On Wednesday, Braden Holtby spoke to the media for the last time this season at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. The next day he went to his DC-area home, packed up his things, and got in his car and drove. And drove. And then drove some more.

Three days later, after making a couple of pit stops along the way (including one in St. Cloud, Minnesota where Matt Hendricks played college hockey), Holtby arrived in his hometown of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Google estimates the Holtbeast had to travel 31 hours and 2,006 miles in his car to make it back home. Here’s what it looks like on a map.

View Larger Map

Holtby was in a hurry to get back home because he wanted to cheer on his former junior team, the Saskatoon Blades, who are hosting the 2013 Memorial Cup. On Sunday night, the Blades played the Halifax Mooseheads, and Holtby’s presence proved to be good luck as Saskatoon won 5-2. Earlier in the tournament, the Blades lost to Dale Hunter’s London Knights, 3-2.

During the first period, Holtby — wearing a leather jacket and sporting a ponytail and beard — gave a televised interview. Here’s what was said.

Welcome back. So we’re joined by Braden Holtby. This guy’s used to being down there [points to the ice] during his three full seasons with the Saskatoon Blades and now he’s up here watching junior hockey. What do you remember about your time in the Western Hockey League.

It’s the best time of your life. I think every player says that. Juniors — just the camaraderie with your teammates and what not — we had an outstanding coaching staff and training staff. It was an absolutely perfect three years.

So the best part of an NHL player’s life is the playoffs and I know Washington got there and looked good. What do you make of losing to New York in the opening round?

Yeah. [Audibly sighs] I mean obviously we would have liked a different outcome, but nowadays every NHL team is so close. We got beat by a very good team, but we’ll learn from it and bounce back next year.

What can you tell us about your drive? You drove here. You know there are flights to Saskatoon? How’d you get here?

Yeah. I just wanted some of my stuff and my vehicle back here so I hurried up and knew there was a chance to come here and watch a game and made sure to make the drive as quick as I could to get here.

Braden, thanks for the visit.

Thank you.

Took him three days by the way guys, if you’re counting at home.

Braden also walked around the arena, checking out the CCM booth.

Photo credit: @toddduffin

Holtby also posed to take pictures with fans.

Photo credit: @mikepaziuk

It’s nice to see Braden — just like Matt Hendricks and Karl Alzner — having some fun after a tough first round loss against New York. Getting some love from his hometown fans had to help.

A big welcome to @holts170, who’s in the building tonight to support the boys in Blue at the #MCMemorialCup!

— Saskatoon Blades (@bladeshockey) May 19, 2013

Photo credit: @nickludeman

The Washington Capitals have long been divided when it comes to music. The Capitals captain, Alex Ovechkin, loves weird Russian techno and rap, most notably Drake. Nicklas Backstrom enjoys Tiesto and pop music. Brooks Laich digs classic rock. Mike Green dabbles between both rap and hard-rock, Jay-Z and Seether in particular.

Then there are some other Caps who jam to country music. That group includes Eric Fehr, who once detailed his love of the genre during his first go around with the Caps.

“When it comes to my music, you can tell I grew up on the farm,” Fehr was quoted by the DC Sports Bog as saying. “I really enjoy listening to country music. The guys on the team don’t let me put it on in the dressing room, but I’m pretty sure they’ll come around. Alex Ovechkin could be one of the biggest country music haters of them all.”

On Saturday night, Karl Alzner and Matt Hendricks showed they are country music aficionados too, going to WMZQ Fest held at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Virginia. The show was headlined by Luke Bryan, who recently won the Academy of Country Music Awards’ Entertainer of the Year award and is best known for his boom boom single Drunk On You.

Alzner wore an awesome Killian’s Red t-shirt and a Nats hat. Hendricks wore a blue plaid button down shirt and a 42 hat, which Joel Ward approved of on Twitter before the show. In fact, Hendricks and his teammates chatted a bunch Saturday.

@matthendy26 stopped in St.Cloud for the night and was greeted by a whole team of wagons in the making! #hallwayministicks

— Braden Holtby (@Holts170) May 18, 2013

@matthendy26 also can’t believe there isn’t a statue here of you with your long golden locks and the flaming stick! twitter.com/Holts170/statu…

— Braden Holtby (@Holts170) May 18, 2013

@holts170 what a town eh bud? They just don’t make #wagons like that anymore not to mention my sweet mullet!

— Matt Hendricks (@MattHendy26) May 18, 2013

@jrandalward42 sporting the old 42 tonight pal, hope you like it! #jackie42 twitter.com/MattHendy26/st…

— Matt Hendricks (@MattHendy26) May 18, 2013

@matthendy26 #jackie42 fits like a Rawlings!

— Joel Ward (@JRandalWard42) May 18, 2013

“@jrandalward42: @matthendy26 #jackie42 fits like a Rawlings!” Na I’m a Mizuno kind of fella! Atta Boy

— Matt Hendricks (@MattHendy26) May 18, 2013

Good to see the guys having fun despite a disappointing end to the season– and making a bunch of Caps fans happy in the process.

I’ll end this post with some lyrics from Luke Bryan’s song Rain Is A Good Thing, because this guy knows how to write. Rain makes corn, Corn makes whiskey. Whiskey makes my baby feel a little frisky.

Full disclosure: I grew up on country music as a kid, though I love rock music now. Frederick, Maryland, mann.

Photo credit: Patrick McDermott

The day after Christmas, Nicklas Backstrom was skating in a KHL game for Dynamo Moscow. Midway through the second period of a 1-1 game, Nick took a pass in the far corner. He attempted to spin around and take the puck behind the net. Instead, Backstrom was slammed into the boards by Milan Kytnár; his face hitting the dashers. Backstrom got up, clearly shaken. He left the game after one more shift.

Given Backstrom missed 40 games last year after being concussed by Rene Bourque, this was a scary blow. Dynamo, however, insisted that his brain didn’t take the beating. It was, they said, a bruised neck. Backstrom’s agent reiterated that. But then Alex Ovechkin said something funny when asked about his teammate’s injury: “Sometimes it’s not hard hit, you just feel a little dizzy.” Dizziness, of course, does not usually go along with bruises.

Backstrom ended up seeing a neurologist, Jeffrey Kutcher, who cleared him to play. Despite the early injury fears, Backstrom had a nice season, putting up eight goals and 40 assists in 48 games. He made his teammates better too — Ovechkin only became a Hart Trophy finalist once he was reunited with Backstrom. He also did some Geico commercials. All in all, it was another solid season for Nicky.

Backstrom did, however, get off to a slow start. I asked him if his injury in Russia had anything to do with that. He seemed to be taken somewhat off guard by the question, but then insisted that it didn’t harm his play.

“Yeah, I had that injury but it didn’t affect me anything to be honest with you,” he told me.

“I felt like I was doing alright over here,” Backstrom added. “I have no excuses — I will never have them.”

Caps General Manager George McPhee was questioned Wednesday about who was playing through injuries this season. He declined to give details.

“You really admire these players because they play through some things — all the players around the league do — and they don’t need a medal to do it,” the GM said. “They play through it and they don’t need any recognition or anything. They just do it.”

The next day, word of Ovechkin’s broken foot was leaked. You know, the thing Ovi called just a bruise.

After Russia was eliminated from the World Championships in Helsinki on Thursday, a league source told The Washington Post’s Katie Carrera that Alex Ovechkin suffered a hairline fracture in his foot after blocking a shot in game six. Late Thursday, as the Russian national team landed in Moscow, Ovi was photographed in the terminal by R-Sport with his luggage, including a walking boot. Poor guy.

If Maria wants to make wedding plans, this is the time to do it. He’s hobbled; he can’t run away!

11:30AM Update: Ovechkin has tweeted a photo with himself wearing the boot.

Thanks to the awesome tumbleblog varlysuperfan for first posting.

Hendy high-fives fans as he walks down the tunnel to the Capitals locker room. (Photo credit: Patrick McDermott)

Matt Hendricks is a beloved player in Washington, but by no means is he an essential one. The Caps know that, and he knows that. With his two-year, $1.65 million contract expiring on July 5, he may have played his last game as a Cap. Hendricks, though, hopes that’s not true.

“I hope I don’t get to that date in July,” he said Wednesday at Kettler Capitals Iceplex as the team cleared out their lockers. “I hope I’m back here in Washington.”

“We’ve been in the negotiating process over the course of the season,” Hendricks added. “It’s a business. It’s a big part of the business. You want to get what you feel you deserve and what you feel is right.”

Hendricks’s agent Michael Wulkan, for what it’s worth, didn’t reply to a request for comment.

The Capitals don’t have a ton of room to work with as things stand now this offseason. Washington has about $5.6 million in cap space, but they also have Mike Ribeiro, Karl Alzner, and Marcus Johansson to sign — things they’ll likely be more focused on. Grinders, too, can easily be replaced through the organization and if necessary the free agent market. And Hendricks isn’t an integral player on the ice, however fond fans and teammates are of him.

So Matt Hendricks is done in DC, right? Perhaps not. As a reporters asked one Capital after another about the 31-year-old forward, the players continued to give the same answer: it’s not just about how he plays, it’s about how he makes others play. Hendricks, they say, is vocal in the locker room. He pushes his teammates to do better and, in turn, they do. He’s always out there, at practice or in a game, whether he just got hit in the face with a puck or not.

“He’s a total package player,” his friend and fellow fourth-liner Jay Beagle said. “You need those guys on your team, those role players.”

Of course, intangibles are hard to quantify — they are after all not tangible. But if Hendricks can make the people around him give more and play better, maybe that’s worth an extra hundred grand or two a year. How George McPhee feels about that, though, is unknown.

There is another thing that might help keep Hendy around: his wild symphony of exaggerated dekes and leg lifts when five minutes of overtime isn’t enough.

“He’s got that shootout move that not many guys can do,” Beagle said. “I’ve tried it, I can’t do it.”

Photo credit: Bruce Bennett

I appreciate the gesture, but I’d really rather not have my team’s $10-million superstar throwing his body in front of ballistic vulcanized rubber. – RMNB game 6 recap

Washington’s one surviving newspaper beat writer, Katie Carrera, dropped this bomb on Thursday afternoon:

Alex Ovechkin played the final two games of the Capitals’ first-round series against New York with a hairline fracture in his left foot, according to a league source with direct knowledge of the winger’s injury.

Ovechkin reportedly sustained the injury blocking shots during the first period of game six. We wrote about it at the time.

GIF by welshhockeyfan

In games six and seven, Ovechkin scored no points and recorded just six shots on goal.

Despite the injury, which will require only rest to heal, Alex Ovechkin played for his country at the World Championship in Helsinki. Despite scoring an goal and an assist in his only game with Team Russia, Ovechkin was eliminated from the tournament.

The injury reveals a sometimes-hidden truth. Shot-blocking, while considered a sign of commitment, is often dangerous or reckless move.  In order to stop a low-risk shot by Ryan McDonagh (whose lifetime shooting percentage is a lowly 5.2%), Ovechkin actually hurt his team by impairing the skating ability of its best player.

Not a good trade.

Photo credit: championat.com

Alex Ovechkin flew for approximately ten hours to Helsinki with the intention of helping the Russian national team win the 2013 World Championships. Jet-lagged, he did what he could, scoring a goal and recording an assist against the United States during their quarterfinals game on Thursday. That help was not nearly enough, as the defending champions suffered their worst defeat ever in a World Championship game, a 8-3 loss to the United States. After half a year in the KHL, a shortened NHL season, a too-short playoff run, and a single game at Worlds, Ovechkin’s season is now officially over.

Ovechkin, who spoke to Sovetsky Sport’s Pavel Lysenkov after the game and had his words later translated by Puck Daddy’s Dmitry Chesnokov, was disappointed.

“We lost due to egregious mistakes in the neutral zone, even though we talked about it [beforehand],” Ovechkin said to Lysenkov. “This is carelessness. We could have saved the game when it was 2-1, but we made even more mistakes. The Americans didn’t play super hockey. But we can’t make mistakes.”

“Don’t compare [the loss] to Vancouver,” Ovechkin said, referring to Russia’s collapse to Canada in the 2010 Winter Olympics. “It’s different here. I do not regret coming [here], although it’s a shame how it turned out.”

Ilya Kovalchuk added, according to Chesnokov, that Russia “s&*$ their pants,” a reference Ovi used after the Capitals lost to the Rangers in game seven.

Ovechkin’s goal was predictably beautiful. As the Great Eight skated down the right wing, he sniped a shot past John Gibson’s left shoulder and the post.

Ovi’s goal is at the 1:05 mark.

But Russia’s breakdowns in the third period were too much to overcome. Ovechkin, disappointed, was named Russia’s best player after the game. In 20:31 of ice time, he had 8 shots on goal, and two near misses.

GIF by welshhockeyfan

Photos

All photos via championat.com

View the rest of championat.com’s slideshow.

Photo credit: AP

Adam Oates had lots to say during his breakdown-day interview at Ketler Capitals Iceplex on Wednesday, but the most interesting revelation was that he and star player Alex Ovechkin had an extended text-message chat after the team’s heartbreaking defeat in game seven of the quarterfinal round.

Upon hearing that, RMNB immediately sprung into action, contacting our sister publication across the pond, News of the World. Our brother-from-another-mother Jimmy Murdoch put us in touch with some folks, and voila!– we have recovered this conversation between Oates and Ovechkin.

Related: Adam Oates on Nickelodeon’s GUTS while wearing really high-waisted jeans

Ribs salutes the fans after his overtime goal in game five. (Photo credit: Patrick McDermott)

For perhaps the final time in DC, Mike Ribeiro is #swag. (Photo credit: Chris Gordon)

The Washington Capitals have been searching for a second-line center for years. Last summer, they finally got one. In a shortened season with the Caps, Mike Ribeiro was excellent — even when his team wasn’t. He anchored Washington’s power play, turning Alex Ovechkin – a guy the Caps have invested $123 million in — into a lethal threat.  He stabilized the top six. He led the league in points on the man advantage, a huge source of the team’s scoring. He will soon be a free agent. The captain wants him back, though, and so does the coach.

“The most important thing is to re-sign Ribs,” Ovechkin told Slava Malamud. “It will be tough without him.”

“You all saw how valuable he was to our team,” Adam Oates added. “Hopefully the parties will work it out because we love him.”

After Ovi heaped praise on Ribs for his work this season, I asked Ribeiro what he learned by playing with the Russian. Seeing clips of him on NHL Network, of course, is different from sending him a cross-ice pass on the power play. Until this season, Ovechkin never depended on teammates. Instead, he’d take the puck into the offensive zone and try to create the play by himself. As we saw the last two years, that stopped working. Oates got him to change that, but in March Ovechkin demanded Ribeiro give him the puck in the neutral zone. Though Ovechkin is superstar, Ribs said no. By the end of the season, Ovechkin was a Hart Trophy finalist.

“He’s still a young player who has a lot to learn about the game and how to play it,” Ribeiro told me of Ovi. “He’s a powerful player.”

“His English was better than when I saw him on TV,” he continued. “Sometimes I was like ‘What is he saying?’ I used to be like that. Guys used to laugh at me the way I speak.”

Losing Ribs would be a difficult loss for the franchise, but it may be a necessary one. The team only has about $5.6 million in cap room for next season. While they could probably get Ribeiro for that, they’d have to shake up the roster a little or consider not re-signing RFAs Karl Alzner and Marcus Johansson. Considering Ribeiro is 33 and wants a four- or five-year deal, that’s a tough sell. (Ribeiro, for what it’s worth, said he “can only get better.”)

“It’s important to be hard on the merits and soft on the people and do it right,” Caps GM George McPhee said, before adding that he doesn’t talk about specific negotiations.

Still, Ribeiro reiterated that he likes the area and is hesitant to move his family again. He also wants to win. Until two weeks ago, he had missed the postseason in five straight years. That may have been justification to get the heck out of DC in February, but now it’s a reason to stay.

“Once you make the playoffs, you want to go back,” he said. “You see the potential that we have here.”

“I don’t want to be selfish by signing too much and not being able to get other guys here or re-sign guys here,” Ribeiro added. “If I stay here I want to have a chance to win. … You cannot just re-sign me and have the same kind of team. You want to improve your team.”

Soon, the Caps and Ribeiro will have to make their choices. On July 5, the center is no longer the team’s property. From the coaches to the media, everyone at Kettler Capitals Iceplex Wednesday morning knew they may be seeing him for the final time. Then, Ribeiro emerged. He strode to the podium outside the Capitals locker room wearing a fedora, a diamond earning, and a large chain. A reporter asked him about his opulent look.

“I’m allowed to do what I want to do now,” he quipped.

We’ll see if that includes staying in Washington.

Photo credit: championat.com

While the rest of his teammates conducted interviews on breakdown day, Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin touched down in Finland for the 2013 World Championships. And we have some disappointing news: he only wore one pair of pants.

Ovi told Championat.com’s Igor Bragin that while he slept peacefully for most of the flight, the journey was not without challenges – all of the Great Eight’s gear was missing when the plane touched down.

“It’s hard to remember last time it happened. I think it was when I came home to Moscow once,” Ovechkin told Bragin, as translated by Fedor Fedin. “But it wasn’t hockey equipment and I got everything back on the next day.”

“Our equipment sponsor has all my sizes,” Ovi continued. “I think it won’t be a huge problem to deliver it. Of course, it’ll be some trouble for them to send it all, but we were assured that we’ll get everything at 9 am [Thursday].”

After getting a ride to Helsinki’s Hartwall Arena, Ovi was greeted by more reporters and conducted a ten minute press conference.

“The goal is to win the tournament again,” Ovechkin said, according to the IIHF website. “It’s very hard to do it two times in a row. We did it once, and I hope we can.”

Meanwhile, Evgeny Kuznetsov and the rest of the Russian national team were busy taking their team photo during the off day. It was weird.

Photos

All Photos via championat.com

Bryz = grumpy

Varly and third-string goaltender Vasily Koshechkin

Anisimov and Kuznetsov intrigued by Kovalchuk’s hand for whatever reason.

Everybody say cheeeeeeseeee (or stare menacingly at the camera)!

View the rest of Championat.com’s slideshow >>