Filip Forsberg spoke to Swedish paper Expressen in the wake of his trade from the Capitals to the Nashville Predators. In an article by Gunnar Nordström and Adam Eriksson, Forsberg describes his reaction:

“It happened suddenly, I didn’t know anything about it until I read it. I spoke to my agent just now and he said it really went quickly, but that’s what happens in this world. All I can do is accept it.”

Forsberg said that he had not yet heard from Washington or Nashville as of Wednesday afternoon, telling Expressen, “I’ve only spoken to friends so far, so I don’t know anything.”

Forsberg should wrap up his season this week. Before trading him away, McPhee expressed his interest in bringing Forsberg to the AHL as soon as possible. Those plans are now in flux according to Forsberg: ”I don’t know about that either. I’ll answer when I know more.”

“We haven’t heard from Nashville yet, so I can’t say [whether or not they want him over after Friday],” said Forsberg’s agent, Claes Elefalk at CAA Sports. Elefalk was enthusiastic about the trade, saying, ”It shows Filip’s value on the market. Nashville are giving up their best offensive player over the past few years and an AHL talent.”

Translation by Jake Ware

Photo credit: Michael Miller

[Ed. note: In the run-up to the trade deadline, RMNB will be publishing trade stories-- including non-Caps news.]

According to ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun, Hal Gill has been traded from the Montreal Canadiens to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Blake Geoffrion, Robert Slaney, and a 2012 2nd round pick.

Hal Gill has a cap hit of $2,250,000 and will be expected to provide veteran defense for a Nashville team that may be in danger of losing either one or both of their star defensive pairing of Shea Weber and Ryan Suter over the next few months. Blake Geoffrion has a cap hit of $1,062,500 and has yet to score in 22 games with the Predators this season, though he did contribute 6 goals in 20 games last season and will likely be expected to chip in some offense on a Montreal squad that often struggles with this. Slaney is a 23-year-old left wing with no pro experience thus far.

Hal Gill isn’t especially known for his speed or mobility — look for terms like “parking meter” and “pylon” on his bingo card — but he’s an excellent penalty killer and a very good defensive mentor. Nashville’s scary defense just got a little bit scarier.

I score? I really score? (Photo credit: Patrick McDermott)

Coming into Tuesday’s game against the Predators, the Caps had been inefficient offensively, managing to score only one goal in each of their last three games. Would being confronted with two of the best defensemen in the league — Shea Weber and Ryan Suter — and a team that has played in 10-straight one goal games (7-3-0) somehow help their cause? Also, would an emotional pre-game ceremony honoring one of their team leaders, give the Caps a lift?

You bet your ass it did.

After the Capitals started the game off with four dominant shifts in the Predators zone, Alex Ovechkin — beautifully set-up by Karl Alzner — scored on a breakaway at 7:47 of the first. Later in the period, Nicklas Backstrom wrapped home goal number two of the night, his twelfth of the year. After a scoreless second period, Sergei Kostitsyn ruined Neuvy’s shutout bid with a twisted wrister from just outside the slot. Then Alex Semin decided he felt like scoring. Troy Brouwer, too! Caps beat Preds 4-1.

• At 7:14pm, Mike Knuble officially became the 269th player in NHL history to play in 1,000 career games. For a guy who didn’t really find his niche in the NHL until age 30, Knuble’s achievement is a true testament to his consistency, hard work, and character. What’s more interesting is that Kanoobs is the sixth player to achieve the milestone while playing with the Capitals. That list includes his current coach Dale Hunter, Adam Oates, Phil Housley, Calle Johansson, and Andrew Cassels. In honor of his achievement, we’ve dedicated an entire post to Knuble’s special night. You can check it out here.
• Inexplicably, Knuble received well under 1,000 seconds of playing time tonight from Coach Hunter. He finished the night with 10:07 TOI, 2:47 of it shorthanded, his lowest of the year by far. At least, they gave him the hard hat.
• Alex Ovechkin set the tone tonight, throwing three huge hits in his first two shifts. His goal: classic Ovechkin. The burst of speed that gave him the breakaway: even classic-er Ovechkin. All in all, Ovi rifled seven shots on net, was a threat every time he was on the ice, and I would say had his best game since Hunter took over.
• For 14 minutes, Alex Semin was invisible. And when he wasn’t invisible, he had an anti-midas touch. He took a first period boarding penalty, his 19th of the year. He decided to try a pretty, pretty pass instead of shooting on a 2-on-1 break in the second period and missed out on a surefire goal. His awful turnover in the third period, led directly to Kositisyn’s tally. But then, with a flick of a wrist, Semin showed his otherworldly talent and made me forget all abou… NO. I’m not falling for it…

• Okay, that was sick.
• This is kinda off point, but how great did it feel to watch the Caps score 1+ goals tonight? It was like I was watching my first ever hockey game again. I guess that goes to show you how low the lows have been this season.
• Jeff Halpern had a down night in the face-off dot, only winning 14 of 19.
• Dennis Wideman skated a game-high 28:44 and blocked four shots, including one off his own turnover in the second period. His accurate and hard slapshot from the point, led to Brouwer’s deflection goal on the brouwer play, putting the Caps ahead for good in the third.
• You would think Michal Neuvirth earned his fourth straight start Friday, with his strong play tonight. Neuvy stopped 20 shots and made the big saves when the Caps needed them. That includes that awful stretch between the first and second periods where the Caps only managed one shot on net.
• Roman Harmlik notched his second point as a Capital and his first since October 20th. He assisted on Backstrom’s wraparound.
• The Capitals finally beat an American team! Is this real?
• Special teams, man.

Joe B's hideous suit of the night

When the Capitals’ young guns bring their “A” game, this team is impossible to stop. “[Ovechkin] came out hitting and scoring and passing the puck,” Hunter exclaimed after the game. “He was a complete player tonight.” Sure was.

The Capitals, who improved to 5-5 under Dale, will now travel to New Jersey to face the Devils for the third time on Friday — an opponent they likely must pass if they are to qualify for the playoffs — before getting a two day break for Christmas.

So that gives you plenty of time to SEND US YOUR CAPS CHRISTMAS CARDS!

Photo credit: Clydeorama

“Kanooblian” by Mark Burrier. See Rare Words for more of Mark’s art.

Mike Knuble will play his 1000th NHL game on Tuesday night. And I get to write the pregamer! Woohoo!

There’s a team. They’re from Nashville. That’s where Steve Earle got busted for dope the first 40 times, and it’s where my girlfriend Hayley Williams lives right now. The Predators are 17-11-4. Their new guitar pick logo is awesome. They beat the Caps 3-1 last month, and their home jerseys harshed my rods and cones. Faith Hill hates Carrie Underwood. The Preds are just barely inside the playoff picture right now. D-man Shea Weber is insanely good (24 points, plus-15) and will get even better. But enough about them, let’s talk Kanooble!

KANOOBS FACTS

The Face

• Mike was born on the fourth of July in the American territory of Toronto, Ontario.
• Mike Knuble has played for 5 NHL teams, of which only 4 suck vociferously.
• Mike’s surname is pronounced ki-noo-bəl and it translates roughly as “Sorry, penguin.”
• Mike has scored 271 goals from a cumulative shot distance of 169 feet.
• Mike has averaged over 15 minutes a game since 2002, when he was grinding in Boston.
• Mike won the Cup with Detroit in ’97 with Yzerman, Shanahan, and all those Russian dudes.
• Mike has scored 31 goals against the Pittsburgh Penguins in just 60 some games.
• Mike is in the midst of one of his worst seasons since… well… Y2k. He’s rocking a minus-7 right now.
• Mike dishes awesome quotes when the team is struggling: “We look all like a bunch of clowns when we don’t [commit].”
• Mike Knuble plays hockey on the fourth line of the Washington Capitals.

Your boy Mike Vogel tells me that Knuble will be just the 267th NHL dude to have played in 1000 games. (By the way, you really need to read Vogel’s article on Knuble. Go ahead; I’ll wait.) He’s been dressing for games since 1997, when people were actually listening to ska music. He didn’t find his stride until his 30s, but he’s been producing consistently since then. He’s been with the Capitals since 2009, when he looked at first glance like a poor substitute for Viktor Kozlov until we realized how stupid that was. That season– at the age of 37– Knuble put up 29 goals, mostly while working with Alex Ovechkin and Nick Backstrom.

Mike Knuble celebrates with linemates Backstrom and Oveckin after scoring in the Winter Classic.

Two seasons later, almost halfway into a one-year, $2 million contract, Mike Knuble is a fourth liner. Since November 23, Knuble has broken the 15-minute threshold just once– against his arch-nemeses in Penguins uniforms. It’s not surprising his output has stalled given that he’s missing 5 or 6 shifts per game and isn’t sharing the ice with a guy who used to be the most creative player in the league. He’s doing well in his grinder role, going only minus-3 in that period.

We’ve been unhappy about how Knuble has been used under late-era Boudreau and Dale Hunter. We’re not alone.  Mike Knuble is capable not just of great things, but of the very things the Capitals need right now: particularly, grit. Mike Knuble scoars goals like Waffle House hash browns; greasy. He scores at the end of cycles, he works hard in corners, he funnels the puck to the net with deliberation.

Shouldn’t he be one of Hunter’s favorites? Shouldn’t he be getting more ice time?

I believe that Knuble has great hockey ahead of him. He’s at 999 games right now. There are 51 left in this season. There’s a postseason looming after that. I’d like to see him in Caps red for another 82. It’s his sunset; let him ride off in his own damn way.

Usually I’d close with “crash the net”, which is awfully kanooblian. But instead I’m gonna quote the man himself:

“This is no farewell song.”

(Photo credit: John Russell)

The Washington Capitals began their circuit of North America with a stop in Nashville with their Predators. With Mike Green still ailing and a shooting drought in their immediate past, the Caps had something to prove.

After more than 55 minutes of play, Troy Brouwer finally beat Pekka Rinne using a defender for a screen. Like 0.874325 seconds later, Shea Weber fed Martin Erat east-west to tie it back up. With 24 seconds left, Colin Wilson beat a stickless John Erskine and a sucked-out Vokoun to make it 2-1. Backstrom lost a faceoff to give Weber an empty netter 5 seconds later. Preds beat Caps 3-1.

• Goalie duels are like chess matches: boring to some, exhilarating to others.  The one demographic that universally loves these games are the goalies themselves, who salivate at the thought of a shut out. After 55 perfect minutes, in a window of 30 seconds, Rinne and Vokoun both had their hopes dashed.
• Alex Semin committed his 12th minor of the year in the second period. He’s got Zenon Konopka (66 PIMs) in his sights. On the good side of the ledger, Sasha was a prolific sticksmith, shooting 4 on net with another 4 blocked. He even looked good on defense, covering for a lagging John Erskine in one situation and generally keeping Nashville from firing. But is that enough to quell the swelling mob? I’m not sure, but we’re stocking up on pitchforks just in case.
• Pekka Rinne was making Jedi saves all night. Two beauts– one from Laich and another from Johansson– were rejected purely using sense of smell and echolocation. Rinne finished with 39 saves overall.
• The Capitals weren’t ready to play in the first period, issuing precious few shots to the aforementioned Rinne and allowing extended occupations in their own zone from the teeming Preds crew. For a while it looked like the Caps were gonna give a repeat performance of last week, but then Nashville’s superstar D-men Shea Weber and Ryan Suter took overlapping penalties. After that, the Caps finally asserted their forward presence– ultimately coming out on top in shots 40 to 31 (if not possession overall).
• According to Joe Beninati, Alex Ovechkin successfully lobbied Boudreau to get on point for the power play. All those soured zone entries and flubbed passing sequences don’t seem to be getting through to Ovi’s head. It appears that Alex still believes he will redeem himself by skating 80 feet, dangling and curling and dragging through three players, and scoring on an epic slapshot. Besides being insane, that also seems contrary to Boudreau’s basics-first, possession-based gameplan.
• Sorry to belabor the point, but Alex Ovechkin really does have a renaissance waiting for him. He’s a peerless shooter with the smarts to find the right spots. Plus, he’s flanked by capable puck carriers. To SCOAR MOAR GOALS, all he has to do is let the other guys set him up.
• Brooks Laich fired 7 shots on goal all by his pretty little self. The whole team should have been playing like that.
• Ian astutely observes that Barry Trotz keeps looking eviler in his advancing years. Doesn’t matter– guy gets a hood pass for life after coaching the Skipjacks.
• Is Cody Eakin a defensive liability? Even though he doesn’t take faceoffs, he was on ice for no defensive zone faceoffs. That’s all fine and dandy, but which goal-producing Caps sat out so that Eakin could get his cozy zone starts?

Joe B suit of the night

The Caps led this game for  28 seconds, but that’s not the story. The story is the slow start, the underperforming superstars, and the Tim McGraw song Nashville plays after goals. The Caps had two points in the palm of their hand, but they let it go. Now those two points are with another team, and the Caps are sad. Like a country song. Oh man, we gotta get the hell out of Nashville before George Strait starts narrating this.

From here the Caps are off to the Dirty ‘Peg, where Eric Fehr is expected to play [UPDATE: but he ain't]. See you Thursday.

Steckelbomb by Ian Oland.

Doug Johnson of Puck Buddys sells his sword to Russian Machine. @PuckBuddys wants your tweet.

The Pre Game: “And here’s my theory of punctuation. At the end of every sentence there should be a tiny clock that shows you how long it took you to write that sentence.” – Laurie Anderson.

Watching Capitals games is becoming an existential exercise, based on the obscene, neutered device we call the clock. As in: Caps score first by the clock: we lose. Caps trail in the second by the clock: we win. Watch the game, watch the clock; we score first, we lose last.

Call me crazy. Call me late for dinner, but consarnit, the Caps are just not behaving by the clock. Headline from Saturday: Caps Lose, Broadside of Barn Safe! What went wrong? Coach Juggles’ shoot-out changes? The Caps total lacking D?  #BadSasha? #EvilSasha? #HailSatanSasha?

Here’s the thing: Caps, every time you take a lead and blow it, you smoke a tiny bit of our time. Think about that: every game you go forward at the first, only to surrender… you surrender a few minutes of our lives.  The clock is ticking. What will you do with it?

The Puck Drop

Blurf, so here we have to smile and pretend we’re all happy to be in Nashville, America’s mildewed trashcan. Really? You ever look around you while you’re there? Is it Nashville, or Knoxville (home to Wigsphere)? Stickville, Twigville or Branchville? Really Mr. Gore, don’t even try it on me; I’ve toured around Tennessee and found it to be exactly as it seems: stones, swine, and mines. And the occasional Democrat.

So before we start on Smashville, here comes this dump from the NYPost, alleging that the Capitals aren’t as forthcoming on merch as the players union would have. Seriously: this is something GMGM needs to address (or remedy on QVC).

What Makes Them Hot

#1: First line: Colin Wilson (3G-6A-9P), Craig Smith (7G-7A-14P), and Patric Hornqvist (7G-4A-11P). Remember those names. Between them, these three have been steering the Preds to all the victories they can eke out. They’re almost too good for us to note…except for the dreamy Craig Smith.

Mike Fisher

#2: Not line: Line 2 with Sergei Kostitstyn (3G-5A-8P), Mike Fisher (2G-2A-Underwood), and Someone has all but vanished (someone whistlin’ too much country music?) leaving the third line with little more than Tootoo. NoNoo, Jordin Tootoo (0G-3A-3P). As in: fill in your own lame joke.

#3: Last line.  Pekka Rinne (2.28 GAA), long mocked in the NHL, is proving his worth and then some. At .929%, we would bet with this Finn anytime.

What Makes Them Not

Jordin Tootoo

#1: Us: Caps, here you are. You know you’re a better team than the Preds. You know you can outskate just about anyone, including Smith. You know you want vengeance after the Devils. You are pumped. You are ready. Seriously: stop looking at the clock and just win. Close the damn deal.

#2: Them: The Preds are averaging 25.8 shots per game, the mark of a middling team, but they’re at 33.1 shots against, more than all teams but the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers. Neither of which we choose to acknowledge.

#3 :It Coach Boudreau, you don’t seem to be channeling into your spirit wingding that grants you victory lately. You’re moving, juggling, shifting…what are you doing? Seriously: grip yourself, recognize who you have, and stop getting in your way and theirs. Short bench, long bench, bag skates, optional skates, accountability, or Antiestablishmentarianism – whatevs, you have world-class hockey players. Make it work.

The OT

Sergei Kostitsyn

We’re not expecting great things in this game. Cut our legs and serve ‘em up soup! Serious, we have three road games ahead, and we anticipate spotty play with Greenie out, the Hammer hurting, and Boudreau coming back from Hershey empty-handed.

A loss against the Predators wouldn’t surprise us; the first road game is rarely a win, but more a learn. The slow pace of the October schedule has given way to a very busy November. It seems like we have games almost every other day through Thanksgiving. What time is it? It’s sack grab o’clock.

Existential Time Out

As Kierkegaard said, this world can only be understood if lived backward. And to demonstrate that, look for Peter’s game recap in a mere moments after the final horn. It’s probably already written.

Click here to see the full photo. (Photo credit: Bruce Bennett)

Tuesday’s Baltimore Hockey Classic may have been dampened — see what we did there? — by puddles, poor ice conditions, and a Predators win, but there was one high point. Midway through the second period, Alex Ovechkin skated down the ice before Preds’ defenseman Ryan Ellis tried to separate Ovi from the puck at the half wall. Ellis lost. Apparently, really bad.

Unfortunately, tonight’s game wasn’t televised so no one away from the arena saw the hit. Until now.

Via youtube user popsicles43, here’s a front row seat to Ovi’s massive bodycheck!

Wow.

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.

Brooks Laich celebrates his OTGWG. (Photo Credit: Joe Howell)

With Tom Poti and Mike Green out due to injury, we all knew that the Caps’ defense was going to be a little bit suspect tonight. But really, the main issue for the visiting team ended up being their collective effort. Case in point was the opening face-off where Tomas Fleischmann lost the draw cleanly to Cal O’Reilly. He then turned and watched helplessly as Steve Sullivan raced past his four other unprepared teammates and went in alone on Michal Neuvirth.

But for Neuvy, it was no big deal. He stone-walled Sullivan 8 seconds in. He stone-walled five Predator powerplays, including 29 seconds of a 5 on 3. And he made 37 saves in total to collect his fourth straight win.

Thanks to ten minutes of actual hard-work in the third period and two minutes of pure domination in the extra session, the Capitals leave Bridgestone Area with a huge 3-2 character victory.

Onto the bullets!

• Nashville’s fans really suck. Sorry, there’s no other way to put it. I’m not Peter and I don’t have a thesaurus. Watching tonight’s game was so booooorrring, and only half of it was because Al Koken did the play-by-play. In the first fifteen minutes of the first period, I didn’t count a single chant or cheer. The only thing I heard was muffled conversation and train whistles (don’t get me started on that). This isn’t a book club people, this is a hockey game.
• Many of the statistics tonight were flat-out horrifying: John Erskine led all Caps with 8:14 of ice time in the first period, Jordin Tootoo had more shots on goal (5) than Alex Ovechkin (3), and Brian Fahey spent 1:32 on the powerplay. But a win’s a win, right?
• Speaking of Fahey, in his NHL Debut, he finished the night -2, the worst on the team. He still deserves our congratulations however, for not looking that out of place.
• In substitution of Mike Green on the powerplay, John Carlson was both awesome and reckless. At times, he looked like a natural, a Green Life clone. At others, it looked like he was expecting Karl Alzner to swoop in and save the day when he pinched in deep. Unfortunately for Captain America, his defensive buddy was Alex Ovechkin. And that guy’s not too concerned for defense on the power play. The Predators ending up having several high-quality scoring chances during the Capitals man advantages including a breakaway in the second period. Worse yet, Carlson was credited with 4 giveaways on the night. No other Capital had more than 1.
• Tomas Fleischmann went 1 for 12 in the face off dot tonight. Ugh. How about we just give him a free pass for slamming home the Capitals second goal of the night when things still looked grim?
• JP says that through five games, Jeff Schultz leads he #Caps in ice time and has yet to be on for a single goal against. That’s an incredible stat.
• Also, incredible: the Capitals have killed off all 21 powerplays that they’ve faced this year. What’s the difference? Could it be because Alex Semin is now a PK regular? No. But a man can dream!
• Lil’ Mikey Newbear reminds me of Nikolai Khabibulin. Much like the Bulin’ Wall, Neuvy sags deep in the crease and is very, very strong when challenged. Neuvy basically stole the win tonight. He never got flustered at any point – even after he took a slapshot to the mask in the late stages of the second period.
• I’m sure Nicklas Backstrom won’t be suspended for his dirty hit on Marcel Goc, but boy was that dangerous and out of character. Goc left the game with an upper-body injury and did not return. Katie Carrera reports that Barry Trotz was fuming when he met with reporters after the game. And I don’t blame him one bit. If that was one of our guys, I’d be p#$$ed off too.
• Finally, what drew that 4-on-3 powerplay in Overtime? Alex Ovechkin going ONE ON THREE in the offensive zone. Brooks Laich gets credit for deflecting the Russian Machine’s point shot home on the GWG, but once again, the Great 8 was money when it mattered.

Waiting in the wings this upcoming week will be the Bruins, whom the Caps have a home-and-home with Tuesday and Thursday. Hopefully by then, our heroes will be all healed up and ready to go. If we take anything from tonight’s game it’s that the Caps are talented enough to coast for two periods and win in the third period, much like last year. And that’s really a bad lesson to learn.

The Caps need to be consistent. To take weaker, more-inferior teams and punish them for even getting on the same ice as them. I know the Predators were 3-0 coming into tonight’s game, and the Caps were missing some of their studs. But they are a better team. Play like it!

Photo by Nick Wass/AP

Well, it’s a good thing we got this out of the way. Every hockey team has a measure of bad hockey games in them, so we should be relieved that the Caps disappointing performance came before anyone started keeping track.

After a sterling performance in net by Michal Neuvirth for thirty minutes, Dany Sabourin‘s relief effort fell woefully short. The first shot he faced, courtesy of Nashville’s Cal O’Reilly, got past him. Two of the twelve shots he faced in the third, both from Joel Ward, put the game well out of reach for the home team.

Not that the home team was very determined to win anyway. The best player on the Caps’ offense was Eric Fehr, who sported six shots on goal. Eric traditionally occupies the third line of the Caps offense, but he could headline the top for any of a dozen other NHL teams. Like the Predators, for example.

Mathieu Perreault, filling in for Nicklas Backstrom (14 stitches after blocking a shot against Columbus), looked strong in the first period. Crossing into Predator territory, he would protect the puck like a doting mother hen. But the physicality of the Nashville corps caught up with the shrimpy center, and he faltered in the back half of the game.

Mike Green and Jason Chimera were each sent hobbling to the locker room during separate errant-puck incidents, but neither sustained any real injuries.

What else? Alex Semin had a stick penalty, D.J. King surpassed 10 minutes of ice-time and even looked intimidating on the forecheck, and Alex Ovechkin and Shea Weber spent the day ramming shoulders into one another like a pair of grumpy buffaloes in fast-forward.

We know this team isn’t the real Capitals, so the pain of today’s loss is blunted a bit. Dany Sabourin won’t be the Caps man in the net, and Brian Fahey probably won’t be in a position to commit a double minor in a Caps jersey. The roster will be concretized in the next few weeks, and team must then find its chemistry. Today is an aberration, a curiosity with only dubious value as a hockey game. Think of it as a conversation piece, upon which we might frame these questions:

1. What is the nature of Semyon Varlamov’s injury?
2. Will Tomas Fleischmann be the second-line center?
3. Will Alex Semin be a fixture on the penalty-kill unit?
4. Will Karl Alzner and John Carlson be paired together on defense?  If so, can we come up with a clever portmanteau?
5. Are there any shake-ups to the Ovechkin-Backstrom-Knuble line?
6. What music will be on Brian Fahey’s and Dany Sabourin’s iPods on the bus trip back to Hershey?

That’s it for the preseason. Next time we talk, Joe Beninati will probably be wearing a lime-green zoot suit. Hockey’s back, everybody!