Photo credit: Harry How

The Washington Capitals have dealt Cody Eakin and their second round pick (54th overall) to the Dallas Stars for high-scoring center Mike Ribeiro. Ribeiro is 32-years-old, has a cap hit of $5 million, and is in the last year of his five-year contract.

It’s another shrewd deal by General Manager George McPhee, who adds a player who can fill one of the Capitals most glaring needs: second-line center, and for not an overwhelming price. If you recall, Buffalo’s Paul Gaustad fetched a first round pick from Nashville at the trade deadline and is nothing more than a third-line center.

The Hockey News describes the former Star as a player with patience and soft hands who also plays with a bit of a snarl. They also note his skill in the shootout — Ribeiro is 21 for 55 in his career.

Ribeiro scored 18 goals last year, and has scored 18 or more goals for the past five seasons. Since the 2003 season, Ribeiro has averaged 65 points per season, with a high of 83 in 2007.

Cody Eakin, who had 4 goals and 8 points in 30 games with Washington, had few flashes of brilliance during his first professional season, and was expendable with Nicklas Backstrom anchoring the first line, Brooks Laich entrenched as the third-line center, and Marcus Johansson still developing.

Eakin is currently out in Las Vegas for a road trip and just recently tweeted out the below picture. We hope he takes the news well. Farwell, dear ginger.

(Photo credit: Mitchell Layton)

The Washington Capitals had the opportunity to prove national dominance against the best-in-the-west Dallas Stars. That didn’t happen.

Michael Ryder took a second chance, banked it off one or two Caps top-liners and past an unsuspecting Michal Neuvirth. On the power play, Nick Backstrom gave a blind feed to Alex Semin, who fired hard from 15 feet out. Neuvirth’s teammates abandoned him to another Michael Ryder goal. Then came John Carlson, who fired an ICBM over Lehtonen’s pads after the faceoff. Adam Burish deked Backstrom and Neuvy to give Dallas the edge early in the third. Hotshot Jamie Benn made it a two-goal lead on the power play. And Eric Nystrom netted off a nice rebound to make it a three-spot. Stars beat Caps 5-2.

• Jamie Benn (2 assists, 1 goal) is a marquee player. The best skater on either end of the rink, Benn seemed to be on every shift. He is as responsible for Michael Ryder‘s big night (2 goals) as Ryder is. And how young is the guy? He was born the same year that the ABC network debuted its TGIF lineup.
• How do you like your Sasha? Alex Semin had a stick penalty in the first period, but he followed it up with a highlight-reel goal (below). But then followed THAT up with another stick penalty (badly timed and in the offensive zone). So we’re gonna file Tuesday under #BadSasha and doff our caps to the team’s undisputed PIM leader. Accountability, anyone?

• Congratulations to Big John Erskine on his 400th NHL game. Ersk celebrated with a couple big shots on goal and a boarding hit on Trevor Daley. The party line is that he should expect a call from the NHL’s top cop, Brendan Shanahan, but I doubt it. The collision was to the head, but Daley began falling right before the collision.
• The Capitals ran this video before the game, sending up the opening credits to the old TV show Dallas. Not enough Patrick Duffy for my taste, but still very nice.
• Matt Hendricks and Jake Dowell fought, but who honestly cared at that point? No clear winner, and the Caps were already losers.
• The singular bright point of the game was the Capitals faceoff skill. Jeff Halpern won 7 of 10, Matt Hendricks won 6 of 7.

Joe B suit of the night

This version of the Washington Capitals is an unfamiliar one. Reckless with penalties and careless on defense, these guys are bad enough to lose to any team in the league. As Bruce Boudreau pointed out during the first period intermission, the zone coverage was abysmal. John Carlson, usually a defensive whiz, was on ice for a whopping four goals against. Roman Hamrlik, who is ostensibly a level-headed puck mover, neither moved pucks or even his legs. The offense was awful too, squandering every man advantage save the first one.

Yeah, this hockey team was unspeakably bad. They better not show up on Friday for that date with the Devils.

# # #

Please indulge me for a moment. On Tuesday morning we lost Sergeant Stephen Hassett, 27-year veteran of the Maryland State Police. For five years, my uncle Steve fought neuroendocrine carcinoma with steely resolve. Even after I grew up he seemed like a giant to me. I always thought he had a Henry Rollins vibe about him: serious, thoughtful, and caring.

A husband and father, a son and brother, Steve will be missed by all who knew him.

R.I.P. Sgt. Stephen Hassett

Photo credit: John McDonnell

Five years ago to the day, Jeff Halpern signed the first big-time contract of his career, a four-year, $8 million pact with the Dallas Stars. The contract took Halpern, who had just completed the most prolific two year stretch of his career (90 points in 149 games), away from his hometown team, and left Washington without a captain.

When Mike Luit, Halpern’s agent, addressed the signing with the Washington Post’s Tarik El-Bashir, he said, “It took Jeff a very long time to come to this decision. He said to me, ‘No matter which way I go, when I sign a contract, I’m going to feel sick.’”

After spending the first six years of his NHL career with the Capitals, Jeff saw himself turn into something like a hockey vagabond, playing for four different teams in those five years.

“It was definitely tough leaving the comforts of playing in DC, in front of everyone here,” Halpern said today in front of a large gathering of media at Kettler Capitals IcePlex. “At the time – taking everything into consideration – it was a good decision for me.”

In hindsight, however, leaving Washington was detrimental. After averaging 36 points a year and topping the 40-point mark three times in his first six seasons with the Capitals, Halpern saw his production dip precipitously, crossing the 30-point plateau only once since leaving DC.

The former Little Capital was also a part of two deadline deals during that stretch. First, he was involved in a five-player trade with Tampa Bay that saw Brad Richards land in Dallas. Then after spending 126 games with the Lightning, GM Brian Lawton swapped the Potomac, Marlyand, native to the Los Angeles Kings for Teddy Purcell and a third round draft pick.

In 2010-11, Halpern signed a one-year contract with the Montreal Canadiens and notched 26 points in 72 games. After battling a multitude of lower body injuries throughout the year, Jeff saw his season end in the first round of the playoffs as the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins eliminated the Habs in Game 7. He also absorbed a questionable hit to the head from Andrew Ference.

Fortunately, George McPhee moved quickly on Jeff during the first day of free agency. The signing, McPhee’s first transaction during a very busy day, added veteran leadership and grit to an already captivating lineup. With Boyd Gordon in line for a raise and the Capitals needing a solid, fourth line center to replace him, Halpern was a natural fit.

“Honestly, I said the first team that would call, I’d jump on,” the thirty-five year old Halpern explained. “I’ve always hoped to come back to Washington, and the fact that they called, I was ecstatic. It’s a place I have great memories playing. I jumped on the opportunity to come back.”

The one-year deal worth $825,000 nets Halpern a $225k raise over last year and also gives the Princeton grad a chance to win the first playoff series of his career. Maybe even a championship.

“This team right off the bat is a Stanley Cup contender just by writing the line-up on a piece of paper. And watching them over the years, it’s a hard team to play against.”

So how will the former Capitals captain blend in with new Capitals Kapitan Alex Ovechkin? Some encouraging words he once gave Tampa’s most talented young gun might shed some light:

“As far as Ovi, I can’t imagine a better leader,” Halpern said. “I told a story to Steven Stamkos. When I left Tampa, I saw the same things out of him that I saw in Ovi when I left here. And that was being a guy who was basically carrying a team on his back.”

Jeff Halpern’s return to the Capitals is not a reunion or even coming full circle; it’s a new chapter in a storied career– one that we’re privileged in DC to witness.

Mike Ribeiro punishes the Caps for one of their many penalties. (Photo credit: Tony Gutierrez)

Hendricks spars with GWG-er Brandon Segal. (Photo credit: Tony Gutierrez)

The Washington Capitals have just played their second game in as many days. Facing the surging, workman-like Dallas Stars, the Caps debuted their newly acquired defender Scott Hannan. But the Stars saw the Caps coming.

Mike Ribeiro connected on the fourth of five Dallas powerplays. The Caps did not respond until the third period, when Mike Knuble one-timed the puck from the weak side off a great pass from Mike Green. Only twenty seconds later, Brandon Segal undid Knuble’s work and reset the Stars’ lead. In the final ten seconds, John Carlson scored the GTG goal only to be waved off for interference against a crease-crowding Alex Ovechkin. Well done, officials. You have bested our Caps again. Stars beat Caps 2-1.

Bullpuckey bullets.

• Let’s get right to it. John Carlson’s un-goal should not have been waved off. Stephane Robidas Karlis Skrastins skated into (admittedly excellent) goalie Andrew Raycroft, but “reckless” Alex Ovechkin took the blame for it. After missing a couple penalty whistles earlier (including a teachable example of slashing against Karl Alzner), the officials made their final judgement hurt the worst. I don’t know if I expect to hear from Toronto, or if I demand it. Either way, I’ll be let down.

• In the final ticks of the first period, Adam Burish bullrushed Marcus Johansson, who went down in a heap. Like a reflex, Alex Ovechkin piled on Burish as if to firmly say, “nyet”. Good captaining, sir.
• Scott Hannan got a gentle introduction to the team. He had zero starts in the defensive zone despite having around 57% of his starts there in recent years. He did however clock 4:50 of PK time with zero scoring chances against. But then again, it was his interference penalty that lead to the Stars’ first goal.
• Similarly excellent while shorthanded, John Carlson (3:51 SH TOI) and Hot Karl Alzner (2:29 SH TOI) allowed no scoring chances against while creating two for their team. Well done, [stupid nickname here].
• American Airlines Center plays Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll, Part Two” after goals. What is it about tuneless glam rock by a despicable pederast that is so synonymous with hockey?
• More on American Airlines Center: the awkward, claustrophobic camera angles were mandated I suppose by the NBA-friendly setup for the Mavericks. On the plus side, CSNDC got some great b-roll of empty seats to use in a pinch.
• Thank god for Mike Knuble and that PPG. With Caps fans in such a fragile mental state of late, I’d worry that a shutout would send us running naked in the streets smearing our bare chests with Skippy peanut butter while screaming that inane “Rock the Red” song from the playoffs last year until the inevitable tazer blast from the po-po puts us down. What were we talking about again?
• Finally, while the shot totals made this look like a fluke (38-21 in the Caps advantage), the scoring chances were much tighter.  Dallas lead the Caps 13-12 in scoring chances.

This game kind of sucked anyway. The Stars are like the Foot Clan of hockey teams: damn near anonymous and operating on herd mentality. Cluttering up in two’s and three’s around Alex Ovechkin might be a good way to stop the man from scoring, but it kind of puts a damper on the night’s entertainment. Past that, the Texan bastards got the jump on the Caps in a way we don’t often see– lots of frustrating trap defense and prostrating pratfalls.

Usually, we put Joe B’s suit of the night in the bottom corner, but tonight is different. Former Caps flower child Alan May joined Beninati and Craig Laughlin in the box tonight to provide extra analysis. It was excellent. To commemorate the event, here’s a snap of Alan, Joe, and two-or-three versions of Locker’s demonic face.

Catch you on Saturday, back in friendly, D.C., where the Capitals will face their arch rivals, the NHL officiating crew.

Additional reporting by Neil Greenberg.