Photo credit: Rob Carr

Nothing is going right for the Washington Capitals right now. But one of the biggest problems is clear: the misfortunes of Karl Alzner and John Carlson. Of the 14 goals the Caps have allowed this season, Carlson has been on the ice for nine of them and Alzner for eight. Until they were broken up at the start of third period, this was the team’s number one defensive pairing. That’s not how you win hockey games, something Washington has demonstrated.

“I have no idea,” Alzner said when asked what was going wrong for the two.

“We’re not getting the bounces, plays that I normally would do, an easy poke check — it’s happening for the both of us,” he added. “We weren’t contributing anything good to the team.”

One problem for Alzner and Carlson could be conditioning. Neither played during the lockout. Alzner chose to skate up in Calgary during the work stoppage while Carlson took the ice with a few fellow Capitals at Kettler. Skating three times a week, though, hardly simulates playing for an NHL team. Alzner insisted, however, that fitness is not the issue — at least for himself.

“I feel fine out there,” he said. “I don’t feel like I’m too tired. It’s definitely not conditioning.”

Alzner and Carlson have have played together for most of their professional careers, becoming good friends off the ice as well. They first became a pair in 2009 playing for the Hershey Bears. While they have been separated from time to time, the two have consistently been the Capitals’ number one pair the last two seasons. But Thursday night, they were on the ice for all four Canadiens goals before coach Adam Oates mercifully put an end to the duo. For the final frame, Alzner was paired with Mike Green while Carlson shared the blueline with Tom Poti. Alzner said that he was the one who told defensive coach Callie Johansson that something had to change.

“You can’t have two guys where things aren’t going their way together,” Alzner said after the game.

Head Coach Adam Oates agreed.

“They’ve been married to each other for a long time now,” Oates told reporters. “You also have to have the ability to play with someone else.

Oates insists, though, that the two will be back together in less than 24 hours when the Caps head to New Jersey to take on the Devils.

“They were very solid with each other last year and they know each other well,” he said.

The Caps are now 0-3 — their worst start in almost two decades. They have been outscored 14-6. Their penalty kill is at 69 percent. Some struggles were to be expected as the team adjusts to a new coach with a new system. With a lockout shortened season, though, a bad start could kill the team’s playoff chances. And the fans know that. Boos rained down at the Verizon Center for the second straight game. Midway through the third period, the arena was half empty, just like the lean years a decade ago. “Ted, I want a refund!” one fan yelled as the seconds ticked away.

“Embarrassing is almost the right term right now — pathetic is a better one,” forward Troy Brouwer said outside his locker. “I feel bad for the fans. I’d like to finish a game with at least 50 percent of the fans still in the stands. Their actions are completely warranted, booing us. We haven’t earned any of their respect, any of their passion or ambition. We have to turn something around, and we have to do it fast.”

Photo credit: Kyle Mace of Sweetest Hockey On Earth

In a move both surprising and logical, the Capitals announced Sunday that Adam Oates would serve as co-coach of the AHL’s Hershey Bears with head coach Mark French for the duration of the lockout. Caps assistant coaches Calle Johansson, Tim Hunter, and Blaine Forsythe and goaltending coaches Dave Prior and Olie Kolzig will — in George McPhee’s words — “be involved at different times” and also help out with the Capitals’ ECHL affiliate, Reading Royals.

To adequately take on lockout-loaded teams like Oklahoma City Barons whose roster now features Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle, and Justin Schultz, the Capitals have given their farm team the deepest coaching staff in AHL history.

McPhee elaborated even more on the announcement to senior Capitals’ writer Mike Vogel:

“We think it’s a great opportunity for all of our coaches in the organization to work together to learn the nuances of our system of play,” says McPhee. “We also think it’s a great opportunity for our NHL coaches to get to work with our young players and frankly to give them something to do. There’s no sense in them sitting in Washington when they could be active in Hershey.”

The decision has no downside. Oates will have a chance to ply his trade for the first time in the organization, get more familiar with the players, and install his new system from the ground up. He’ll also get to work with potential Capitals starting goaltender Braden Holtby and continue to help develop Russian talents Dmitry Orlov and Stanislav Galiev. In the bigger picture, the added star power should also bring more media attention to the deserving Bears and help them fill seats.

A few months ago, Adam Oates was on top of the world, coaching the New Jersey Devils in the Stanley Cup Finals. A few weeks later, he was named head coach of his own team and inducted into the Hall of Fame on the same day. Now Oates gets to experience the less glamorous side of hockey again: 12-hour bus rides, three-in-threes, and living in and out of hotels. That he’d even consider this position after all his success in hockey speaks volumes of the man’s character and humility.

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)