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Photo credit: Richard Wolowicz
Head coach Bruce Boudreau is not shying away from having Marcus Johansson center Alex Ovechkin on the top line, so it’s time to put the sophomore Swede under the microscope. Specifically, what can fans expect him to produce in his second season?
Photo credit: Bruce Bennett
Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin, who spent much of the past two seasons on a line together, may have broken up.
Photo credit: Chris Gordon
A 24-year-old Mike Knuble, then a promising forward prospect, played nine games for the Detroit Red Wings during the 1996-97 season.
Players who were still playing during Knuble’s first season in the NHL include Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek, Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, Mark Messier, Dino Ciccarelli, Brian Leetch, Grant Fuhr, and Ron Hextall.
Just days after Knuble’s first game, Phil Collins announced that he was leaving Genesis to focus on his solo career, M.C. Hammer wasn’t yet bankrupt, and it would be months before The Daily Show debuts on Comedy Central.
I guess what I am trying to say is Knuble is old getting up there in years, but don’t tell him that.
Photo credit: Greg Fiume
Alex Ovechkin, who will turn 26 this year, is a special player. Indisputable. Full stop.
The Great 8 has won the Calder Memorial Trophy (best NHL rookie), the Art Ross (most points), two Harts (MVP) that beat as one, two Richards (most goals), and three Ted Lindsay Awards (best player voted by peers). He has also been named to seven NHL All-Star teams.
But that doesn’t mean he is a lock to score 50 goals ever again.
(Photo credit: Bruce Bennett)
Matt Hendricks did a lot of the “dirty work” for the Capitals last season. He led Washington with 14 fights- four more than Matt Bradley and only six fewer than the entire team had during the 2009-10 season. His 169 hits were second on the team only to Alex Ovechkin.
So where does he want to improve his game? Scoring, naturally.
“I had nine goals goals my first year in the NHL with Colorado,” Matt Hendricks told Tarik El-Bashir. “I played 56 games that year. Last year, I played in 77 games and had nine goals. I need to figure out a way to get over that hump.”
Is that a “hump” or are you just happy to see me the apex of his scoring ability?
Photo credit: Chris Gordon
It was just another quiet August morning …until Neil Greenberg totally ruined it. Finding an interview between Matt Bradley and TGOR radio in Ottawa, Neil alerted the world using the twitters.
And then, sadly, no one on the internet wrote about it.
In the interview Matt Bradley seems to characterizes the Washington locker room as having a certain nonchalance, a malaise, insouciance, and probably other French words, too. Bottom line: Bradley thinks the Caps don’t care. And one player is called out by name: Alexander Semin.
But we think Sasha cares. We know Sasha cares. How do we know?
WE MADE UP A BAR GRAPH.
Photo credit: Bruce Bennett
Last season I got some flak for projecting Ovechkin would score on average 42 goals, plus or minus 8 goals over the 82-game season. The former two-time Hart winner ended up setting career lows in goals (32) and points (85), while once again suffering an early exit in the postseason.
Before anyone accuses me of being right a jinx, consider that in each of the two seasons before that he saw most of his offensive numbers decline:
| Season | GP | G | A | PTS | EV | PP | S | S% | TOI |
| 2008-09 | 79 | 56 | 54 | 110 | 36 | 19 | 528 | 10.6 | 1817 |
| 2009-10 | 72 | 50 | 59 | 109 | 37 | 13 | 368 | 13.6 | 1569 |
| 2010-11 | 79 | 32 | 53 | 85 | 25 | 7 | 367 | 8.7 | 1688 |
So, despite this downturn, what can we realistically expect from one of the NHL’s best players this upcoming season?
Photo credit: Mitchell Layton
Fan-favorite Jeff Halpern, who captained the Washington Capitals during the 2005-06 season, was signed this offseason to a one-year deal for $825,000.
Last year Halpern logged the second-most shorthanded minutes (2:20) per-game among Montreal’s forwards and also finished second on the team in faceoff percentage (56.9%). His 11 goals and 26 points were his most since the lockout ended, and he is expected to center the fourth line and see time on the penalty kill.
“He got 26 points last year, which is more than we got out of that position last year,” General Manager George McPhee said when Washington signed Halpern in July. “We want players to be able to fulfill certain roles but also generate offense.”
At the risk of being sacrilegious I am here to say, please, keep your expectations low. Very low.
Photo credit: Christopher Pasatieri/Getty Images
One day after trading Semyon Varlamov to Colorado for a first and second round pick, General Manager George McPhee got the bargain of a lifetime when Tomas Vokoun agreed to a one-year, $1.5 million contract. Finally, a veteran goalie talented enough to provide skill and stabilization in net who could help put his team over the top.
“I don’t think we anticipated being this fortunate,” McPhee said.
Spending time with Montreal, Nashville, and the Florida Panthers for the past four seasons hasn’t given Vokoun a chance at winning too often, but could the move to Washington put him in position to win the Vezina trophy, awarded to the league’s best goaltender?
As the postseason winds down, we finally have a chance to answer the questions that have plagued us all year. And one question above all others keeps us up at night:
Who exactly is Alexander Semin?
Sure, he’s a 6’2″, 205-lbs., Siberian-born forward for the Washington Capitals; that’s the straightforward answer. But he’s also a mystery — wrapped in an puzzle — and nestled in one of those 3D illusion posters where you have to lie to people about seeing the hidden sailboat. A hat-tricking firecracker on one night and a reckless penalty factory on another, we now know two Alex Semins. But how do we tell which is which?
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