Locker puts on a smile after Washington’s Game 3 loss.

No matter what happens to the Washington Capitals in their first round matchup against the New York Rangers, we won’t be hearing Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin after next week. Once the Eastern Conference Semifinals roll around, NBC has exclusive rights to the games. Locker, it seems, is going out in style.

During Monday’s Game 3, the former Cap was in top form. It started when the Caps took a 1-0 lead. Despite taking a couple of penalties, the Capitals were weathering the storm in first period, so well, in fact, that the Madison Square Garden crowd started booing as the final seconds ticked off Joel Ward’s minor.

“You couldn’t script it any better for the visiting Washington Capitals,” Laughlin exclaimed, finishing his sentence just as Brad Boyle unleashed a wrist shot to tie the game.

Locker’s eventful night continued when Washington was whistled for a too many men penalty later in the frame. The thing was, the Rangers had eight dudes on the ice, and six of them were nowhere near the bench. Locker freaked out.

Video by Japers Rink

“Look at this bunch right here!” he screamed, madly drawing on a series of circles on his telestrator, topped with a giant number eight. “There’s eight guys on the ice for the Rangers!

He also told Joe B “if I ever had the chance it wouldn’t be your eyes, it’d be your tongue” for some reason.

Craig Laughlin is awesome.

GIF by welshhockeyfan

Washington Capitals color guy Craig Laughlin is an expert telestrator. And he knows it. That’s why tonight, after he drew up Joel Ward’s first period goal, he completed his telestrating by signing my TV (again). I equate this to a rapper dropping the mic after a sweet verse. Thanks, Locker. I’m going to put this up on eBay ASAP.

Without a season to cover, Caps color man Craig Laughlin has found a new outlet for his talents. Laughlin has joined the E.Y.E.S. Radio Network, where he will host a weekly radio show called Lunchtime with The Locker: The Craig Laughlin Show.

The two-hour program will begin on Wednesday, January 2nd, and will apparently include comedy and politics among the hockey talk. We are so there.

You can hear Lunchtime with the Locker next year using EYES, iTunes, or Stitcher.

Press release ahoy!

Loudoun County, VA, November 16th, 2012: The Eyes Radio Network, a Washington DC based collection of sports radio programs, interviews, and blogs, is proud to announce the addition of former Washington Capitals player Craig Laughlin for his own show to its extensive lineup. This addition to the network now brings its total to six shows:

• The show is expected to launch on Wednesday January 2nd 2013 at noon and will be for two hours.
• It will be carried live on eyesradio.com every week and promptly podcasted on the website, iTunes, and the Stitcher Radio app afterwards.
• The new show will be called Lunchtime with The Locker: The Craig Laughlin Show
• The expectation is it will be every Wednesday but could change to other days in the week depending on his travel schedule once the hockey season resumes from the current lockout.

Craig Laughlin, current TV color analyst for the Washington Capitals games on Comcast Sports Net Washington DC, is a retired professional hockey player who spent six years with the Washington Capitals (82-88). Craig started his career, after being drafted by the Montreal Canadians in 1977, with their minor league affiliate the Nova Scotia Voyageurs and eventually made it to the Canadians roster in 1981. In September 1982, Laughlin was traded to the Washington Capitals and was able to guide the team to its first playoff appearance in team history. He spent the final years of his career with the Los Angeles Kings, Toronto Maples Leaves, and EV Landshut of the German Hockey League. He retired with 136 goals and 205 assists.

“Craig is the most knowledgeable man of hockey I know in the Washington DC area,” said Program Director Tom Block “ His passion and raw look at the Washington Capitals and hockey in general makes him extremely entertaining and fun to listen to. He will be bringing a new side of himself to this show especially on his views of other sports.”

“ I am thrilled to join eyes radio and have my own show,” said Laughlin “ I am excited to talk hockey and all other sports in a fast moving ,but most importantly entertaining funny show. This gives me the forum to express my opinions along with others on all things sports and maybe I will throw in some politics too.”

Laughlin has been the TV color analyst for the Capitals games since 1990 where he is paired up with Joe Beninati. He is also very active in the community with youth hockey camps and charitable work in the Washington DC area.

We’ve been through this before. No matter how poor I am, my frugal instincts go out the window when Washington Capitals treasures are unearthed online. So that’s why on eBay last week, I shelled out even more cash on some vintage postcards depicting two iconic Capitals in all their early 80s glory.

Washington Capitals Postcard of Craig Laughlin From 1984

Locker might have added a few wrinkles, but that smile hasn’t changed a bit.

Quebec Nordiques Postcard of Dale Hunter From 1980

Before donning Caps red, white, and blue, Dale raised hell for the Nords. Check out that Burt Reynoldsy chest hair.

BONUS! Video of a Young Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin

This just feels like it should be in here too.

Alan May visits Locker in the hospital after his first hip surgery. (Photo credit: @Laughlin18)

After spending a relaxing week in Waterloo, Ontario with his 90-year-old mother, former Capital and current CSN color analyst Craig Laughlin returned home to have hip replacement surgery Wednesday. If you recall, Locker had his other hip replaced earlier this year in May, missing Game Five of the Capitals playoff series against the New York Rangers. However, Locker remained with the team in spirit that night. In one of the more inspiring moments of the playoffs, the affable Canadian tweeted out a picture of himself watching the game on his iPad, a retro Capitals jersey neatly draped over his body. Aww.

Before his surgery today, Locker showed off his trademark humor, bragging that he was “getting the Ferrari of new hips.” After he got out of the operating room, Locker tweeted out another update, letting us know everything went well.

Another surgery down, another new hip. I feel as good as new. heading home tomorrow. cant wait to have @mayhockeycsn as my chauffeur!

— Craig Laughlin (@Laughlin18) September 6, 2012

That should be one wild ride.

In recent years, Laughlin’s hip has hampered him. While he was able to compete in the Winter Classic Alumni game in 2011, Locker was forced to the sidelines and coach during last year’s Alumni Game at Kettler Capitals IcePlex. Hopefully, the new hips will get the former 30-goal scorer back on the ice with his fellow alumni, putting the biscuit in the basket at the same pace he did as a kid.

All of us here at RMNB would like to wish Locker a speedy recovery. Feel free to share your own well wishes for him below!

S/T to Courtney Laughlin.

Photo credit: Chris Gordon

Not all of the people iconic to Caps hockey are the players on the ice. Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin are a part of the experience all year, holding our hands through nail-biting overtime games, hugging us after crushing defeats.

You know, metaphorically.

Cap Hit: Priceless.

Milestones: Joe B got his very own hockey card this year! Your move, Laughlin.

Things We Said About Joe B and Locker: “Here’s the Joe B suit of the night.” “Hold it here!”

Best Soundbites:

Joe B: “Sean Bergenheim. I want to strangle him. …Mr. and Mrs. Bergenheim, I’m just kidding!”

Locker: “Great pickup by the Caps. Ribeiro has more moves than a barrel of monkeys.”

Best Vintage Locker Pictures: This photo of his old days in a Caps uniform, or this interesting haircut choice. 

Spirit Animals: Ian’s ferrets.

Team Role: Call the games with personality and professionalism; stay upbeat during losses and level during wins; let us know when people are not related.

Execution of that Role: Ten out of ten. We weren’t sure whether Joel Ward and Cam Ward were related, but Joe B was there for us.

Postseason Performance: Sadly, the Caps’ broadcast team does not travel with us past the first round of the playoffs, but suffering through NBC broadcasts just made us appreciate them that much more.

Favorite Joe B Suit of the Year: This brown plaid number, or this stripes-and-stripes combo. The man is like Don Cherry, only not colorblind.

Favorite Locker Tweets of the Year: 

War Wounds: Laughlin had scheduled hip surgery after the Caps’ regular season ended, rocking the red in the hospital and back on the ice in a matter of weeks.

Biggest Fans: These ladies have great taste. 

Usefulness in a Post-Apocalyptic Setting: Every good disaster story needs a narrator.

Overall Year-End Rating: Ten Good Sashas.

All Jokes Aside: This was not an easy season to be a sportscaster for the Capitals, and we couldn’t have had better guides. Beninati and Laughlin covered a team in turmoil this year, from disappointments to coaching changes, from player declines to demoralizing losses. They did it all with the intelligence and humor that we’ve come to expect from them, did not lie to us or try to mask the problems but instead delivered them with sensible analysis that never devolved into bitterness.

This fanbase has been through good times recently, and rough times, and the worst possible times, and Joe B and Locker have been a constant through it all. Both of these men have outgrown regional sportscasting, and we’re lucky to have them.

"Even after surgery, he's still rockin' the red! He doesn't miss a beat. #WinItForLocker" (Photo credit: Courtney Laughlin | @courtlaugh22)

Those who follow Craig Laughlin on twitter were probably aware that the Caps announcer was going under the knife today. It’s not a surprise for him, a long-planned hip surgery made necessary by Laughlin’s long hockey career, but the Caps fanbase rallied around him anyway to wish him well.

Laughlin made it clear that he didn’t intend to miss any Caps games, though, even from the hospital. Later in the day he tweeted the above picture, and his daughter tweeted another.

As promised — he didn’t miss a game, and even though we miss his voice on CSN, we’re happy to see him healthy and smiling. Send your well wishes to him on the twitter machine at @Laughlin18, email us, or link your your Get Well Soon cards in the comment section! Scribbles, noodle art, Photoshops, anything that expresses your love for one half of our broadcast team. We’ll post our favorites in this post.

#WinItForLocker

Photo credit: Chris Gordon

Way back in the eighties when trading cards were still packaged with a stick of bubble gum, a young, bright-eyed right-wing by the name of Craig Laughlin was featured on his first ever card. O-Pee-Chee, a Canadian candy company, produced the 1983-84 season set which also featured rookie cards for Scott Stevens, Phil Housley, and Brian Bellows.

Fast forward 28 years, Laughlin can now be found in the Capitals broadcast booth alongside play-by-play man Joe Beninati. The broadcast duo has been calling Capitals games together for 17 years. While the two took completely different paths to get to their current jobs, The Panini Group has now distinguished Joe B. with the same honor Laughlin received in his playing days. Yes, Joe B. now has an official trading card too. And it comes signed!

Voices of the Game

Photo credit: Panini America’s blog

On March 26, 2010, Panini — an Italian company which also produces books, comics, magazines, and stickers — acquired a five-year license from the NHL and NHL Players Association to make trading cards. In one of their first sets entitled Crown Royale, Panini’s brain trust wanted to make their own mark on the industry.

“We wanted something different,” the company’s License Acquisitions Manager Alex Carbajal explained in an interview. “Something different than the same old player. Something that fans of hockey could really dig. So one idea that came out [in our meetings] was Voices of the Game. Let’s have the announcers be a part of the set.”

The train of thought among those inside Panini: fans of each team would feel a strong connection to their own particular announcer and it would become a must have collectible. “Not only are you collecting the players,” Carbajal said.” You want to collect every part of the team.”

Panini decided to produce 100 cards each of noteworthy announcers such as Don Cherry, Darren Pang, Daryl Reaugh, and Hockey Hall of Famer Bob Miller. The cards were signed and then placed randomly into packs.

When the cards were released to the public later that year, the Voices of the Game insert became a big hit for the brand.

But hockey cards can only remain novel for so long. So what would Panini do for the next set?

“Really? You want to pay me for my autograph?”

One team that was not represented in 2010-11 15-card set was the Washington Capitals. Collectors in North America took notice.

Said Carbajal: ”When we first announced the set on our Panini America blog last season people were really giving us a hard time saying, ‘But we really wanted Joe Beninati!’”

So this year, when Panini picked their new cast, Beninati was an obvious choice. But would he agree to it?

“Really? You want to pay me for my autograph?” Carbajal vividly recalled Beninati saying when he first broached the subject.

In the end, Joe B. overcame the momentary shock and signed the paperwork to make it happen.

“When I heard from him that they wanted me to be a part of the set this year, I didn’t wait more than two seconds to give him the go ahead,” Beninati said. “You’re honored by it. I was flattered by it. To be included in that set, meant a great deal. Those are the kinds of things you come across time to time in your career that you’re genuinely touched by.”

Simply Sensational

Several months before the scheduled release of Panini’s 2011-12 Crown Royale, Joe Beninati received a package in the mail at his Virginia home. It contained 200 cards of himself to sign. There also were directions to sign 10 of them with a special touch.

The year before, the Penguins’ colorful play-by-play man, Mike Lange (we’ll hold our tongues here), was part of the Voices set. Unlike the other announcers who followed the directions, Lange secretly signed a few of them with a special inscription of his signature calls. “People really dug them and tried anything they could to get their hands on them,” Carbajal revealed. “So this year, we decided to do that with all of the announcers.”

While Beninati doesn’t really believe in those types of canned calls — “I don’t want to run around with my hair on fire yelling, ‘Great Googly Moogly he scores again!’” — he did acknowledge that there were some things that he says during broadcasts that have stuck. After putting some thought into it, Joe B. came across three sayings he could actually inscribe onto the cards, one of which has special significance to Caps fans.

“Five of them I signed ‘Fires and Scores!,’ said Beninati. “Four of them I signed ‘Bombs Away!,’ and only one of them — only one card of me in the entire set that’s signed ‘Simply Sensational.’ That’s the tagline to Ovechkin’s goal against Phoenix in his rookie year, which obviously stands as the goal and one of the greatest sports accomplishments I had the pleasure of describing.”

“I should never say ‘simply sensational’ ever again,” he continued. “I didn’t know I was going to say it that day in Phoenix, it’s just what came out. It’s just how I reacted.”

The back of the card. Click to enlarge.

But that one special inscription isn’t where the connection to Ovi ends — Panini made Beninati’s card number eight in the set, a sentimental fact not lost on the play-by-play man.

“When you have a job as a play-by-play announcer, you live for moments where you can basically enhance what the athletes are doing,” he said. “When you have the opportunity to work for Alex Ovechkin — I’ve worked with Alex Ovechkin as my main subject for 7 years — boy you know you’re going to have some moments to describe. Anybody that has watched Alex play in his first 7 years, would know that he’s a play-by-play guy’s dream.”

Once done signing, Beininati then mailed the cards back to Panini’s American headquarters in Texas, and the cards were put into packs.

“The announcers are so funny because some players they take a little longer to sign,” Carbajal said. “The announcers get the cards back to us in one day.”

Locker Not Impressed

Photo credit: Chris Gordon

So far, the set — which also features two of Beninati’s broadcasting heroes HHOF’er Mike Emrick and Bill Clement — have been well-recieved by collectors. Joe B.’s signed card has fetched $10-$15 each on eBay, his specially inscribed ones have been going for over $50, as much as an Alex Ovechkin autograph.

But there was one thing that Beninati wouldn’t do: tell his broadcast partner about his honor.

It all came full circle when we came in to do a photo-shoot for the post. Locker didn’t know about the card beforehand. After one look, he burst out into uncontrollable laughter, a state which continued for several minutes.

The former hockey player would be surprised however, if he checked eBay. Joe B.’s rookie card goes for nearly 5 times more than his on the open market.

The entire process of having this card created and signed shows a small glimpse into what we Capitals fans get to hear every night with Beninati: Hard-work, thoughtfulness, and professionalism. It’s why Joe B. is the best in the business at what he does and why this card is so special: it’s 1 out of 200. A true Capital collectors’ dream, just like Panini envisioned.

Now it’s up to you to get your hands on it.

Additional reporting by Chris Gordon.

As you know, we don’t think it’s cool to give female hockey fans a hard time for liking the players. But it’s okay to differ on matters of taste. Evgeni Malkin, for example, has some kind of nerve-damage thing happening on that face that only a mother could (or should) love. But we see people holding signs for the guy anyway.

During Friday’s Jets-Caps game, these two sophisticated mamas made a tandem proposition to DC’s broadcast team of Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin. Bravo, ladies. You have our complete support.

Sometime later, Laughlin, who is always a smooth character, was caught signing autographs for fans who were throwing up items to him in the booth. This town certainly loves its announcers.

George McPhee and Mike Knuble pose with the silver stick. (Photo credit: Mitchell Layton)

With the drop of a six-ounce disc of vulcanized rubber, 39-year-old right wing Mike Knuble became the 269th player in NHL history to play in 1,000 career games. While only a small percentage of players ever reach that milestone, an even tinier amount do it at age 39. Consider, Knuble is the second oldest player to ever reach 1,000 games, trailing only ex-Capital defenseman Grant Ledyard (who was 40).

Kanoobs, a veteran of 16 career NHL seasons, won back-to-back Stanley Cups with Detroit during the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons – his first two years in the league. However, it would take him four more years to finally have a breakout year and establish himself. In 2002-03, after Sergei Samsonov suffered a wrist injury, Knuble was asked to fill the void on the first line alongside Joe Thornton and Glen Murray with Boston. The gritty, two-way forward responded by finishing the year with 30 goals and 59 points. Knuble’s never looked back since.

Entering this season, Mike has recorded eight straight 20-goal seasons. Even more remarkable: Knuble’s scored 221 of his 271 career goals after his 30th birthday. That’s more goals than Steve Yzerman and Wayne Gretzky racketed up during the same playing age. This stat speaks volumes about Knuble’s relentless work-ethic, high hockey IQ, and professionalism. “You spend the first four or five years of your career trying to lock up a spot in the league and try to prove to everybody that you can play,” Knuble explained after Capitals practice Monday. “That’s enough of a battle. Once you get over that hump and you’ve proved you can play, then it’s a question of just being able to play that long and staying healthy.”

Naturally, the Capitals organization went all out to celebrate the assistant captain’s achievement tonight.

Photos and Video

The Caps gave out ceremonial pins to all fans attending tonight’s game. (Photo via HarryHawkings)

During warm-ups, every Capital wore #22 in honor of Kanoobs. (Photo via @jopierce)

Ovi rocks the #22 sweater. (Photo credit: Alex Ovetjkin)

Knuble stands in front of the knuuuuuble sign. (Photo credit: Clydeorama)

Knuble’s family watches warm-ups from the Zamboni entrance.

Craig Laughlin rocks the Knuble pin on-air.

The pre-game festivities begin.

The Capitals video tribute to Mike Knuble.

Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin skate over to deliver the players’ gift.

A seadoo, which excites Knuble’s wife Megan and their daughter Anna and sons Cam and Cole.

NHL Senior Vice President Jim Gregory presents Knuble with the NHL’s gift.

Oooooo. Sparkly.

George McPhee awaits to present Knuble with a silver stick.

Then they pose.

The Knubles Knights and an entire row of Caps’ fans salute Knuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuble.

Knuble waves to the crowd. (Photo credit: Clydeorama)

Mike Knuble’s kids made daddy a special sign.

CSN’s Knuble montage before the start of the third period.