"Can you imagine if the Nat's and O's merged to create one MEGATRON super team? They'd only be the third worst team in baseball. So it'd go Nats, O's, NatsOs, Royals."
Emotionally charged game against a bitter rival from PA? Check.
Yes, it's safe to say the novelty of the 2009-2010 NHL season has worn off and the Caps are settling in for a full 82+ game ride.
The way in which they're settling in, however, has been rather unsettling, losing consecutive winnable games against Atlantic Division rivals Philadelphia and New York.
In two games they let two third period leads vanish due to unacceptable and nearly identical late penalties by Boyd Gordon, suspect goaltending, missed defensive assignments, and a general lack of effort that seems to be the byproduct of a dangerous attitude, "We can get by on talent, and nothing more."
While this may be the case against some of the doormats of the NHL, any team who also boasts extraordinary talent, like the Flyers, or works their collective butts off to adhere to a smart defensive game plan and pounce on the opposition's mistakes, like the Rangers, will have no problem exploiting this mindset.
Coach Brouce Boudreau has not been pleased with the effort dating back to the third period of the Toronto game, and who can blame him? But it all starts with the coach, and he appears to be holding players accountable this year more than ever before, calling out Tom Poti and John Erskine on Tuesday, and extending Friday's film session two-fold to presumably go over the two Alexes' glaring mistakes on the power play in the second period Thursday.
We learned during the game 7 debacle last year that talent is never enough. We've learned through the first four games this year that early season media coddling is never enough. Great teams earn their keep through heard work and perseverance.
So it better start tonight against the defending Western Conference Champs, who will be without Johan Franzen for at least four months. I'd love nothing more than add to insult to injury by taking their building by storm and sending around 20,000 fans home unhappy.
I figure we owe 'em at least that much for that long, long time ago when the Lions effectively ended my Redskins' hopes and dreams...
No, not the Skins, we are still hopeless despite the win last week. But I am seeing some signs of life in the Football Outsiders (FO) picking system, which went 9-5 last week to break their string of 3 weeks under .500. FO will still have to pick at about 58% the rest of the way to make it back to 55% of the season (the money making threshold), but that number doesn't seem as crazy for them to reach anymore. As I've said before, the FO system should improve as the season goes on, because it has more actual data upon which to base its picks.
The best part of the FO system maybe finally putting it together.........they LOVE the Skins this week! Okay, maybe LOVE is strong, probably more like go steady, but we are the #2 pick of the week against the spread, which I like to see. The reason I don't say LOVE, is that we are only the #8 straight-up pick, so FO basically sees this game as pretty even, with the Skins as slight favorites. Is it the Shermanator Lewis making a difference? Actually it's the Panthers, who FO has ranked as the worst team in the NFL thusfar. Hey, a wise man once told me, ass is ass, and a win is a win.
Random monkey throwing shit at a dartboard: 31-31 overall (50.0%)
Football Outsiders: 9-5 last week, 28-34 overall (45.2%)
FO's 'locks of the week' are still 0-2, their 'reasonable' picks are 5-12 and their 'stay away' picks are 23-20, so their most assured picks have actually been their worst.......sounds about right for the Skins.As usual, the FO picks are listed in order of confidence, and I have bolded a team wherever I differ (home teams in CAPS).
Indianapolis -3.5 over TENNESSEE - This is FO's first 'lock of the week' in 3 weeks. I could see the Titans keeping this close, but you have to like Indy here.
Washington +3.5 over CAROLINA - Shermanator!! Jake the Snake will be eating Fat Albert's blubber all day. I hedged my bet slightly here by purchasing http://www.firejimzorn.info/, which will eventually have something cool on it, like another picture of the Shermanator.
KANSAS CITY +9 over Dallas - Tony Homo, he of the lukewarm water in his veins, I will not pick your mediocore team until it shows me some consistency. By the way, if KC manages to fall to the pussy of Romo, then the Skins will have opened the season against 6 winless teams when we play the Chiefs next week, wow.
Cleveland +6 over BUFFALO - This is painful, but probably not so painful because I will do everything in my power not to watch this game.
MIAMI +1.5 over New York Jets - Sanchez is not for real, he is doing absolutely nothing behind a superb o-line. FO has him as the 3rd worst QB in the league so far, ahead of only Delhomme and Jamarcus Russell. The only place I want to be ahead of Jamarcus is at the buffet line, zing! Amazing how supposed experts can't get off his johnson, while Jason Campbell has been much better in a much tougher situation and everyone thinks we should bench him. Life isn't fair.
Houston +5.5 over ARIZONA - The Cards have not been great, and Houston probably about the same, so I'll take the points. This is a big game for both teams, who both need to get going soon to have any shot at the playoffs. Where is Jesus for you now Kurt Warner?
ST. LOUIS +10 over Minnesota - Rams? Really? Peterson got a woody when he saw this on the schedule.
New England -3 over DENVER - Ok, we get it, the Broncos' D is good, but they are still not as good as their record indicates. The Pats on the other hand, they just beat one of the top-5 teams in the league. Moss vs. Bailey should be awesome.
DETROIT +10.5 over Pittsburgh - The Steelers have not been impressive, but it's actually been there D that's been down, which I think is some kind of fluke. Matthew Stafford, meet James Harrison.
Tampa Bay +15 over PHILADELPHIA - 15 points is a ton, but a team with a pass rush should make Josh Johnson look like the guy who is rated a 57 in Madden.
Jacksonville pick 'em over SEATTLE - Hasselbeck or no Hasselbeck, I am off the neon green bandwagon..............for now.
Oakland +14.5 over NEW YORK GIANTS - Giants are the #1 straight-up pick, although I can see Oakland's D keeping this somewhat close on the scoreboard, but then I couldn't get Jamarcus Russell under pressure! Jamarcus Russell under pressure! Jamarcus Russell under pressure! Jamarcus Russell under pressure! out of my head.
Atlanta +2.5 over SAN FRANCISCO - I think Vegas saw my Singletary felating article last week, because I think Atlanta is the better team. FO actually has these teams ranked next to each other overall.
Cincinnati +8.5 over BALTIMORE - So I may have been wrong about the Bungles being for real, I think I sprained an ankle jumping on and off that bandwagon. You have to like the Ravens to bounce-back at home and FO has the Ravens as their #4 straight-up pick, but I'll take the 8.5 points for a team with wins over the Steelers and Green Bay, and what should have been a win over Denver.
So for those of you who just skimmed to the end, the moral of the story is go out there and put some dough on the Skins.
I meant to post this a few days ago, but exams and mononucleosis decided to join forces and kick my butt. Seriously. It's sore. Anyway, it's not that important, just like most things I post aren't, but still...I need to get this off my chest.
Dan Steinberg wrote a very interesting article the other day on Jason Campbell. The gist of it, for those too lazy or without the balancing skills to read two blog entries simultaneously, is that teammates are fully behind JC17 and are practically begging him to get out of his own head - to 'unleash himself', as Steinz puts it. This came following Sunday's turnover laden 16-13 victory over the woeful Bucs, in which Campbell fumbled on the team's first possession and threw three interceptions to Aqib Talib.
My question, directed at nobody in particular, is how the hell can Campbell get out of his own head when we - fans, media, uninformed idiot bloggers - lock him in there?
The fact is we are never happy with his play.
Could he be putting up better numbers? Absolutely.
Could he be putting up better numbers in this system with this offensive line, with this receiving core, with this uninspiring playcalling? I really don't think so.
Campbell is the fall guy. Let's face it. That's what he is. And nothing he does will ever be good enough for us, at least until the rest of the offense exhibits competence. Sometime in the year 2013 is my guess.
The first three games? Campbell was too conservative, checking down way too often, too afraid to go for the jugular, a la Colt Brennan Brett Favre.
Last game? Campbell took too many risks, trying to make plays that weren't really there which resulted in turnovers.
To his critics: you can't have it both ways!
Is it important for him to find a medium? Of course. But without sufficient help from his teammates and coaches, he is being forced to find this balance on his own, a pretty daunting task. Yea, I know, he makes millions of dollars a year, blah blah blah, but he's also human. It's damn near impossible to exceed already unrealistic expectations in a failing context. And that's exactly what this is - a failing context.
So next time Campbell does something less than perfect, try to give him the benefit of the doubt. He's better than you think he is. No, he's not Peyton Manning, but he ain't Danny Wuerffel.
At least he's got his teammates' support, and hopefully that positivity will breed some success.
From Clinton Portis following the game: "That was the best thing that happened today, seeing Jason throwing the ball around and having turnovers and bouncing back and continuously fighting and everyone kept fighting with him."
Portis' pockets is straight, and we know that. Maybe with some success, Campbell's will be too when it's all said and done.
It only took 14 years, but I finally made it out to a DC United game this past Saturday at RFK, seeing the good guys take on Chivas USA. I had heard that the games were fun if you sit in the Barra Brava section, so that is exactly what I did. I will let the pictures tell my story a bit from here.
The MLS banners are not worthy of this temple.
The Barra Brava in full voice.
More Brava madness.
Flares should be incorporated into more American sporting events.
A big issue for me on the night was I did not enjoy watching the on-field 'performance'. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge soccer fan and an avid follower of Arsenal in the EPL, paying the ridiculous $15/month for Setanta USA so I can watch European games every weekend. I am kind of like a stay-at-home hooligan. My not-so-outrageous theory of why the MLS has not risen to great heights is because the product is not very good. I think there is a huuuuge market of soccer fans in the US, so the MLS has tremendous potential. The problem is that the biggest fans would much rather watch the more enjoyable non-American product. I also believe that as more American soccer fans are exposed to the better product, they will have a tougher time enjoying the MLS. I feel a need to note this because I knew going into the night that the game itself would not particularly entertain me. Hence my decision to sit in the Barra Brava section, which pretty much compensated for a lackluster on-field product.
The Barra Brava is an interesting group of people, to say the least, but despite the constant chanting and beer throwing, I couldn't get over that fact that the fans seemed generally indifferent to United's performance. The fact that the biggest cheer leaders had their back to the field the entire game says enough. United is not having a great season, but is on the fringe of the playoff race, so it's not as if this wasn't a big game.
That said, I did have a decent time. The highlight may have been the regular Lot 8 tailgate before the game, where a few sponsors setup shop and a few groups serve beer to the young professional crowd. The Barra Brava were in full force at the pregame festivitites, so I felt like I was doing something right (the beer was the other clue). I also am still giddy that they had $2 bratwursts in Lot 8, can't beat that. The Barra Brava kept the beer drinking going during the game, partly to drink and mostly to throw their last sips into the air, spraying their section-mates. These supposed hooligans also sit on the famous RFK bouncing seats, which brought back a flood of Redskin memories (of when the team and stadium didn't suck).
Even with the elements of beer drinking and throwing, singing, and bouncing, the in-game energy was not great. The fact that the rest of RFK was pretty empty may have also been a factor in my experience. In the end, I can't help but feel that the Barra Brava have been a bit spoiled by the past success of DC United, and are not appreciating a mediocore team playing in an important game. I had a decent time, and it probably won't be another 14 years before I see a game, but I think one DC United game per year is probably enough for me.
"A win is a win is a win is a win is a win is a win."
-Some wise philosopher who was probably a Redskins fan
Sure, it wasn't pretty, but winning ugly is an important part of football. It's encouraging to know that your team can win a game without putting forth its best effort (and let's pray that wasn't their best effort), no matter who the opponent is.
I believe it was Descartes, or someone, who said, "You wanna go undefeated at home and win half your away games. That's a successful season." So here we are, 2-0 at Fedex, with a game in Carolina against a rested Panthers team looming. Win that one, and we're halfway to .500 on the road and primed for a successful year. But for now, let's enjoy the victory while taking solace in the fact that we've played worse than anyone could have imagined coming out of training camp, yet find ourselves in the thick of the playoff race due to a relatively weak schedule. Thank you, NFL Gods.
Some thoughts on the game:
The field conditions were horrendous. Does that qualify as some form of home field advantage? Perhaps, but it seemed to affect Clinton Portis more than anyone else. Dude was slipping every other carry.
Speaking of Portis, 25 carries for 98 yards is pretty fantastic considering the line he was running behind. Is it just me, or is he getting hit in the backfield FAR TOO OFTEN? Actually, don't answer that.
Chris Cooley is awesome in every way and nobody will ever change my mind about that.
Reed Doughty led the team with 8 solo tackles. I'll be the first to admit that I was skeptical when it was announced he would start over Chris Horton, but he might have been our best defensive player today.
Albert Haynesworth had an extremely quiet day: zero tackles and nary an injury!
Big ups on Deangelo Hall for his timely interception. Seemed to swing momentum, which I thought didn't even exist after last week's debacle, in our favor.
I think Carlos Rogers could put superglue on his hands and he still wouldn't be able to catch a football. Pathetic.
That route by Santana Moss on his 59-yard touchdown was a thing of beauty.
I really have no idea what to say about Jason Campbell. So i just won't say anything and we'll leave it at that.
Screw it, scratch that. That pass to Portis in the first quarter - you know, the one that was actually a lateral - while he was clearly covered and which was predictably fumbled was the single worst decision I've ever seen Campbell make.
The basic point of the article is that Leonsis wrote a brutally honest letter 4 years ago to fans stating that the Caps were going to rebuild and that the team was going to get worse before it got better. The result is that Leonsis has become the best-liked owner in DC pro sports.
I don't want to put words in Mike Wise's mouth, but the leap to compare Leonsis to Dan Snyder is a short one. The Redskins are not making the playoffs this year and need to rebuild, and Snyder is maybe the most hated man in DC.
That said, Leonsis' popularity is less because of that honest letter, and more because of the success of the Caps. Answer me this, if Alex Ovechkin didn't exist, would we still love Ted Leonsis? His personality is icing on the cake, but it's all about winning. Even though Snyder is distant, turns large profits at the expense of fans, and has celebrities on the sidelines, no one would care if the Skins were winning 10 games a season and/or had a title on his watch. Although they share the same goal, Snyder and Leonsis are on opposite ends of the fan opinion spectrum. The difference isn't in how they connect with fans, but rather that one team is achieving that goal because their owner understands how to build a winner.
Football Outsiders (FO) managed to increase their percentage of correct picks on the season after week 3, so everything is the way it should be right? Wrong! They only went 7-9, which boosted their % correct from 37.5 to 39.6..................I believe they call that a moral victory. Unfortunately, moral victories don't make money in gambling and making money in gambling is the point of this exercise. In the words of Mike Singletary, "I want winners!" FO will now have to pick at about 58% the rest of the way to make it back to 55% of the season (had the numbers wrong last week), which is the threshold for making money from picking games. In related news, I am beating the 55% threshold, and Bill Simmons of ESPN.com is roundhouse kicking it in balls.
After a couple bizarre weeks of mostly picking underdogs, FO's system seems to finally be adjusting from preseason projections to actual events and has picked some sizeable favorites this week. That said, FO again has no 'high arbitrage' picks, which are their locks of the week, which will keep these 'locks of the week' at 0-2 through almost a quarter of the season. Their 'reasonable' picks are 4-9 and their 'stay away' picks are 15-18.
The standings: Sports Guy: 10-6 last week, 34-14 overall (70.8%) DCLS: 10-6 last week, 27-21 overall (56.3%) Random monkey throwing shit at a dartboard: 24-24 overall (50.0%) Football Outsiders: 7-9 last week, 19-29 overall (39.6%)
As usual, the FO picks are listed in order of confidence, and I have bolded a team wherever I differ (home teams in CAPS).
KANSAS CITY +9 over New York Giants - I am punching myself in the balls as I say this, but how can you pick against the Giants right now?
JACKSONVILLE +3 over Tennessee - I don't have a grasp on Jacksonville yet, but they have issues and I think the Titans need this game a little more.
San Diego +7 over PITTSBURGH - Am I missing something here? How are the Steelers any better than the Chargers right now? Polamalu is still out....anybody.....Bueller?
MIAMI +1.5 over Buffalo - Chad Henne in his first game against a team that has not been all bad, no thanks.
NEW ORLEANS -7 over New York Jets - What a test for the new-look Jet defense. Maybe my Redskin need for Sanchez to fail is driving this pick, but I'll keep taking the Saints until they dissapoint me. FO feels a bit better about this game, with the Saints as their #2 straight-up pick.
DENVER +3 over Dallas - Denver, really? Worst 3-0 team by far to my eyes, but the FO metrics have them as the 3rd best team so far. I don't buy it.
Oakland +9 over HOUSTON - I usually can't back Jamarcus Russell and his 41% completion percentage (I think he's smurking in the photo because he knows how dumb the Raiders are for drafting him and paying him mountains of money to suck). I still don't have a good feel for Houston, and this game could be telling if they have any hope to reach the mediocore heights I predicted for them. Andre Johnson being shutdown by Nnamdi Asomugha is a big factor in this pick.
Tampa Bay +7.5 over WASHINGTON - No way we lose this game......right? I know Stafford was a rookie QB, but Josh Johnson is probably even more raw, and with worse weapons. We are only the #6 best straight-up according to FO.....oh how the mediocore have fallen.....
INDIANAPOLIS -10.5 over Seattle - I am shocked that at this FO pick because they love Seattle. I know Hasselbeck is out, but they also like Senecca Wallace. FO has this as their #1 overall straight-up pick.
Baltimore +2 over NEW ENGLAND - Game of the week and a tough call. That Pats might just show that they are back to being the best team in the AFC, but also might just show that they are 'just another playoff team'. I'm going with Ray Ray and Flacco's eyebrows.
MINNESOTA -3.5 over Green Bay - Neither of these teams has a good win. The Vikings 3 wins have been against the Browns, Lions, and 49ers (on a miraculous play). I'll take the points and the motivated Packers. There will probably be a lot of Packer fans in the stands too.
CLEVELAND +6.5 over Cincinnati - Cincy is for real, and the Browns are just awful. But they changed QBs! Yeah from this guy to this guy. I actually don't think Brady Quinn is that bad, but I do think Derek Anderson is an abortion.
CHICAGO -10 over Detroit - Tough pick, but then I remembered that the Lions had lost 19 straight before last week. FO has da Bears as their #3 straight-up pick.
Easy, there - no breaking news here or anything like that.
Before I get in trouble for spreading false rumors, this is a rough outline of the words spoken by Adrian Dater of the Denver Post on Versus Second Intermission Report:
"A big question people are gonna ask Forsberg is whether or not he's coming back to the NHL this year. And If he does I'd expect it to be with an Eastern team. Keep an eye on the Washington Capitals."
Hmmm...an interesting idea, yet I can think of about 4,875,000 reasons why this has no chance of happening. But wouldn't that be a nice little midseason addition, provided Forsberg is healthy and has something left in the tank.
To reiterate, this was just a closing thought by Dater in his interview. No apparent validity to his statement. Just reporting what I see while sitting on my ass with a beer, enjoying a glorious 3-0...wait, 4-0 (OVECHKIN SCORES AGAIN!) season-opening lead over the Bruins.
Hey, remember Game 7? No? Good, me neither. Either way, that abortive evening is irrelevant now, because the puck drops on a new season tonight in Boston. About damn time.
The team's ascendancy is reason enough to be pumped for the return of hockey in Chinatown, but coupled with the massive, systemic and ongoing failures of the other local franchises, the microscope under which the Capitals find themselves is more intense than it's been, well, maybe ever. Seriously, when was the last time the Washington Post produced a standalone NHL season preview?
But let's take off the happy goggles for a few minutes; it may shock you to learn, dear reader, that the Capitals are far from perfection. While few Stanley Cup-winning squads manage to avoid undergoing significant changes throughout the course of a successful campaign, the Capitals fancy their chances with what they've got on the ice tonight. Should they? We've got 10 key questions that could affect whether or not Ovechkin's Revenge, as we're dubbing this season, boils into a full-blown couch-burnin' revolution, or simply peters out like the geniuses at EA Sports say it will.
10) Can Mike Green put his disastrous playoffs behind him and duplicate the regular season success he had last year?
Lambo-Greenie found no shortage of excuses to explain his utter disappearance from the playoffs last spring: he ran out of his favorite sticks, he was nursing injuries, he was out of shape. Despite posting decent offensive numbers for any D-man not named Mike Green (1-8-9), anybody who watched Green skate in the regular season could tell something wasn't right with No. 52, who led all Capitals skaters in playoff ice time, but posted a minus-5, was a turnover machine and simply couldn't keep opposing forwards away from the crease. Whatever was bugging him, Green knows he's under the gun now; a slow start to the season would stunt any chance he has of making the Canadian Olympic roster, and the longer it takes for him to find his form again, the more questions will arise about whether or not the GreenLife52.com lifestyle is becoming more than a chav-tastic glamour project. He was better than a point-per-game player last year; he should surpass his totals with the benefit of an injury-free campaign. But when playoff time next rolls around, there damn well better not be any more excuses.
9) Will Michael Nylander's contract prove ruinous?
What happens when an immovable object meets an unstoppable force? Here's what: Michael Nylander sits in the press box every night, earning $4.875 million. We could debate the merits of Bruce Boudreau's unstoppable urge to keep the Swede in street clothes, but really, the battle lines have been drawn, so let's talk reality: Chris Bourque is likely only the first casualty of George McPhee's 2007 generosity towards Nylander. It's gotten to the point where that dead cap space is now affecting hockey decisions in a very real way, and for a team with as much going for it as the Capitals to be hamstrung by this bloated corpse of a contract is, at best, inconvenient and at worst, self-sabotage. If Nylander's still here at trade deadline time and there's a glaring need to be addressed, which there always is, where does the team get the money from? Nylander's trade value won't increase by not playing, right? Right? Let's hope some KHL squad with Gagarin Cup aspirations (hah!) loses a few centers and comes calling.
8) Will the penalty kill take a leap forward?
The Capitals ranked 17th in the league in 2008-09 on the PK, but for 81 of those games, they were without Washington's newest soon-to-be superhero: Quintin Laing. We're not saying one guy can single-handedly boost the unit into the Top 10, we're just saying that Laing will be your favorite player by about November. The addition of Mike Knuble to a cast of penalty killers that already includes Brooks Laich, Boyd Gordon, David Steckel and Chris Clark should also boost the team's PK unit noticeably.
7) Will Bruce Boudreau actually find line combos that work and stick with them?
The team's health throughout the course of the season will have a lot to say about this, but we kinda doubt it. In his two seasons in Washington, Boudreau has made whole lines disappear as if he's been on a two-year coke binge, only to have them reappear the next game. If Boudreau doesn't like what he sees, or if his team doesn't have 3 goals by the end of the first period, everyone knows that whatever the top line was at the start of the night becomes Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin. Still, we'd like to see him give Knuble a shot at that first-line RW gig for at least two, maybe three periods on Thursday before he dashes it all to the wind.
6) Can Alex Semin stay healthy for a full 82-game season?
Semin has proved somewhat fragile over the course of his career; after skating in 77 games in 2006-07, he missed 19 games in 2007-08 and 20 games last season. That said (and this is purely anecdotal), I've heard more than one person say Semin looks bigger this year, and I tend to agree. That's not going to inoculate him from pulling a groin muscle, but it should allow him to advance the more physical brand of hockey the Russian seemed to embrace in the last two postseasons. Being able to initiate physical contact rather than fall victim to it could spare Semin some wear and tear. If he's on the ice for 75+ games in 2009-10, he has a chance to post career numbers because, after all, it's a contract year, and No. 28 wants to get paid this winter.
5) Will a healthy Chris Clark actually be a good Chris Clark?
If you sit up in the Verizon Center nosebleeds these days, you'll hear lots of chatter among bandwagon Capitals fans who question why Clark is the team's captain. Their memories are short; Clark was arguably the team's best player not named Ovechkin in the year following the lockout, and his sacrifices on the ice were rewarded with the C. Now, with two years lost to injury, Clark says he's finally healthy again. What can we expect? This team doesn't need Clark to be a 30-goal scorer like it did when he skated on the top line with Ovechkin and, wow, Dainius Zubrus. They do, however, need him to play solid defensively, and part of that means responsibly. Clark was a penalty machine in limited action in last year's postseason, but it would be hard for anyone to compete at playoff speed without the occasional hook or hold after sitting on the shelf for three months. A good season for Clark would look like this: 10-15-25, with about 70 PIMs.
4) If Alex Ovechkin gets hurt and misses time...what then?
Look, whenever Ovie goes flying headfirst into the boards and misses a shift, I wet myself. He plays with such reckless abandon at times that it seems like a mere eventuality that he goes into the corner and...no, I'm not even going to say it.
Russian Machine Never Break Down.
3) How will the Capitals make up for the veteran leadership that Sergei Fedorov provided?
Sergei Fedorov is an NHL legend and future hall-of-famer; you can't just replace what he meant to the team in a single offseason. However, Mike Knuble's a good start. The new No. 22 is already wearing an 'A', which reflects the wisdom acquired during a Cup-winning career that's included stints alongside Steve Yzerman (and Fedorov) in Detroit, Wayne Gretzky in New York and Ray Bourque in Boston. The guy knows what it takes to win, just like Fedorov did. A healthy Chris Clark also provides a measure of on-ice leadership that's been missing for two seasons, provided he behaves himself.
2) Will Alex Ovechkin evolve into a more complete player?
56-54-110. 35-78-113. One of those sets of numbers won a Hart Trophy; the other set didn't, though the eventual Conn Smythe and Stanley Cup probably eased that sting. Which of those numbers would you rather have? Ovechkin's numbers were eye-popping, but his 56 goals came from 528 shots on goal; Evgeni Malkin's more modest 35 goals came from just 290 shots on goal; if Malkin shot as much as Ovechkin did, he'd be close to 70 goals for the season, albeit with fewer assists. Ovechkin's assist totals should increase automatically with the addition of a garbage collector like Mike Knuble (presumably) skating on his right side, but if No. 8 turned some of those surplus shots into timely dishes, his numbers might more closely resemble the balance of Malkin. After all, Ovechkin creates so many of his shots off the rush, but someday in the next 11 seasons, he won't have the burst to get open for as many looks; learning how to distribute effectively now could go a long way toward prolonging Ovechkin's perennial grasp on the Hart Trophy.
1) Can Bruce Boudreau motivate his players to play hard every night?
"When you have championship blood in you, you never quit," Boudreau told the media after Washington's 3-2 OT win against Chicago last month. That statement is as true after a preseason victory as it is a victory in mid-June. But what about all those months in between? With the division seemingly wrapped up by the turn of calendar year 2009, the Capitals were bitten by the letdown bug, dropping winnable games at home against inferior opponents in February and March: 5-4 vs. Los Angeles, 4-1 vs. Colorado, a string of bad losses to Florida, Carolina and Toronto, all on Verizon Center ice. Let's not forget what happened in Games 1 and 2 in the New York Rangers series. Simply put, the Capitals in 2008-09 displayed a tendency to play tentatively when they had no reason to. Call it nerves or call it complacency, but it very nearly cost them their season.
Boudreau's challenge, with a roster full of superstars, is to infuse the team with the belief that they can win by simply doing what comes naturally to them. The entire organization is built on the idea of winning championships, and that requires a killer instinct that can't only be seen in Hershey. If the team truly has 'championship blood', it needs to be on display whether the calendar says March or May; whether the opponent is Atlanta or Pittsburgh; whether it's Game 64 or Game 7.
The 2009-10 Washington Capitals team has the talent in their lineup to win every single night; but is it in their blood yet? We'll find out starting tonight at 7 PM in Boston.
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