Photo credit: Kyle Terada

Alex Ovechkin is no stranger to the Olympic games, but this summer in London he’s just along for the ride. He’s been watching his girlfriend Maria Kirlienko compete in tennis for Russia and soaking in the special atmosphere of the Olympics, watching events, meeting new people, forming new friensh –

Wait wait, back up, what is this?

We know the Olympics are all about fellowshipping and the athletic spirit overcoming all boundaries, but this is just taking it too far. We’ve received these photos of Ovechkin watching a Russia-Kazakhstan tennis doubles match on our 24-hour emergency hotline set up specifically for monitoring Jagr proximity. The incident took place yesterday at a Russia-Kazakhstan women’s tennis doubles match won by Kirilenko and her partner Nadia Petrova. Both men were apparently there cheering on Team Russia, though the reasons for Jagr’s sudden fandom are much less clear than Ovechkin’s reasons.

Jaromir Jagr remains Public Enemy Number One in Washington DC after bilking the Capitals franchise out of millions of dollars and carrying them off in giant bags with dollar signs on them, twirling his villainous mustache. We’d prefer that Ovechkin stay far away from him whenever possible, in case Jagr is somehow contagious. One cannot be too careful.

We prefer the other Jagr/Ovechkin Olympic moment.

S/T to sashastolemyheart.tumblr.com

Photos via Ovechkin’s Twitter account.

Caps fans have gotten used to the annual summer tradition of negative rumors about Alex Ovechkin — he’s fat, he’s partying, he’s an international spy. This year, the rumors have been suspiciously tame, and we’ve got a new one that’s downright adorable.

Over the weekend, Ovechkin tweeted out photos of his girlfriend Maria Kirilenko and himself at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Oh sorry, did we say “girlfriend”?

Hm, is that what I think that is? Can we zoom in a little bit?

Yes.

Maria is most definitely wearing a ring on her left hand ring finger. As I’m sure everyone knows, this has a pretty significant meaning.

The Greeks believed the fire in the diamond reflected the constant flame of love. For millions of people around the world, the mystery and magic, the beauty and romance shining out from diamond engagement rings says all the heart feels but words can not express. Placing the engagement ring on the third finger of the left hand, dates back to the early Egyptian belief that the Vena Amors, vein of love, runs directly from the heart to the tip of the fourth finger.

Here’s a close-up of another one of the photos Ovechkin tweeted out this weekend.

We have absolutely nothing concrete on this, we’re so deep into speculation that we’re straddling the line of hockey fanfiction, but all we are saying is that there is a ring on the ring finger of the girl that Ovechkin is dating.

Draw your own conclusions. 

Unofficially nicknaming this man “the Eagle”.

The Capitals new head coach Adam Oates named his second assistant on Monday, and it’s a face Caps fans might recognize. Tim Hunter will return to Washington with thirteen seasons as an NHL assistant under his belt, filling Washington’s needs for both a) an experienced assistant; and b) a member of the coaching staff named Hunter.

Hunter worked for the Capitals for five seasons under head coach Ron Wilson, during which he coached both Oates and Calle Johansson. We’re considering referring to him as “T. Hunter” or “Timmy” in order to reduce confusion about the number of Caps alumni currently on staff. Stay posted.

A rare photo of Calle not in the terrible blue and copper uniforms. We looked hard.

Head coach Adam Oates started to fill out his staff today with the hire of former Capital Calle Johansson as an assistant coach. It is appropriate to shriek after reading that sentence, even if you are a grown adult.

Johansson holds the franchise record for most games played in a Caps uniform, playing for the team from 1988-2003. He scored 474 points as a Cap: 113 goals and 361 assists. Known as an underrated defenseman with good vision on the ice, Johansson generally made those around him better.

He has experience as an assistant coach and analyst in Sweden, but this will be his first position on an NHL coaching staff. Johansson was known for his good tactical understanding of the game and should be able to show the Caps’ young defense core a couple of new tricks, particularly the newly re-signed Mike Green. Check out this interview he gave to Mike Vogel a few weeks ago before the hire.

As presently constituted, the Caps bench consists entirely of former Capitals players. George McPhee seems to be going through a “High Fidelity” phase, revisiting all of his exes. This is not a strategy that we could recommend for your personal life, but we’re eager to see how it plays out here.

The real question is: now that they already used “Back Where You Belong” for Dale Hunter’s welcome-back montage, where do they go from there?

Photo of Calle doing a fitness test in 1999, starring Calle’s shorts. (Photo credit Susan Biddle, via @lindsapple)

Forsberg speaks to the media after the scrimmage. (Photo credit: Chris Gordon)

The Caps prospects and invitees to Development Camp played their fourth scrimmage today, but once again some of the most interesting moves were made off the ice. First-round draft pick Filip Forsberg signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Capitals today, and goalie coach Dave Prior expressed disappointment in prospect Steffen Soberg‘s 2011-12 season.

Despite the fact Forsberg has one more year on his contract with Leksand of the Swedish Allsvenskan League, he stressed that he wanted to commit to the team. “It was a dream come true,” he told CSN’s Chuck Gormley. “I got a good first feeling from the Capitals and I thought it was a good decision to get it done right away.”

Team White won the scrimmage 4-1, with White’s goals scored by David Civitarese, Connor Carrick, Barry Almeida, and Chandler Stephenson on a penalty shot. Team Red’s lone goal was scored by T.J. Syner.

Below the jump, check out Chris Gordon’s photos from the day.

Photos

Russian goalie Sergei Kostenko walks out of the locker before the scrimmage.

Goalie prospect Brandon Anderson.

Bears coach Mark French behind the bench.

Adam McKenzie of the Air Force Academy.

Tom Wilson (red) fights for the puck.

Wilson waits for a faceoff.

Wilson battles for the puck.

Filip Forsberg congratulates his teammates on a goal.

Adam Oates walks to the locker room.

Wilson makes his way down the hall.

Connor Carrick celebrates a goal.

Wilson jaws with the other team.

Stan Galiev (red) knocks over the net.

Wilson has a laugh.

Max Iafrate congratulates Kostenko on the victory.

Garrett Haar laughs after the win.

As does Galiev.

Forsberg signs an autograph for a young fan.

Scouting director Ross Mahoney talks to reporters.

The Capitals have signed left winger Wojtek Wolski to a one-year deal worth $600,000. Wolski played for the New York Rangers last season, and is known as player with a great deal of offensive upside who has a reputation for off nights and careless play. At his best, he’s a twenty-goal scorer. At worst, he could find himself in the press box for a good part of the year. For a player signed at just $100,000 over league minimum, Wolski is a low risk signing with potentially high reward.

Wolski was born in Zabrze, Poland and is the only Polish player active in the NHL. We know you’re all wondering — it’s pronounced VOY-tek VOHL-skee, but we are already desperately hunting for a more convenient nickname. He is a former first-rounder drafted by the Colorado Avalanche, playing for them for his first five NHL seasons, even rooming with Matt Hendricks during that time. Wolski was charged with assault right before the draft, but the case was dismissed when it was learned that the young man he assaulted had pushed his girlfriend off a porch.

Wolski has one twenty-two goal season under his belt, but that scoring has slowly diminished over his career until his two-year, $7.8 M contract seemed like a massive overpayment. Wolski spent part of the 2011-12 season with the New York Rangers’ AHL affiliate the Connecticut Whale, before being traded at deadline to the Florida Panthers, where he only chipped in five points.

The Caps are likely looking to fill a massive hole with this signing — namely, the talented, floating forward who makes us pull our hair out and yell obscenities at the television. He’s also as a shootout specialist, so basically at this point any goalie facing a shootout against the Capitals should just give up and go home.

Wolski has expressed his excitement to be headed to Washington, calling last season a “nightmare” and looking for a bounce-back year with the Capitals. He intends to show that he’s “a great player with a lot of life left in me.”

Photo credit: Chris Gordon

There were 46 prospects invited to Caps Development Camp, but arguably the two that DC fans most wanted to see were brand new 2012 draftees Tom Wilson and Filip Forsberg. Wilson has been billed as a power forward in the mold of Milan Lucic, while Forsberg is a high-talent offensive player who the Caps were lucky to draft eleventh overall.

Both impressed on the first day of Development Camp, Forsberg with his skating skill and Wilson with the physicality we’d heard all about, hitting hard all throughout the scrimmage that took place in the later half of the day. RMNB’s Chris Gordon has got plenty of photos of the future Caps stars below.

Photos

Adam Oates, clearly thrilled, coaches his first game as the Caps’ bench boss, albeit not a real one.

Today was the opening day of the Capitals Development Camp, and new coach Adam Oates‘s first day on the ice as head coach. The first day featured a scrimmage, some goals, and glandular freak Tom Wilson destroying everyone like Godzilla let loose on Tokyo – and there’re still five days left to go! We assume at the end of the week they will all burst out of their cocoons and fly away as hockey butterflies.

After both sets of prospects had a chance to practice in the morning, all of them came to the ice for the first of five scrimmages that will take place this week.

Team White won the scrimmage today, 3-1, with Greg Miller scoring the red team’s lone goal. The white team’s three tallies were scored by Greg Burke, Travis Boyd, and Andrew Ammon.

RMNB’s Chris Gordon has pictures of all the action below the jump!

Photos From Day 1′s Scrimmage

Free agent invitee Brent Tate prepares for the drop of the puck.

2012 third-round pick Chandler Stephenson goes for a ride.

Red gets on the board.

Stan Galiev celebrates the goal.

Andrew Ammon, a free agent invitee, tallies for the white team from what we expect is not the most comfortable position.

The white team celebrates another goal.

Norwegian goalie prospect and 2011 fourth-round pick Steffen Soberg after the victory.

Stephenson congratulates Soberg.

Hershey Bear Cameron Schilling speaks to the media.

Galiev talks to the press.

Adam Oates holds court for the first time at Kettler.

Beagle’s secret negotiation weapon: big sad eyes.

The Capitals had three restricted free agents eligible for arbitration this year — Mike Green, Mathieu Perreault, and new fan favorite Jay Beagle. The team extended qualifying offers to all three players earlier during the offseason, and Thursday the club announced that they had signed two out of the three.

Mathieu Perreault effectively doubled last year’s salary, signing a two-year deal worth $2.1 million that will pay him $1 million this season and $1.1 million the next, while Beagle signed a three-year deal worth $2.7 million, a $388,000 raise from last season’s salary.

“They told me I was part of the elite forwards on the team,” Perreault told the Washington Post. “They see me on top lines and they think I can do good things for them, so I’m excited for next year. A new coach coming in hopefully I’ll get a little more ice time than I did last year.”

We’re still waiting to hear word of Mike Green’s contract talks; the Capitals have an option to elect their own arbitrator, but they likely will be able to resolve it in the same way that Beagle and Perreault have — leg-wrestling straightfoward negotiation.

The missing piece! (Photo credit: Frederick Breedon)

The Caps have signed defenseman Jack Hillen, a former Nashville Predator who was UFA this summer at the age of 26 after not receiving a qualifying offer from the Preds. The Capitals have signed him to a one-year, one-way deal worth $650,000.

Hillen is expected to be a depth defenseman and compete with fringe players such as John Erskine and Jeff Schultz for a sixth or seventh spot on the blueline. He played 55 games with Nashville last season, and had 6 points and 20 PIM. He also once got hit in the face with an Ovechkin slapshot. In fact, if you Google search his name, the first two suggestions you get are “Jack Hillen face” and “Ovechkin.”

Hillen was born in Minnetonka, Minnesota, where as a child he likely purified himself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka [NSFW].

This is a hard move to figure out, considering how many third-pairing defenseman the Caps already have. We now have eight defenseman on the roster, and McPhee has stated that he expects minor-league acquisition Cameron Schilling to compete for a spot as well, which would make nine.

We’ll be confused if this is a standalone signing with no more roster moves to come, but it feels like there’s more to this story.