What started with an apology from Caps PR Mogul Nate Ewell ended with information that sent the Twittersphere into a tizzy: The Washington Capitals have signed forward Tomas Fleischmann to a one-year contract. The pact is reported to be for $2.6 million and avoids a potentially messy arbitration hearing that was set to be heard Wednesday.

The important thing to remember here is that the Capitals were going to sign Fleischmann to a one-year deal regardless. You simply do not let a developed asset like a 20-goal scorer walk away for nothing, and avoiding arbitration helps preserve goodwill on both sides. The only important detail was: for how much?

And that seems to be the rub for most: $2.6 million is too much. But is it?

The fine people over at Japer’s Rink did an excellent mock arbitration briefing that illustrates what Flash’s career has amounted to at this point:

It is beyond debate that Tomas Fleischmann is a skilled hockey player. He has improved his per-game goal and point totals in each of his seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), registering career highs nearly across the board during the 2009-10 regular season and finishing sixth in goals scored on an offensively potent Washington Capitals team.

So the question becomes: what is Flesichman’s 56G/72A /128P in 260 games worth?

The one player with similar career stats at the same ages for the first five years of their career is Valtteri Filppula, who in 290 games has boxcar stats of 52G/77A/129P – never scoring more than 19 goals in a season – making $3.5M in 2010-11.

Then we have the UFA/RFA climate, such as Clarke MacArthur’s $2.4M award that the Atlanta Thrashers walked away from and Matt Moulson also avoiding arbitration after agreeing to $2.45 with the Islanders, along with Alexander Frolov and Alexei Ponikarovsky each signing $3M contracts as UFAs.

This pegs Fleischmann’s value somewhere in the $2.5 to $3.5 million range – despite him being terrible when it came to puck possession (having the worst 5v5 CORSI ON for any Capital playing more than 20 games) or that he was on the ice for more Goals Against per 60 minutes than any other Caps skater.

Luckily for Fleischmann the market (and potential) dictates value, and a 25-year old forward on the upside of his career simply cannot be let go for nothing.

So join me in welcoming the Caps opening night 2nd line left wing mice-droppings collector 2nd line center, and let us know what you think Flash is worth in the comments.

[Ed Note: First, RMNB taught you how to correctly pronounce the names of some of Russia's Best Hockey Players. Second, RMNB taught you how to support the Russian National Team in Vancouver with Authentic Russian Fan Chants and Cheers. Tonight, In Russian Lessons Part III, we're here to teach you who the most popular, active hockey players in Russia are.

With NHL Games starting at 3am or later in Russia and the KHL starting to find more and more traction, we were interested who Russians talked about and followed the most. Would it be an NHL Player? Would it be a KHL Player? We felt this post was necessary because the media coverage in Washington makes a lot of people assume Alex Ovechkin is the most revered sportsman in the country. He has a huge following - to the point where he's been on Game Shows and in Music Videos - but you'll be surprised by what we found today. They're all yours Fedor.]

Okay, I bet if you had to pick one person to be the most popular hockey player in Russia, you’d pick Alex Ovechkin. This is a great guess, but it’s not 100% true. Let’s check what hockey players Russian users search for the most using the Russian Search Engine “Yandex.” It is the most used Search Engine (51% of search market) in our country.

Most Searched Players

Here are Alex Ovechkin’s Stats:

Here's How Much Alex Ovechkin's Name Has Been Searched For Over The Two Years

As we can see, Ovechkin is searched for quite a lot. And via these statistics, he’s the most popular. But let’s take a look at Ilya Kovalchuk.

Ilya Kovalchuk Stats:

Here's How Much Ilya Kovalchuk's Name Has Been Searched For Over The Two Years

Kovy’s amazing play on two World Championships made him one of the most popular and searched people in May. But what about two other Russians who are very popular? They’re not even close in this competition.

Evgeni Malkin’s Stats:

Here's How Much Evgeni Malkin's Name Has Been Searched For Over The Two Years

Even his Stanley Cup didn’t give him big popularity in the Internet.

Alexei Morozov’s Stats:

Here's How Much Alexei Morozov's Name Has Been Searched For Over The Two Years

Morozov is ABSOLUTELY the most popular KHL player in the League. He’s also the Captain of Russian hockey team and he was chosen to carry the Russian flag in the Olympic opening ceremony. He was picked over Sergei Fedorov. Despite all of these accolades, he’s not competitive in our ratings.

Russian Fan Polls

Which NHL Team Do You Think Will Win The Stanley Cup?

Russia Believes in the Capitals!

To give you a better idea of how much Ilya Kovalchuk is loved in Russia, look at this Sportbox.ru fan poll. 3% of the voters – this is crazy – thought that the Atlanta Thrashers would win the Stanley Cup this year (!!!). The Thrashers are 5th in this poll!!! Granted, this was conducted before he was traded, but it’s amazing considering how bad the team is. They just know Kovy is good. That’s all!! The Washington Capitals, on the other hand, are in First Place and have a resounding 60% of the vote.

Going By Their Personality, Which Russian Player Do You Like The Most?

Russians Choose Alex Ovechkin

This poll is much more undecided. Sure, Ovi is leading here with 34% of the vote, and Kovy 20% and Moro 16% are very close. But see! Malkin is only 5th and only has 9%. Only in one version of polls — TV polls — is Kovy more popular than Ovechkin (he was Sportsman of the Year-2008 and 3rd place in 2007). In 2009 Morozov, Kovalchuk and Malkin became Sportsmen of the Month. Ovechkin was named Sportsman of the Month only once (April 2008) and lost in the 1st round of the Sportsman of the Year playoffs competition (Yelena Isinbaeva won in that quarterfinal).

Lastly, if you take a look at the Russian MSN ratings for today – Ovi is the #8 sportsman in Russia by popularity. Here’s the complete list:

Isinbaeva (track&field), Arshavin (soccer), Pluschenko (figure scating), Safin (tennis), Zhirkov, Akinfeev (both – soccer), Kuznetsova (tennis), OVECHKIN, Sharapova (tennis), Kirilenko (basketball)

Russian Journalist Opinions

Sport Express Journalists named Kovy as a Sportsman of the Year in 2009. In Russian Reporter’s rating Kovy was also 3rd. And sure, being World Champions makes all the difference.

Game Shows and TV Exposure

Lastly, Alex Ovechkin has been all over Russian TV the last few years. Here are a few funny examples:

Finally here’s video of Ovechkin, Kovlachuk & Morozov together at a Russian Music Awards Show

The Other Most Popular Russian Hockey Players In Russia

Here’s the rest of my list for the most popular players in Russia. This is more opinion than anything. But I think this is very fair.

5 – Pavel Datsyuk, 6 – Alex Semin, 7 – Evgeni Nabokov, 8 – Ilya Bryzgalov, 9 – Alexander Frolov, 10 – Maxim Afinogenov

These players were close but just didn’t make my list:

Sergei Fedorov, Semyon Varlamov, Alex Kovalev, Alexander Radulov, Andrei Markov, Alexei Yashin and Sergei Zubov

Please feel free to discuss below in the comments. What do you think? I’ll make sure to answer back tomorrow! Let’s have a lively debate!

[Ed Note: Last year during the Capitals Playoff run, Slava Malamud wrote an 800-word post about how to pronounce Russian Players names correctly for Capitals Insider. Problem was - after talking to RMNB groupmember Fedor Fedin (who resides in Moscow, Russia) - Slava wasn't really doing the pronunciations justice. So today, with Fedor's help, the Russian Machine is going to teach you how to say your favorite Russian Superstars names correctly. And yes, with wonderful, wonderful audio. Enjoy!]

One of the most frustrating things about being a fan of the Washington Capitals in Moscow is how much Americans mispronounce Russian Players’ names. Everybody does it! And a lot of the time, nobody has a clue they’re even doing it.

Do you know how many times I’ve heard «S-I-M-I-N» or «S-E-M-Y-O-N», and cringed? Let’s say more than a handful. But now it’s time for you to learn with my help.

First, let’s go over the phonetic foundation of the names. The Russian letter «ё» means «YO» if it’s the first letter in a word or it goes after a vowel. If it goes after a consonant it reads like a «soft O». The most similiar English sound is «ɜː» in the words «learn» or «burn». (Here’s some other English rhymes too.) If you know German, it’s not a problem for you at all. Just listen to it (this is word «König», German «King»):

Anyways, here’s what – «Semyon» sounds like in Russian:

And here’s the correct pronunciation of «Semin». As you can see, they sound very similiar. Thanks to the guy who pronounced it completely – «Alexander Semin»:

«Fedorov» uses this sound, too (completed pronunciation again!):

Here’s a few more pronounciation tips for other popular Russian NHLers:

• You might know this already, but it’s worth repeating if anyone out there doesn’t know. «Semin»- is from «Syoma», which is the short form of «Semyon».
• The surname of Alexander Frolov has a stress in the second «o», not FrOlov, FrolOv.
• Ilya Kovalchuk’s last name is actually pronounced «KovalchOOk», not «KovalchAk».
  

At last, here’s something funny I noticed:

Here’s how Americans pronunce «Ovechkin»:

Here’s how Russians says it:

Crazy isn’t it? And now you can understand my frustration!