Well, considering I actually do know a thing or two about the guy, having watched his entire career here in Buffalo, let me fill you in:

He is not perfect of course, but this incident was 5 years ago during the lockout. The case was dismissed, there was no evidence of anything criminal. Buffalo isn’t that big of a place, we tend to know what our hockey players are out doing most of the time, and as far as I know there was never any issue with him being too much of a partier (unlike certain other Sabres). I think he’s grown up a lot since then – he’s married with kids, and his teammates never have anything but good things to say about the kind of guy he is in the locker room. I’ve met him several times, he’s very nice and good with fans.

He really broke out when the Sabres had their good run in 05-06, but then had some injury problems the next couple years and his play seemed to be on the decline. But this past season he was back to his old self and playing on the top pair once again.

He isn’t overly physical, but he is great on the PK and did wonders with Myers this year. Not the best d-man in the league, but if the Caps want a steady blueliner who gets the job done, I think he could be a good fit.

I know nothing about Tallinder, except this worrying sexual exploitation accusation: http://www.thelocal.se/965/20050214/

This is probably a Kobe Bryant situation, but the Caps would be crazy to put a guy like that in a room with Wawota Saskatchewan’s prettiest center.