Photo credit: Jacquelyn Martin

The last time these two teams met, the headless Caps were reeling. After trading away captain Chris Clark, Washington failed to put together a full 60 minute effort and just looked plain off in Los Angeles. Now, more than a year later, the boys from DC have a man with a ‘C,’ but that tune still sounds awfully familiar.

Just over a minute into the contest, Alex Ovechkin ripped the Capitals only tally past Kings goaltender Jonathan Bernier. The goal came the moment I was settling in with my nachos at Verizon Center. Coincidence? I think not. However, Anze Kopitar would have something to say about that in the second, flipping the puck over a seated Semyon Varlamov to knot the game at one. Then with 16:24 left in the third, Andrei Loktionov gave L.A. a 2-1 lead as the biscuit once again got past an out of position Varlamov. It would only get worse for the Capitals as Michal Handzus and Jarret Stoll pushed the lead to three. By the end of the game, Verizon Center was half empty. Kings beats Caps, 4-1.

• Ovechkin‘s goal was unassisted, making him the only Cap to register a point. Ovi came down the off wing, used Drew Doughty as a screen, and then… BOOM!  Just like old times, right? After that, the wheels completely came off.

• The Capitals failed to get over 10 shots on goal in any period. Eight, seven, eight. What’s our rule? If they don’t register 10 in a period, then they didn’t play hard enough.
• Washington’s power play continues to struggle as the Caps went oh for four on the man advantage. When David Steckel has your best scoring chance on the PP then perhaps you should simplify your game.
• In a related note: the Kings’ first three goals came off rebounds.
• Mathieu Perreault struggled in the dot, winning just two of his nine draws.
• Mike Green and Jeff Schultz both had a minus three for the game. Ouch.
• John Carlson blocked four shots in the first period alone, five for the afternoon.
• Matt Hendricks played his usual rough and tumble game, registering a game high seven hits while also managing four shots on goal. Hendricks continues to be one of the few Capitals who seems to be giving it his all night in and night out.
• Both Alex Semin and Brooks Laich were benched by Bruce Boudreau during the final six minutes.
• The players had a closed door meeting after the game. Afterwards, Mike Knuble addressed the media and said, “I don’t know what we’re waiting for.  There’s a lot to play for — as players, as individuals, as a team. There’s a lot. Every game is important,” He continued, “Those are huge points we left on the table the last two games.”
• And finally, how bad was it? D.J. King was awarded the Palm as CSN’s player of the game for his fight in the first period and his four hits overall. He had 7:22 TOI, the lowest on the team, and his fight actually seemed to energize Los Angeles.

It’s been a lifeless last two games for the men in red. Sure, it is just 120 minutes of hockey, but the offense was nowhere to be found and the team looked like they had no passion. Just lost. Now, Washington will try to find their mojo as they head off to the valley of sun. It’s the start of on a big 5-game, 9-day road-trip for the Caps.

Catch you back here Monday.

Ian Oland contributed reporting.

Caps "Kapitan" Alex Ovechkin (Photo by Heather Mabb)

Fedor Fedin checks in again with a translated article published in today’s Soviet Sport. The article is written by Dmitry Chesnokov and is titled, “When I speak, do not stare at the ceiling!” It refers to Alex Ovechkin and a joke he makes about his new-found Captaincy. Honestly, could there be no greater title to an article? I think not.

In the text below, Ovechkin talks about Russia’s Failures in the WJC, defends Nikita Filatov, and discusses what it will be like as Captain of one of the best teams in the NHL. Let’s go:

Alexander Ovechkin, the Captain of the Washington Capitals: “When I speak, do not stare at the ceiling!:
Questions and text by D. Chesnokov and D. Shumin for Soviet Sport, translation by F. Fedin for RMNB.

SIXTH CAPTAIN

In the history of the NHL, there have only been six Russians who have been permanent captains in the NHL. The four inactive/retired Captains are: Pavel Bure (Florida), Alexandr Mogilny (Vancouver), Alexei Yashin (Ottawa), and Alexei Zhamnov (Chicago). And there currently are two active Russians who are Captains: Ilya Kovalchuk (Atlanta) and now Alex Ovechkin.

We previously reported that the Caps traded their captain Chris Clark and defenseman Milan Jurcina to Columbus for power winger Jason Chimera on the last day of December. Washington cut $2.15 M of salary and also opened the door to nominate for captain their best player and MVP of the NHL for the last two years. It would be a powerful strategical and marketing turn.

Though we had our suspicions that Ovechkin might refuse the captaincy, days later, Alex took the Caps onto the ice in a home game against the Montreal Canadiens with the “C” on the front of his jersey. He didn’t score any points that night, but the home team won 4:2. A few days later, they crushed the Senators (5:2), and captain Ovechkin became one of the heroes of the night.

“I TALKED WITH REFEREES EARLIER, TOO”

“It’s a big moment for me and for the team to get new captain,” Ovechkin said after the game against Montreal. “But i don’t want to be consumed with my new job.”

Dmitry Chesnokov – You refused captaincy earlier in your career, correct? Why do you need to talk with the refs, and carry out team meetings? Your burden is to score goals.
Alexander Ovechkin – I talked with referees earlier, when I was an alternative captain. It’s not hard for me.

DC – Who’s your ideal captain? Chris Clark named Jarome Iginla.
AO – The Capitals captains I played with – Halpern and Clark – did a good job. But why do I need to imitate someone? You have to prove on and off the ice that you’re leader. It’s all about the respect from your teammates. Just imagine, you talk with the team, and one player is looking at the ceiling, another one is picking his nose… It would be unpleasant.

DC – If need be, can you say something tough in the locker room?
AO – Sure. No problem.

“FILATOV IS A LEADER”

“The main cause of our performance was my mistake in choosing the captain. A captain should be an example of how to behave on the ice, in the locker room and outside the arena. We trusted Filatov with the captaincy hoping that his experience would help him and his teammates be successful.

“Unfortunately, Filatov did not get it. He failed as a leader. After the game with Switzerland, I came to the locker room and apologized in front of the team for my choice of captain. Filatov was not worthy of wearing the C.” – Vladimir Pluschev, head coach of the National Russian junior team.

DC – Vladimir Pluschev, Head Coach of the National Russian junior team, blamed Nikita Filatov for the team’s failures in the World Junior Championship. Can one player really be blamed for this?
AO – I don’t think that one player can have such a big influence in a loss. Yes, if you’re the captain, you have some duties. But don’t jump all over Filatov. It was a team loss. Nikita is a leader. Everybody knows that he’s dangerous with the puck, and he can create a goal by himself. But i think the pressure got to him. When he received passes two opponents always stayed close to him. It was like this when I played in WJC, too. Our team was inexperienced and didn’t know how to play against a strategy like this. The first defender follows you, the second secures you. You try to play your game, but you can’t blame Filatov for the loss. He’s a good player. Don’t jump all over him for the failures of the team.

DC – Two years ago you had an invitation to become a captain. Why did you decline it?
AO – You invited me, you, journalists! … I have some experience now. I have seen how other captains behave in the locker room. I understand what i have to do. But even now, the main thing for me is to play good hockey.

DC – Imagine that you’d play with, for example, authoritative defenseman Scott Niedermayer, captain of Anaheim and the Canadian Olympic Team. Would it be hard for you to lead him?
AO – This guy will only help captains. He won’t say: “Why are you ordering me around?”. There is a large number of authoritative new Caps on our team, for example, Knuble. But we’re comrades.

DC – A comparison inevitably comes to mind – Sidney Crosby came to the NHL, became a captain, and won the Stanley Cup. Now Ovechkin wear “C”…
AO – Though I never admit it, my only goal is to win the Cup. But there’s no sense to compare me and Crosby.

DC – Did you try to introduce a new fashion – like sew the russian “K” [Ed. note - Russian "Kapitan"] on your jersey instead of the “C”?
AO – I guess, It will be misunderstood by some! – Ovechkin is smiling.

DC – Will you call for partners and organize events, like Clark did?
AO – We have people on the club who do it. I am free from that responsibility.

The Russian Machine doesn’t have much to say about the Capitals 2-1 loss the Los Angeles Kings today. It was crap. In fact, we felt this photo of Mike Green pretty much summed it up.

The Caps once again, came out in the first period with absolutely no push. To that effect, they’ve been out scored 6-0 in their past three first periods and out-shot 35-11. (Thanks Capitals Insider)

We want to take the easy road and say “Man, with Chris Clark and Milan Jurcina gone, this team is in absolute disarray. They’ve lost three straight games.” But you’ve got to look deeper than that. If you go by that logic, then the Hershey Bears are 10-1 in their last 11 because they brought Chris Bourque back . The problem is the secondary scoring for this team has been absolutely nonexistent lately and the team has not been playing a full 60 minutes at their level. The lack of intensity from anyone other than the Young Guns is troubling. And honestly, Jason Chimera seems to still be trying to find himself in Bruce Boudreau’s system.

The Capitals look like they’re a step slow. They’re losing battles. And with this being one of the NHL’s most skilled teams, we figure this is a tall-tale sign of either a team losing its focus or is in general tired. Someone needs to start banging into some bodies and create some space for others.

We hope with two home games on the slate this week, the Caps will bear down and play better in front of their own fans. And The Russian Machine Will Even Offer A Bold Prediction: We will be excited to see who will be named Captain in the coming days (Alex Ovechkin For Kapitan!!!) and receive the instant gratification of refocusing the team after soundly defeating the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday Night. Okay guys, make it happen!

Chris Clark and Milan Jurcina in a Blue Jackets Uniform. Weird.

The Washington Capitals made a trade this week, picking up Jason Chimera from the Columbus Blue Jackets for Chris Clark and Milan Jurcina. Given that I spent all weekend putting together a spreadsheet trying to approximate the Goals Versus Threshold that Puck Prospectus uses to give an idea of a player’s contributions, I thought it would be a good time to put it to use. I wasn’t able to match their GVT exactly, but I got close enough to make the thing potentially viable.

First, on what GVT is:

“To explain in terms already familiar to sports statisticians, GVT is very similar to VORP in baseball: it is the value of a player, in goals, above what a replacement player would have contributed. The fact that GVT is measured in goals is crucial: statistics that divide up “Win Shares”, so that the ratings of a team’s players sum to that team’s number of wins, are very erratic and non-linear, since wins don’t increase or decrease linearly with team caliber. While hockey is ultimately about winning or losing, players’ contributions always come down to scoring goals and preventing them. A player cannot “win” a game, even though he may be put in a situation where scoring a goal or making a key save would create or conserve a win. Each player’s role, no matter his position, is to try and increase the goal differential in favor of his team. An offensive player who scores a hat trick only to see his teammates allow 4 goals against has nevertheless done his job; a goaltender who stops 39 of 40 shots only to lose 1-0 has likewise performed well. Using this standard, all players can be compared by the same yardstick: how much did they help (or harm) their team’s goal differential?…

• GVT is measured in goals. This makes it a convenient unit that hockey fans are already comfortable with.
• GVT compares hockey players of all positions and over any period of time.
• GVT only uses statistics that lead directly to goals. You cannot incorporate goaltender wins into GVT, because they are not a measurement of goals prevented. However, if you can rationally explain what are the odds of a faceoff win (or loss) leading to a goal or goal against, it would be possible to incorporate faceoff wins and losses into GVT, though I have not done so.
• GVT has built-in accounting. The sum of player GVTs on a team equals that team’s GVT plus the replacement level. This is essential, as player statistics often come with caveats. “Kovalchuk scored 43 goals, but he doesn’t play defense and his team isn’t good”. This makes it much easier to measure “how good would this team be replacing player A with player B?” It is also essential in that player success is correlated with team success, which after all is the entire point of the sport.
• GVT automatically normalizes for the strength of the league…

GVT does not measure a player’s talent. The statistic measures a player’s contribution to his team’s goal differential. A goaltender that faces zero shots will have a value of zero, regardless of whether he is Patrick Roy or Andrew Raycroft. Likewise, a player that is injured or gets little ice time will see his GVT reduced accordingly. It also does not take into account environment: a player will score more with better linemates, and I make no attempt to adjust for that…

GVT does not measure intangibles. Things like leadership do exist in hockey, and they do help to make your teammates better. However, there is no way to measure this through statistics, and any attempt to quantify it is futile. In effect, we are not trying to see what information is “hidden” in the statistics; we are simply trying to better characterize the information that is at hand”

Alright, on to the trade!

Jason Chimera
Pos: F
Goals: 8
Assists: 9
Games: 39
Offensive Goals Versus Threshold: 1.0

Not a top scorer by any means, but he’ll add a little bit and was projected by VUKOTA (Puck Prospectus’ projection system) to be at +1.4 OGVT for the season (in 60 games). Depending on who’s playing around him on the Capitals, his scoring may even go up.

Plus/Minus: -7
Defensive Goals Versus Threshold: -0.1

Had a +/- of +8 last year, and -5 the year before that. VUKOTA had him contributing more on defense than on offense with a +2 DGVT. Maybe dial that down a touch rate-wise, but as long as he’s playing more that might be accurate as a raw number.

Overall, Chimera looks like around a 3-4 GVT player. With 6 goals being a win, and one win being worth about $3 M on the open market, that would make Chimera worth about $1.5 to $2 M. He’s going to be paid $1.875 M both this season and next, so his contract looks just about on the button. One could theoretically take into account the amount by which acquiring Chimera increased the Capitals’ chances of making the playoffs (where is certainly worth something), but I think the effect would be negligible.

Clark wasn’t expected to add much on offense – VUKOTA projected him at just 0.1 OGVT – but it seems he’s done even less than that.

Plus/Minus: -4
Defensive Goals Versus Threshold: -0.8

He was projected to have a +0.6 DGVT this season.

Overall, the 33 year-old isn’t a major contributor to the team. He makes $2.63 M this season and $2.63 M more next season before his contract is up, so in some respects it’s a plus just to get that off the books.

The guy isn’t exactly a scoring defenseman. He had just 3 goals and 11 assits last season, and is likely around zero with the OGVT in the near future.

Plus/Minus: 0
Defensive Goals Versus Threshold: -1.0

VUKOTA had projected Jurcina to be a +2.9 DGVT player this season, and with numbers this small the precision becomes an issue. Maybe say he’s a +2 DGVT (for a full season) guy going forward.

Overall, Jurcina hasn’t played all that well and despite his size isn’t an impact defenseman. He’s making $1.375 M this season, and will be an unrestricted free agent. At -2 Goals Versus Threshold, Jurcina wouldn’t actually be worth anything. As a 2 GVT player (all on defense), he would be worth about $1 M. Therefore he was just worth his salary at best, and isn’t a loss to the team.

Thanks to HockeyFights.com for the video.