Photo credit: John Russell

On Friday, the first day of free agency, the Capitals surprised many as busiest team in the NHL. Dumping Semyon Varlamov to Colorado, they then signed five players, including three bound for Washington’s NHL roster. The biggest wild card of the bunch? Thirty-year old right wing Joel Ward, who was given a four year $12 million deal.

“It’s going to be fun to make a new batch of friends and join a new family, start bonding right away,” Ward said of joining the star-laden Caps. “Obviously you see them on the highlight reel every night.”

After scoring only 10 goals in the regular season — his worst output in three full seasons in the NHL — Ward broke out in the playoffs, tallying seven goals in 12 games for the Nashville Predators. Every loose puck in front of the net found him. And virtually everything he shot went in. For like the Caps, whose struggles in the playoffs are all too well known, this is certainly welcome news.

“I love playoff hockey and I think it’s such a fun time of year and anytime you know you’re going to make playoffs every year and be consistent at it and have a good shot to win the Stanley Cup it’s a good feeling and that’s one of the things I was looking forward to,” Ward told members of the media on a conference call Saturday. “I think everyone thrives on it and you want to try to hoist the Stanley Cup and that’s something I’m going to try to do and hopefully bring that to DC.”

A noted defensive stand-out, Ward was among the Preds’ leaders in blocked shots, hits and takeaways last season and the Ontario native hopes he can provide the Caps not only with points in the playoffs but some of that versatility.

“I just try to play at all different areas of the game — 5-on-5, 4-on-4, whatever the case may be,” he said. “Killing penalties, blocking shots or the power play. I just want to be on the ice and help my team win. You just got to be able to be on the ice in all situations and that’s what I kind of thrive on.”

Oh, and Ward even has his own History Will Be Made commercial.

Additional Reporting by Ian Oland.

By all indications, Matt Bradley will not be back with the Capitals next season.

According to Larry Kelly, Bradley’s agent, the 33 year-old winger never received an offer from Washington and is set to become an unrestricted free agent Friday, July 1, at 12 PM Eastern Time.

“They indicated a number of months ago that there would be an offer for him in eight to ten days and there’s been no offer and we’re not expecting one,” Kelly told RMNB. “I think Matt’s a very, very valuable hockey player and I think he’ll do fine in free agency.”

Bradley, who became a fan favorite in DC, has played the past six seasons for the Caps and registered 11 points including four goals in 61 games last year. The Stittsville, Ontario, Canada native has a total of 59 goals and 93 assists in in 677 career NHL games including playoffs. He was previously playing on a three-year contract that paid $1 million per season.

Lately, George McPhee hasn't gotten much credit for the 121 point team he's assembled. Is the criticism he's recieved justified? (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Photo above taken by Phil of Capitals Outsider

It must be hard owning a professional sports team. Every crackpot with an internet connection is either emailing you, posting articles about you, or just simply trashing you in 140 characters or less.

It’s probably harder still to be a General Manager. Talk about loneliness. You get little credit for drafting the superstar everyone knew would pan out, yet take tons of abuse for those trades/signings that just don’t make sense. You even get crap for the moves that you don’t make, even if you told everyone beforehand that you weren’t going to make them. Then some of your precious assets file arbitration and you don’t know what to expect. On the surface it seems that you were shrewd in holding off on the UFA frenzy, but until we see what the arbitration  rulings are and which, if any, of the deals you walk away from it’s too soon to tell.

It’s also hard being a fan – especially a true fan – in the internet age. Sure, the internet provides us comfort (misery loves company, eh?) after our beloved team flames out in the first round after an exciting regular season performance. It also allows us – perhaps too easily – to give our opinion on what happened. Whether that was the lack of scoring from the second line or the vacancy of a shut-down defenseman on the blueline. Either way, the accessibility to information, and even the players and executives themselves, sometime makes us feel like we are qualified to run the team we have loved for decades. And obviously, we are not.

That’s where hope comes in. And trust. Yes, some owners/GMs do deserve the benefit of the doubt. But it is hard to have hope that Tomas Fleischmann, who started 50% of the time in the offensive zone, had the second-best teammate ranking (CorsiQoT = 5.53) of the Caps centermen (the best, not suprisingly was Backstrom, 8.83) while playing against the second worst competition (CorsiQoc = -1.45) the Caps opponents had to offer a pivot could be an answer at 2nd line center. Even playing pretty cushy minutes, he still managed a NEGATIVE shot ratio (Corsi = -.72), meaning there were more shots directed at his OWN net when he was on the ice. In addition, ALL of the Caps pivots had a better goal differential when they were on the ice – except Flash, who was -1.10.

In fact, the only Caps that had a negative goal differential when they were on the ice:

Karl Alzner, -2.81
Tyler Sloan, -3.73
Chris Borque, -7.55
Jason Chimera, -2.03

Maybe Chimera gets a pass because Behind the Net doesn’t split Chimera’s Corsi numbers from his time in CBJ, but the rest of that list is either a rookie or players just not up to the skill level of the NHL.

Is Mathieu Perreault the answer? (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

I understand this isn’t a democracy, and the prevailing thought in the organization is that we  “don’t really have a lot of holes to fill and we’re pretty confident our young guys can do it anyway.” However, the odds are not on Mathieu Perreault’s side either. Out of the 688 skaters drafted in the 6th round from 1963-2002, each has averaged 93 games played with 16G/25A scored on average – for their entire careers. Even with a healthy 57.50% of starts in the offensive zone and playing against the worst competition of all Caps’ pivots (CorsiQoc = -2.39), he still managed to be a -2 with only 3 points in his last 13 games with the big club. Not exactly the second-line center needed for a legitimate Cup run. I will still hope it works out, even though hope is not a strategy.

I mean, Mike Green was hurt last postseason and we all hoped he would make up for his lackluster performance in the first round against Montreal, only to be held without a goal.

We hoped Alex Semin’s 40-goal scoring ability would provide a much needed spark on the second line, only to also be held goalless.

We hoped the regular season success of Bruce Boudreau’s system – which wins 70% of its games – would carry over into the post season. Yet, it is now a woeful 13-15 in the playoffs.

We hoped that when George McPhee and Ted Leonsis said “[d]on’t expect us to go crazy in free agency“, it meant the Caps would get at least one impact player like a second line center or shut down defenseman, but instead it was Dany Sabourin.

We hope that arbitration doesn’t jack up the price so much on Fleischmann that a signing like Matthew Lombardi’s seems reasonable for a true center for the second line.

I know, I know: July has just started and there is still plenty of time. There are still plenty of “bargains” available. Maybe we could even improve via a trade! However, one of the benefits of the UFA market is that you get to keep your young talent in place. I have a hard time seeing the Caps making a trade using a part of their “great pipeline of home grown talent,” unless it is Alexander Semin. Not sure what the going rate is for 40 goal scoring wingers with a $6 mil cap hit who go AWOL during the playoffs, but I guess we’re going to find out.

So we will continue to wait and we most certainly will continue to hope that there is still time to find that missing piece to the puzzle, despite most of the top tier, impact free agents have already signed with other clubs.

Until then, hope is our strategy.