Photo credit: Jim McIsaac

Thursday night, Philadelphia Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren announced that star winger Scott Hartnell would be out four to eight weeks with a broken foot. Needing an extra forward, the Flyers signed Capitals fan favorite Mike Knuble to a one-year deal. This news comes as a bitter pill to Caps fans who want the best for the veteran winger, but miss his leadership. At least it’s not the Pens.

Corey Masisak remembers a pivotal Knuble story below the fold.

Story time for #Caps fans. Try to cheer some people up (note: probably won’t work). Will try to tell the Knuble in TB story in a few tweets.

— Corey Masisak(@cmasisak22) January 25, 2013

1. #Caps lose, now down 3-0 in stunning fashion. Media enters room postgame. It is empty. Now, not all #NHL dressing rooms are created equal

— Corey Masisak(@cmasisak22) January 25, 2013

2. TB visiting room/area is constructed as such that if you’re not in the main room, media can still tell where guys are to an extent.

— Corey Masisak(@cmasisak22) January 25, 2013

3. Media waits several minutes, still no players. Several are in the treatment room. Media are getting restless. Space is tight.

— Corey Masisak(@cmasisak22) January 25, 2013

4. Knuble, from in treatment room, yells “Sergey (@sergeykocharov), do you need someone out there?” Sergey says, “Yeah, Mike.”

— Corey Masisak(@cmasisak22) January 25, 2013

5. Knuble comes out to room full of media, authors one of the best postgame scrums I’ve ever witnessed. Insightful, passionate, etc.

— Corey Masisak(@cmasisak22) January 25, 2013

6. Knuble answered Qs for what seemed like 10 minutes. Didn’t duck anything or try to cover for anyone/the team. It was incredible.

— Corey Masisak(@cmasisak22) January 25, 2013

In conclusion, that is a snippet of why Mike Knuble is a great human. #Flyers will be lucky to have him. #Caps need a new Knuble right now.

— Corey Masisak(@cmasisak22) January 25, 2013

Good luck, Kanoobs!

Washington Times Corey Masisak. On the Caps beat no more.

[Editor's note: Brandon Oland is currently the Features Writer at the Carroll County Times. He has worked for the Frederick News Post's Sports Section, Interned at the USA Today & has written for The UMD's Diamondback]

During my freshman year at the University of Maryland, I shared a dorm room with Corey Masisak.

Turns out we had a lot in common. We wanted to be sports journalists. We wanted to work at the college newspaper. While many of our freshman cohorts were partying it up, Corey and I made it a priority to get the attention of editors at The Diamondback, the daily newspaper on campus.

Corey was a success from day one. He served as The Diamondback’s sports editor and football and basketball beat writer. He earned the respect of many and landed a job at The Washington Times after he graduated. He worked his way up to Capitals beat writer and did a tremendous job covering the team.

He tirelessly wrote stories for the print product. He kept up a useful blog I checked several times a week. He did everything asked of him, yet it wasn’t enough.

The Washington Times announced mass layoffs Thursday. I’m assuming Corey was one of them. SportsJournalists.com is reporting the entire sports staff got axed as The Washington Times tries to reinvent itself without a sports section.

The demise of The Washington Times sports section is not a surprise. After Monday night’s game, Bruce Boudreau addressed Corey’s fate at the end of his press conference:

“Corey, if this is your last game, I’d like to thank you for everything you’ve done in the covering of our team for the last couple of years,” Boudreau said, according to The Washington Post.

I’m absolutely devastated for Corey. He loves sports journalism. He is passionate about hockey. I’ve seen far too many former coworkers and classmates lose their jobs in the last 18 months as the contracting print journalism industry sheds incredibly talented people.

Best of luck to Corey and all those affected.

[Also see: Japers' Rink & the DC Sports Bog for their heartfelt opinions on the firings as well.]