Conventional wisdom around the blogosphere was that the Capitals’ offseason needs included a second-line center and shutdown defenseman. So tonight it was a bit of a shock when it was announced that the Caps acquired rugged right wing D.J. King from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for prospect Stefan Della Rovere.

Yeah: WTF!?!

It’s a curious move, one that comes in response to coincidentally coincides with Max Talbot calling Alex Ovechkin a “real douche”.

It’s been reported that King recently signed a 2-year extension prior to the trade, so you have to wonder what GMGM’s plans are for the 4th line tough guy. Here’s our two guesses: send him down to Hershey, or use him as a healthy scratch almost every night.

Like most enforcers, his boxcar stats are – sparse. In fact, King only has 4 more NHL goals than I do and it took him 101 more NHL games to do it. Though his fighting skills are a bit more developed than mine:

DJ King is being brought to the Caps for one purpose: to punch an opposing player so hard that no one will even think about calling hitting one of their teammates a douche.

There are other “skills” DJ King brings to the table, like his amazing -4.45 GF/GA differential. Or his -7.7 Relative CORSI when he is on the ice.

With a whopping 67.6% of the time starting in the offensive zone, he managed to end there only 56.1 % of the time, so clearly he helps move the puck in the wrong direction.

Finally, there is his Penalty differential of -1.1, meaning he takes twice as many penalties as he draws and in hockey there is a clear positive correlation between penalty taking and losing.

Bah. Who am I fooling? He was brought here to kick ass. The real questions to ponder are:

1. Realistically, how often will he get a Caps sweater?
2. Whose spot does he take in the lineup?
3. (And yes, this question again.) Do the Caps really need an enforcer?

Let us know in the comments.

Merci Jose. Au Revoir. (Photos by Addison Huber)

The morning got off to an early start with the annual equipment sale. When I arrived around 7:40 there was a line at the check-in table stretching back the length of Kettler Capitals IcePlex [Ed note: Do you people ever sleep?!?!]. Making my way into the stands that served as a waiting area until the sale officially started at 8am, I was shocked to see a section of the bleachers already filled. At 8am the crowd was led to the upper level of the rink where a vast panoply of new and used hockey equipment awaited their perusal. The crowd quickly, but orderly, made their way into the sale area, making a beeline for the player sticks and used practice jerseys. Patrons could be seen with armfuls of gear and frantically pawing through piles of clothing – clearly the event was a success for the Capitals.

Ted Leonsis speaks to the capacity crowd at Fanfest.

Ted’s Speech

The chairman of the newly-christened Momumental Sports and Entertainment, and majority owner of the Capitals, Mr. Ted Leonsis, made an appearance before the scrimmage started to address the assembled mass of fans. Ted spoke for a few minutes about the state of the franchise, acknowledging the early season exit and promising a better fan experience in the upcoming season, explaining that big changes were on the way. He got a warm reception from the crowd and the scrimmage began (a few minutes early even).

Scrimmage

By the time the puck dropped on the final scrimmage of 2010 Development Camp, there was not a single empty seat in the stands or spot along the glass or railings. In fact, along most the boards, fans were standing four or five deep, craning their necks for a chance to see the new Capitals prospects. Saturday’s scrimmage was a much different affair than the previous two run-and-gun, high-scoring affairs. The Red and White teams were much more tentative, which might also have been a reflection of the fact that all the prospects were exhausted after an intense week of drills. The White team started the scoring, with Andy Miele (Jr, Miami) slotting home a pass from Wade MacLeod. Phil DeSimone answered for the Red team, burying a Chris Bond feed to even the score at 1-1. David deKastrozza (Sr, University of Maine) put the Red team back on top, 2-1, after he pick-pocketed Ryan Lowery (Jr, Colorado College) at center ice and skated into the offensive zone untouched. Eric Alexander (Fr, Ferris State) scored the last goal of regulation to even the score and send the game to overtime, where neither team scored. Goals from Stanislav Galiev and Andy Miele were enough to seal the shootout for the White team.

The crowd was also treated to two fights. In the first bout, Joe Finely squared off against Anthony Pisano for the second time during Development Camp, with Finley landing several solid punches before wrestling Pisano to the ice.

After the two heavyweights had been escorted to the sin bin, Stefan Della Rovere and Trevor Bruess took center stage for the main event of the night. The two middleweights exchanged punches, with Della Rovere landing three consecutive uppercuts that staggered Bruess and left his nose streaming blood.

Both Anton Gustafsson (leg) and Jake Hauswirth (concussion) left the game with injuries.

Bruce Boudreau Interview Highlights

“It is hard to imagine another place where three thousand people would come out for a summer scrimage.”

“It is quite a testament to the enthusiasm of the fan base.”

The Three Russians

We’d be remiss if we didn’t save the last section of our post for an update on Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmtri Orlov and Stanislav Galiev. Today after their scrimmage, Becca of Japers Rink notified us that they got autographs from the Red Rockers. Seriously. The absurdity of it all led Corey Massisak to ponder if they were after something else. In conclusion, this week we saw the guys teach Russian to a UMD class, eat an entire plate of cupcakes, buy a PS3, feed each other food in front of fans & team up and take out scores of other prospects in a Capitals paintball outing. These guys can’t return to D.C. soon enough!

Bonus Photos

Stanislav Galiev is certainly full of personality. (Photos by Addison Huber)

Day 3 was a busy day for the draftees and invitees at Capitals Development Camp. Both Group A and Group B were on the ice in the morning, and the whole squad took the ice in the afternoon for a scrimmage. The additional activity made for an extremely long day, one that not only left me exhausted, but also (and more importantly) left me feeling like a full-time member of the media. I also increased my attempts at multi-tasking: interspersing periods of photography with Tweets, especially during the afternoon scrimmage. Day 3 also provided a glimpse into the world of the best PR staff in the NHL when Nate and Kelly  invited all the bloggers in attendance to a roundtable to discuss ideas and innovations.

Group A Observations

Both groups were put to their first quantitative evaluation today, with the coaching staff giving the prospects a battery of skating tests, including blue-line-to-blue-line skating, straight-line speed, and S-curves. Because of the nature of the early part of the day, there was a notably decreased media presence around the Kettler practice rink. Evgeny Kuznetsov remained the class of Group A, using long, confident strides to fly around the ice. Dmitri Orlov also displayed impressive handling and speed, but did so by utilizing compact, powerful, quick steps. The Swede in Group A, Anton Gustafsson, looked a bit less confident than many other members of the group, was not as fast as expected, and almost fell several times. The biggest members of Group A, Joe Finley and Jake Hauswirth, both succumbed to gravity and took hard falls during the S-turn speed test. After the testing concluded, several players, including Kuznetsov, stayed on the ice to play keep away and shoot the puck around. Kuznetsov looked like a kid in a candy shop, skating with a smile stretching from ear to ear as he deftly moved the puck around the ice – clearly the kid loves to play hockey.

Group B Observations

Shortly after Group A finished their testing, Group B had their chance to show off for the coaches and assembled fans. As expected, Marcus Johansson was far and away the best skater from Group B, clearly having benefited from the increased level of competition in the Swedish Elite League. Johansson’s skating style is almost technically flawless, which allowed him to sail through all the tests with an easy grace. In addition to Johansson, Stanislav Galiev also put on quite a skating clinic and Dustin Stevenson displayed better than average speed (for a defenseman). On a slightly less positive note, Trevor Bruess did not leave a terribly good impression, especially for a prospect who has spent some time in the AHL. Bruess was not as fast as some of the other prospects and seemed a little hesitant at times through the corners in the turning speed test.

Scrimmage

The highlight of Development Camp day 3 was the first official scrimmage of the summer. The two groups ditched their color coordinated line jerseys for sharp-looking red and white team threads with gray highlights and piping on the sides. The two sides fought to a stalemate, leading Coach Boudreau to quip to the assembled bloggers: “next time we’re going to a shootout.” The MVP of the scrimmage was 2010 draft pick Kuznetsov, who potted two goals and an assist – while just missing a hat trick. His first tally was a Knublian deflection off a shot from the point that he garnered by holding a spot at the top of the crease. The physical play of several prospects stood out during the scrimmage: Stefan Della Rovere was throwing his body around, landing several crunching hip checks; Sean Wiles made some sacrifices blocking shots; and Cody Eakin played way bigger than his size, holding the puck and winning battles along the boards. The goalies were also fairly solid, stopping all the penalty shots except one. Most notably, Phillip Grubauer displayed good positioning, astute awareness, and keen anticipation of the puck. The most exciting moment of the scrimmage came after all-around nice guy Joe Finley crushed Zach Miscovic at the half-wall, leading to an exchange of pleasantries with fellow bruiser Anthony Pisano (Bridgewater, MJAHL). The two heavyweights calmly discussed the incident and ended with a hug, leaving all satisfied.

Extra Photos

Washington Capitals Defensive Prospect Dmitri Orlov.

For the elitist few of you who have the NHL Network (the Russian Machine hates you and your fancy Cable options), you’ve had the opportunity to watch the WJC, or the World Junior Hockey Championships. It’s basically an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) which showcases some of the best under-20 players from around the world.

Our beloved Washington Capitals are lucky enough to have 4 players representing them in the tournament this year. The prestigious list includes awesome 2008 First Round Draft Pick John Carlson (USA), 2008 7th Round Draft Pick and Japers Rink favorite Stefan Della Rovere (Canada), 2009 First Round Pick Marcus Johannson (Sweeden), and this post’s namesake 2009 Second Round Draft Pick Dmitri Orlov.

Despite the fact our dear Ruskies were upset in OT by Switzerland 3-2 in the Quarter-Finals Saturday afternoon and were eliminated, we figured it was as good a time as any to ask our resident Translator & Moscow native Fedor Fedin to dig up some information on the relatively unknown 18 year old Orlov. Here’s what he found out:

Who’s Dmitri Orlov?

Q’s and tranlation by Fedor Fedin, A’s by Evgeni Starikov, a huge fan of Metallurg Novokuznetsk -currently Orlov’s team.

Q: The public at large in the U.S. knows only that Orlov is a D-man. Is he a “stay-at-home” defenseman (like Volchenkov) or an offensive defenseman (like Gonchar)?

A: I would say it’s offensive… But we don’t know what the coach says in the locker room. He’s not a “stay-at-home” defenseman, that’s for sure. His attacking skills have actually led him to play some games as a forward. He scored twice that game.

Q: What are his strengths?

A: It’s too early to say, as it’s only his 1st full season as a KHL player. But he’s a good skater and can lead the rush well. Did you see this crazy goal against Torpedo? Ed. Note Fast Forward to 1:13 to see an absolute sick, Mike Green-eque goal:

Q: What does Orlov need to improve on?

A: Everything! Even in weight and build. I would say, that he needs to continue to improve everyday. He must force himself to continue to upgrade his skills. It seems he needs to improve his discipline on the ice. I’ve seen some of his defensive lapses. They are terrible! But he’s played with Maxim Galanov on the first Defensive pair. It’s good for experience. And the current coach of Metallurg Novokuznetsk is a former Defenseman. He has teachers to learn from.

Q: Do you think Dmitri is ready to play in the NHL?

A: NO! I think, he understands that too. I think that it’s far better for him to play couple of years in KHL, and mature as a player. But it’s good for him to visit NHL camps, too. The best way to put it is: Orlov is fertile clay, but he needs a potter for him to continuing developing. And he has to learn English!

Q: Does he have a chance to become an NHL superstar like Mike Green?

A: Mike Green? We call Orlov The Russian Bobby Orr!

Q: When do you think Orlov will make the NHL?

A: I suppose that Dmitri will play for Metallurg another year then he will go for Salavat Yulaev (for example). After 2 years there he’ll probably go to DC.

Here’s what other Russian fans think about Orlov, which has been translated from Metallurg’s fan site.

Q: The public at large in the U.S. knows only that Orlov is a D-man. Is he a “stay-at-home” defenseman or an offensive defenseman?

A: Atacking, like Gonchar (F@nat)

Q: What are his strengths?

A: Great skater, finding partners in attack, strong shot, leadership. Positioning in defense, shot accuracy. (Sergoffan)

A: Skating, strong and accurate “first pass” (starting attack), strongest shot in Metallurg

A: I think, it’s technique and skating. Pretty good shot (F@nat)

Q: What does he need to improve on?

A: Defensive play. He has some failures. Toughness and force, too (F@nat)

Q: Do you think Dmitri is ready to play in the NHL now?

A: Not at this moment. He needs to work couple of years with strong coaches and partners in Russia (Sergoffan)

A: Dima should go to NHL after 3 years. Now he has to get some experience in Russia, and try to make the roster of the National Team (Schtuzer)

A: I think, he’s not ready (F@nat)

Q: Does he have a chance to become an NHL superstar like Mike Green?

A: Chances always exist (F@nat)

A: He will be a star in the NHL in 5 years. But no earlier… (Schtuzer)

A: He has the potential for this. But the people he will meet in next year is very important (Sergoffan)

Q: What’s Orlov like in real life?

A: He’s an amazing guy. He’s kind, fair, and honest. He isn’t arrogant. He will be captain for Russia in a couple of seasons (Schtuzer)

A: Captain, Man… (Sergoffan)

Q: When do you think Orlov will leave for the NHL?

A: I think, he’ll go to America in the next year. In NHL – in 2 seasons (F@nat)

A: He’ll leave Russia in 1-2 years. Next steps will depend on his play in America (Sergoffan)

In Summary, it seems like the Capitals have potentially found another Offensive Gem on the Backline in Orlov if he continues to develop.