The Washington Capitals are gaining health, coming off the NHL All Star Break. D Tom Poti and G Brent Johnson, are set to return to the Capitals, marking the first time since the beginning of the season, the Capitals are fully healthy, minus Brian Pothier.
Alex Ovechkin returns to the fold after his successfull All Star Weekend in which he successfuly defended his Breakaway Skills championship and scored a 1 goal, 2 assists, and the game winning shootout goal for the Eastern Conference.
The good news keeps pouring in for the Capitals. HC Bruce Boudreau will be formally inducted into the AHL Hall of Fame today.
Boudreau spent 11 of his 17 pro seasons in the AHL. He finished with 316 career goals — 14th in league history — and 483 assists, 11th overall. His 799 points are also good for 11th in league history. No AHL player recorded more goals than Boudreau in the 1980s during a playing career that took him everywhere from Baltimore to Nova Scotia.
After his playing career ended in 1992, Boudreau transitioned into coaching. Starting with the Lowell Lock Monsters in 1999, he spent eight full seasons coaching in the AHL, posting a 340-254-61 record. Boudreau led the Hershey Bears, Washington’s AHL affiliate, to a Calder Cup championship in 2006 and a runner-up finish in 2007.
An inspiring career. The best may yet to come for Boudreau as he enters his second season as the Washington Capitals head coach, leading the Capitals to a nice 12 point Southeast Division lead and second place in the Eastern Conference. Could there be Stanley Cups in Boudureau’s future as a head coach in the NHL?
What???? Alex Ovechkin, the Russian superstar, getting respect from the Canadian media?
Despite Kovalev’s crowd-pleasing heroics, if there was any doubt that the NHL now belongs to the Washington Capitals’ ebullient Alexander Ovechkin, whose showmanship and gap-toothed exuberance immediately won over the Montreal crowd, it was likely dispelled at Saturday night’s skills competition.
Ovechkin also scored a goal in regulation and added three assists, his crafty deke to outwit Luongo in the shootout prompted cries of “Ovie, Ovie”.
Come on. Are we now ready to admit that Alex Ovechkin is the best hockey player in the NHL and the face of the new NHL? Are we done with the Sidney Crosby v. Alex Ovechkin yet? Crosby is an outstanding hockey player, but he is not the complete package that Ovie is, period. It seems the Canadian media is beginning to buy in.
New York Times pimps Ovechkin as well. One New Yorker that absolutely loved it was NY Rangers Goalie Henrik Lundqvist.
“It was great,” Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist said. “It was hilarious. You stop getting surprised. He’s great. He’s one of the best players in the world, a great personality and he really gets the fans going. He’s selling the sport. Hockey needs that.”
More love from the DC media as well, for both, Alex the Great and the Washington Capitals.
The NHL superstar dressed to impress last night as he took on the SuperSkills Breakaway Challenge at the All-Star festivities. His skills — and maybe his silly hat — scored him the win last night.
For a frustrated Washington sports fan (we live and breathe Redskins football and dream that the Nationals will have a turnaround — we can’t bear to think about the NBA) Ovechkin gives us all hope.
Indeed, there is Clinton Portis, Jason Campbell, Gilbert Arenas, and Ryan Zimmerman, but do any really compare to the overall IMPACT Alexander Ovechkin has had on Washington, DC and his team? Maybe Arenas, when he is healthy.
NHL Health and DC attendance Report …
The Sporting News gives us a look at what NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman had to say following a brief Owner’s meeting.
On Fighting in the NHL …
“I don’t think that there’s any appetite to abolish fighting from the game,” Bettman said. “When you make a rule change or you even begin to focus on the issue, you’ve really got to look at it in a thorough and comprehensive way.” A few of the owners and general managers discussed the issue on their way out of the hotel and agreed the safety of the players is the biggest issue.
I am one of those old school fans. Fighting is part of the fabric of the game. It is a necessity. It is energetic for the game. To take fighting completely out would have the effect of a major deflation in the excitement of the sport.
On the state of the economy and the effect it has had on the NHL …
Bettman said he was pleased with the growth of revenue in hockey, although growth numbers are down from last year. Revenue has grown by 5.5 percent, but for salary cap purposes that number is closer to one percent because of the declining Canadian dollar. That means it’s likely there would only be a small increase in the salary cap next season.
Bettman said the best indicator for revenue growth next season will be how strong playoff ticket sales are this spring during a down North American economy. In an interesting trend, player salaries are up 13.9 percent, a pace that won’t likely be maintained.
On franchise relocation …
With the financial struggles of the Phoenix Coyotes and the inability of the New York Islanders to get a new arena, there’s been a lot of talk about possible relocation. Especially considering there’s a new, state-of-the-art, empty arena in Kansas City waiting for an NHL team. On Friday, NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly said he wouldn’t be surprised if a team is relocated in the next five years. Bettman disagreed.
Bettman said the league would much rather step in and help teams that are struggling rather than move them. Phoenix, for instance, just needs an infusion of capital.
I don’t know. I was never sold on putting a franchise in Phoenix in the first place. This isn’t the time for the NHL to expand, but relocations should always be looked at. You know, it isn’t a bad thing to realize that maybe a relocation decision (Pheonix) didn’t work out, but relocating to a new market (say, Kansas City), could be very healthy and good for the NHL as a whole, let alone the stability of the franchise.
As for the Washington Capitals at the halfway mark …
2008/09 (41 Game Mark):
17,973 (+2501 per game from last season
Total Attendance: 413,380
2007/08: 15,472 avg home attendance
2006/07: 13,929 avg home attendance
2005/06: 13,905 avg home attendance
2003/04 (Pre-Lockout): 15,472 avg home attendance: 14,720
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Easier just to do it via comment here and catch it in Red Alert in tomorrow's edition, but the Capitals have recalled rookie D Karl Alzner. More interestingly, Shaone Morrisson and Tom Poti were also skating and practicing. Wonder how they are doing this cap wise?
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