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Photo credit: Elsa
A few days ago in a post entitled “How to Solve Tim Thomas in the Playoffs,” I pointed out that the Capitals have had a tough time scoring on Tim Thomas in the regular season. When they did score in regulation, there was an obvious pattern:
Photo credit: Bruce Bennett
Concussions have become the topic du jour around the NHL in the last few years, and for very good reason. Nearly a hundred cases of head trauma have been recorded just this season, and with Caps star Nicklas Backstrom missing forty games with concussion the issue has now hit DC fans closer to home. Despite his highly physical style of play, Alex Ovechkin has managed to avoid concussion so far in his career. Still, he hasn’t been ignoring the epidemic, and for several months Ovechkin has been testing Bauer’s new trauma-preventative RE-AKT helmet. It’s now being worn by several other Bauer-sponsored NHL stars, but Ovechkin was the first to agree to test the RE-AKT — even before Backstrom’s incident with Rene Bourque.
We spoke to C.J. Ficek, Bauer’s Product Manager for Helmets to find out more about the helmet and Ovi’s decision to wear it.
Photo credit: Mitchell Layton
Heading into Saturday’s game against Montreal, Caps fans were excited. For the first time in 3 months, Nicklas Backstrom — Washington’s premiere first-line center — would play in an NHL game. With a handful of contests left and their grip on a playoff spot tenuous, this was literally the best news ever.
Like usual, our readers were a bit creative/bizarre/I’m-not-even-sure-what in expressing their joy for Backy’s return. So weird, in fact, we documented it below. Let’s review!
Photo credit: The Washington Post
On January 3rd, the Capitals beat the Calgary Flames 3-1, but suffered a huge loss, losing team MVP Nicklas Backstrom indefinitely due to a concussion. The head injury and subsequent symptoms forced Backstrom out for three months, but finally, after 40 games, the Capitals are about to get a huge boost.
Why? Because Backstrom’s back, baby! The 24-year-old Swede will return against Montreal tonight and retake his normal spot on the first line, centering Alex Ovechkin and Marcus Johansson.
Photo credit: Patrick McDermott
Somehow, inexplicably, the Caps won on Thursday. It was a manic mess of a game, like something the Flaming Lips would do if they played hockey. In case your blood pressure is returning to normal and bowels are solidifying, here comes another cataclysmic hockey game to freak you out all over again.
Photo credit: capitals.nhl.com
The Washington Capitals have been inspiring a lot lately: swearing, alcoholism, serious consideration of jumping off the 400 level rather than watching another moment of hockey. So inspirational are they in this way that you may not have noticed what good role models they really are for children, and how nice they might look with encouraging slogans across their chest.
The Capitals franchise has always made efforts to connect with younger generations in the local community, often visiting schools and running hockey clinics for kids. We’ve unearthed what seems to be a continuing effort towards this, a series of “Caps@School” postcards where their stars promote wholesome, inspiring messages. (Note: may also double as Valentines in a pinch.)
There doesn’t seem to be a card for if you’re wondering why you spent $75 dollars for terrible seats to see the Caps lose, but if you have questions about the power of your dreams, the Caps have answers.
How Swede this news is! (Photo via dumpnchase.com)
Nicklas Backstrom has missed the last 37 games — almost half of the season — dealing with concussion symptoms after Rene Bourque elbowed him in the head on January 3rd. But after skating by himself for 10 of the last 11 days, Backstrom was cleared to practice today with his teammates without any restrictions. If all goes well, the Capitals number one center could return before *gasp* the end of the regular season.
“It’s good sign for us,” Ovechkin told the media at Kettler after practice “Everybody knows we miss him. He’s that kind of guy we need right now. So I hope he’s going to be OK and he going to help us in these kind of games.”
Once in game shape and ready to return, Backstrom will have to pass a neuropsychological test and then be cleared by a doctor according to team trainer Greg Smith.
After blowing a three-goal lead against Winnipeg last night, this is exactly the kind of lift the team needed. In the Caps first 39 games of the season, Backstrom was the team’s MVP, averaging more than a point per game. In fact, he was on pace to tally 90-plus points, which would have been his second best season in the NHL — all sorely needed offense for a team that lacks center depth.
Below, I’ve transcribed Backstrom’s full comments to the Caps media today.
Over the last few months, Alex Semin has been one of the most consistent and productive players on the Washington Capitals. He leads Caps forwards in scoring chance percentage (minimum 30 games), he is tied for second in scoring, and he recently went ten games without committing a penalty.
But despite his achievements, Sasha Minor’s media presence is low. He rarely gives interviews in English or Russian, but we’ve learned to adapt. We’ve invented new ways to cover the Caps’ enigmatic star. And these paparazzi-style images are one such example.
Today, via the lovely and talented Caps Girl (read her blog now!), we give you Semin’s failed attempt to prank Nicklas Backstrom during today’s practice.
Photo credit: @Backstrom19
There’s no question that we’d rather see Nicklas Backstrom on the ice, but while the Caps’ star center recovers from concussion, we’re more than happy for any update on what he’s up to.
Backstrom has been visiting his native Sweden while he’s been sidelined with concussion symptoms, and in the continuing trend of Caps hanging out with DJs, had breakfast with Dutch house musician Tiesto.
Photo credit: Patrick McDermott
The Caps were expected to be big movers at the trade deadline — their need for depth centers, for example, had been well documented, and several of their veterans have expressed dissatisfaction lately and were caught up in rumors all the way up to 3 PM.
It was to the surprise of more or less everyone, then, that the Caps made no roster moves whatsoever. It was announced through a team spokesman around 3:00 that the Caps did not expect to be making any trades, and this was confirmed by General Manager George McPhee at a 5:00 PM press conference where he addressed the events of the day — or lack thereof.
