps!