Per ESPN, Alexander Semin will not pursue a contract extension with the Caps, and instead will test the waters of free agency.

According to his agent Mark Gandler:

I think the issue is with the organization, not necessarily with the coach. They told us Alex is not going to play short-handed, he’s not going to play in the last minute. He’s going to get the same icetime as everybody else … Alex is not ready to be a role player. He wants to be a full-time player. It’s important to him.

Semin has always been one of the players most heavily tarred with the xenophobic “enigmatic Russian” brush. He has been variously accused of being lazy, of not trying, of not caring, and of not being a team player. And yet he is one of the most purely talented hockey players in the entire NHL. He has an absolutely killer wrist shot and he goes through periods of offensive dominance mingled with periods where he lies fallow.

I really like Gandler’s description of him as a “role player,” because it fits so perfectly and yet doesn’t really make sense. A role player is usually a face-off specialist, or a third-liner who lodges mega-PK minutes. But Semin really is a role player: it just so happens his role is gorgeous shots of first line quality. He isn’t a practical role player, because it’s not something he can just do the way one can take a face-off or block shots, but it’s the only area in which he is truly reliable (that and offensive zone stick penalties).

He’d be a great addition to a team that wants devastating secondary scoring, but devastating in morale rather than quantity. A perfect Semin shot is devastating to a goalie because there’s nothing you can do about it: it’s simply beautiful. He can also be devastating to his own team, in the offensive-murdering penalties (that make coaches make this face) and the frustrating times when he can’t seem to score.

That said, I look forward to the Blue Jackets picking him up in desperation!

Edit: Upon landing in Stockholm, Semin said, through translator Pavel Lysenkov (of Sovetski Sport), “There was no talk at all that I am not going to sign with the Capitals for sure. I have not talked to them [the Capitals] about leaving.”

Dammit, Semin. I’ve got too many emotions as it is already.

I ran into my friend Buffalo Sabres Fan today! It went as well as can be expected.
» Continue reading “Caps Fans Shouldn’t Hang Out With Sabres Fans Right Now”

Remember the post a few days back, where I got up on a high horse and did what I hate the most: outline rules of sports fandom? One of the reasons I hate them is because I break the crucial inter-conference rule — that is, my “second favourite” team is the Toronto Maple Leafs. And one of the reasons I feel so guilty about that is because I was in such a perfect situation with the Sharks. The San Jose Sharks, for all intents and purposes, should be my Western team. And they were, up until I actually went to a Sharks game at HP, watched the Capitals lose 6-2, and got heckled in Spanish. That dulled the luster some.
» Continue reading “Capitals Vs. Sharks: Punch ‘Em In The Nose”

It seems like just yesterday we saw the Florida Panthers, but I couldn’t be more wrong — it was in fact 6 days ago. Six days since we went down in ignominious defeat to the only team in the Southeast actually making the playoffs. SouthLeast, indeed.
» Continue reading “Caps Vs. Cats: Embarrassingly Important”

Just a few days ago, I remarked casually to my father, “You know who a great coach for the Caps would be? Dale Hunter. I think he’s coaching the London Knights right now.” We both rolled our eyes (even as I remembered GMGM not giving Boudreau his full confidence a week ago) and went back to watch the horrible shellacking we were currently witnessing (pick any of the last few games, except Winnipeg). You can’t catapult a coach straight from the OHL to the NHL, right? Although he would instill a level of toughness missing on the ice, and he’s coach quite a few young superstars, as well as John Carlson and Dennis Wideman back in the day, and he’s beloved by Caps fans…

Then last night I dreamed I blindsided someone and they disappeared. If that’s not portentous, I don’t know what is.
» Continue reading “BOUDREAU FIRED, HUNTER HIRED”

I was on the road during the last game, so I listened to it on the radio rather than watch it. As you may remember, the Caps had a power play chance early in the first. We listened intently to John Walton’s excited if poorly pronounced call, right up until someone took an offensive zone penalty.

My friend and I looked each other in the eye and said simply: “Sasha.”

Then he swerved back into his lane because he was driving.
» Continue reading “Capitals @ Predators – Goalie Going Home”

Gotta ask the question: 82-0?

In all seriousness, no. Unfortunately Vokoun can’t start every game for the rest of the season, especially in the 12 back-to-backs we have in the second half of the season. But let’s say we drop all 6 second games. That still leaves us at 76-6. The ’96 Red Wings have the record for most wins, with 62-13-7, which, with 7 games already taken care of, we’ve practically made it!

The ’77 Habs (as chronicled by Ken Dryden) have points record with 132, having gone 60-8-12 (in an 80 game season). Why, with the OTL charity point, we can match that easily! I don’t see why we can’t break both of these records, culminating in a glorious Stanley Cup win by the Tampa Bay Lightning, who will not be worrying over this kind of irrelevant BS.

And if we don’t, we still have the chance to chase another record: in the inaugural season of the Washington Capitals went 8-67-5 for a total of 21 points. We can still do it!

The Capitals schedule was released yesterday. The most important date, of course, is actually a preseason game against the Chicago Blackhawks, when I will probably make the arduous trip from William and Mary to the Verizon Center to celebrate Phil Kessel’s birthday. Feel free to buy me a drink if you also happen to be there.

The Capitals website was also kind enough to provide a list of dates that they consider important. I am kind enough to provide other events that happened on these dates so we can see how auspicious they really are.
» Continue reading “A Historical Look at the Capitals Schedule”

Spieglein, Spieglen, an der Wand – zeig mir wer der Beste ist, im ganzen Land!

Vezina: Roberto Luongo of the Canucks, Pekka Rinne of the Predators, Tim Thomas of the Bruins.It’s pretty well-known among my peers that I have not just a weakness for goalies, but an especial weakness for Finnish goalies. Pekka Rinne is a franchise ‘tender and it’s a great deal thanks to him that Nashville has enjoyed unprecedented success this season (and worked its way up to that success in seasons gone by). And Thomas was fantastic this year, stilling the tongues of critics who said he had one Vezina-worthy season that bamboozled Chiarelli into giving him a raise before sinking back into mediocrity. But as I said before: the Vezina is not won on merit. Luongo will win it, because he hasn’t before and yet surely he deserves it. It’s not that he doesn’t deserve it, but the PHWA has been waiting for Brodeur to start truly sucking before they can finally reward Luongo, and there’s no way they hand it to anyone else.

P.S. I adore Georges Vézina. His nickname was the Chicoutimi Cucumber because he was so calm and collected. When the Stanley Cup match of 1919 was cancelled because of a breakout of the Spanish ‘Flu, he was one of the few players who was unaffected. He paid for this later when he collapsed in his crease in 1925 due to pneumonia, which killed him the next year.

Calder: Islanders’ Michael Grabner, Sharks’ Logan Couture, Hurricanes’ Jeff Skinner.While it doesn’t matter in the official voting, I can’t help but be swayed by the postseason. Every fibre of my being wants Grabner to win, but a good-natured Twitter and my natural bias towards German speakers are enough to sway only my heart — not my head. Skinner’s accomplishments were greater in reminding Carolina they have a hockey team (good work at the All Star Game) and serving as the butt of jokes due to his figure skating background. Couture was good in the regular season and fabulous in the post, which shouldn’t matter, but it does.

Regardless of who wins, it won’t be as entertaining as last year’s Calder award, which a drunk Mark Wahlberg tried to award to Tie Domi.

Hart: Anaheim Ducks, Corey Perry. Vancouver Canucks, Daniel Sedin. Tampa Bay Lightning, Martin St. Louis. Here we have nearly the opposite problem. I throw my weight behind Daniel Sedin, after a wonderful season and (until recently) a lacklustre playoffs. Of the three nominees, he is the one I would be most scared to see on the ice. Regarding Mr. Perry: since when is half a season of quality play considered MVP-worthy? Maybe I’m still bitter over Mike Green losing the Norris when he scored a goal in eight games straight (which, FYI, broke a record of Bobby Orr’s) but to me Perry lighting up post-All Star Game is kind of like Lee Stempniak scoring roughly 1 million goals after being traded to Phoenix. I mean, we know Perry is capable of such things, but he wasn’t consistent the way, say, Sedin is. And I’m just as impressed by Teemu Selanne, though that’s more because he’s replacing Chris Chelios as the punchline for old hockey player jokes, though with one key difference: he’s actually good.

I think the fact that I forgot Marty St. Louis was up for this award should speak volumes about why he shouldn’t win it.
Regarding the Pearson Lindsay, St. Louis was replaced by teammate Steven Stamkos in the nominees. I certainly favour him over St. Louis, but I reckon if Daniel Sedin wins the Hart, he takes the Lindsay as well. The PHWA and NHLPA don’t tend to differ that much.

Awards are June 22; a brief oasis in the desert of the offseason.

Today I’ll look at some of the more notable NHL awards, aka the ones that no Capitals are up for.

Jack Adams: Dan Bylsma of the Penguins, Barry Trotz of the Predators, Alain Vigneault of the Canucks. So give me a second here: what did Dan Bylsma actually DO this season? I thought we just learned that once the Penguins are stripped of Crosby and Malkin, stick a fork in them. I mean, obviously I hate the guy after seeing him in 24/7 (what was that you said about Neuvy again? “This goalie isn’t that good“? Cram it up your cramhole, Bylsma.) but personal biases aside, I don’t think he actually did all that much. In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s getting the nod because the team managed to make the playoffs sans Crosby&Malkin. Trotz and Vigneault are both in the same boat — they found the magical spell necessary to get their formerly disappointing-but-still-upper-tier teams past some perviously insurmountable threshold. I think that the Predators’ transformation was more magical (Vancouver’s was more “having defenceman be healthy”) so let’s hear it for Trotz.

Lady Byng: Stars’ Loui Eriksson (10 PIM), Red Wings’ Nick Lidstrom (20 PIM), Lightning’s Martin St. Louis (12 PIM). Loui Eriksson had the fewest PIM, so I guess he gets it. What more can I say? “Gentlemanliness” is a nice idea, but it’s not what I look for in the game of hockey. The idea is “was a gentleman but didn’t let that stop him from being a good hockey player” which is a funny but potentially troublesome idea if you subscribe to the idea that gentlemanliness is something everyone should aspire to. However, I genuinely like Chris Pronger so you probably shouldn’t listen to me on this subject. Incidentally, having two Swedes up for Lady Byng isn’t exactly hurting Don Cherry’s “Europeans are soft” argument.

Norris: Nick Lidstrom, Zdeno Chara (Bruins), and Shea Weber (Predators) up for the James Norris Memorial Trophy, Lidstrom has six, which is a nice even number, whereas Chara needs another so he has matching bookends. Honestly I prefer Weber but the NHL awards are just not awarded on merit. The Vezina was the worst offender: Hasek won it for so many years that he boxed out Brodeur, so Brodeur won it when he didn’t deserve it because he didn’t win it when he did deserve it. I know I haven’t really been clear this paragraph but I reckon Lidstrom will win it simply because the Professional Hockey Writers thought, “Shit, it’s that time of year again? A defenceman, a defenceman, a defenceman, hmmm… Lidstrom’s still playing, right?” I’m more of a new blood sort of person, which is why I advocate for Weber, but the sad fact of the sports (and sportswriting) industry is that the status quo is king.

NHL Awards: Still June 22 on Versus, still hosted by Jay Mohr. I understand if you take a pass.