I haven’t been keeping up with hockey news as closely as I usually might, because right now the big story — actually, the only story — is that of the lockout. And not only is that depressing, it’s also infuriating. Which side should I take: the rich old men who aren’t getting enough money from their indulgent investment? Or the rich young men who aren’t getting paid enough to play a game? The owners are completely unsympathetic, but I don’t have a lot of patience for the players, either. Obviously, neither side gives a damn about the fans.

So I recently read an article from Pro Hockey Talk that, thankfully, did not mention the lockout, but did give me the opportunity to roll my eyes for ten minutes. The headline was “Dale Hunter won’t miss dealing with Washington media.”

Of course! The notoriously cruel Washington hockey media! Anyone would be sick of dealing with the two newspapers and one TV channel that actually cover hockey! Not to mention the multiple unpaid bloggers who, if they somehow manage to get credentialed, are performing a labor of love that causes them to be somewhat less critical than an unbiased reporter, particularly to someone they are predisposed to adore, like a former player who is so beloved his number has been retired.

I don’t begrudge Hunter his decision to move back up to his farm and his horses and his comfortable job in the family business. I just think it’s silly that the media seemed to be a surprise. He says things like, “You have to answer every question.” Quelle horreur! Those nosy reporters, always wanting to know why you put a highly paid superstar and consistent 50-point scorer on the fourth line, or why you’re giving less ice time to the highest-profile player in the whole league.

He also described Kettler as being “downtown,” which was baffling to me as Kettler isn’t so much downtown as “20 minutes away from the city limits, in a totally different state.” Unless he meant downtown Ballston, which is also baffling because Ballston isn’t really big enough to have a downtown.

Oops, there goes the media again. We’re simply animals!

I feel like George McPhee must be stage-dooring the Caps the way he’s getting things signed lately.

First, he locked down Filip Forsberg, whom you might remember from the draft last month. He got the standard 3-year, entry-level contract, in which he receives a severe pay raise when being called up from the AHL. As it stands he is expected to play in Leksand next season anyway.

Then he signed some guy named Matt Clackson, whom I only heard of when trawling the news archives of capitals.nhl.com. Apparently he was 8th in the AHL in PIM last season, so I confidentally expect I will never mention him again.
» Continue reading “Capitals Re-Sign Mike Green, And Other News”

Adam Oates has been confirmed as the new head coach of the Washington Capitals. I think I speak for all the Caps fans (or at least the ones familiar with the franchise [insert bandwagoner joke here]) when I say, “Yeah, we saw that coming.” I personally have spent the last month or so isolating myself from much of the internet, and if you asked me for a shortlist of possible Caps coaches it would’ve consisted of Adam Oates, and, uh, could you please give me a little more time to think? (Fun fact: the avatar for my tumblr is, and has been since its inception, a picture of Adams Oates, admittedly because he is dressed as a private detective complete with trenchcoat and fedora.)

He has enjoyed a great deal of success as an assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils, in charge of the power play, and, as anyone could have suspected, he parlayed their Stanley Cup berth into a promotion.

Fan fact for nerds: Adam Oates played 1337 NHL games, making him truly one of the elite. As it were.

Fun fact for hockey fans: In those 1337 games (341-1079-1420), he played 387 for the Capitals, going 73-290-363. What bearing does this have on his ability to coach? None whatsoever.

I’m glad he has NHL coaching experience — one of the problems I suspected with Hunter was that, as an OHL coach, he was used to having a lot more control and influence on the players. Oates is used to dealing with players who are already fully or mostly formed, rather than trying to mold them to prepare them for a higher level. He also won’t have to (or at least feel like he has to) play whatever the male equivalent of “den mother” is.

Oates created a successful and (more importantly?) fun to watch, up-tempo power play in New Jersey, which is what GMGM said he was looking for — now can this translate to an entire philosophy? Again? It’s the polar opposite of Hunter’s ethos, which should make our top line (and number one pairing, for that matter) happy. And Oates was apparently looking for the job: NJ GM Lou Lamoriello gave him permission to speak to one team re: a coaching position. Now all that’s left is to see if he can get the team to buy into it, as GMGM put it.

And on a side note,Oates was also inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.. So, not a bad day.*

*It’s your responsibility to make the “Hall and Oates” pun. I’m not going to do it.

Dale Hunter has announced he is stepping down as head coach of the Capitals, citing “family concerns” as his reason.

I saw this coming in about the same way I saw predicted his hiring. I also reckoned that if he didn’t get a cup with these Caps, he was out. You can read Greg Wyshynski’s take on it here. I personally want to look at two factors that I think contributed to his lack of success.

1. Former NHL stars or highly sucessful players do not make good coaches.

2. Junior level coaches do not make good NHL coaches (at least not when going straight from juniors to the NHL).
» Continue reading “Dale Hunter Resigns As Capitals Coach”

Congratulations to the New York Rangers on making it to the third round for the first time since 1997.

Thoughts on the Capitals:

-I basically felt the same way as George McPhee during pretty much the entire game. Part of which was spent with a Rangers fan who had a) both a genuinely New Yawk accent and b) used the phrase “my girlfriend’s husband” and literally could not be more of caricature. (P.S. I have a huge crush on George McPhee.)

-1 power play, refs? I’m not a huge fan of the NHL conspiracy theories, but the Capitals received ONE total power play in the entire game. And it was a delay of game. The Rangers do NOT play that cleanly. Also, I bet you a hundred dollars the finals are Los Angeles-New York (happy birthday Gary Bettman!).

-Looks like Dale Hunter finally started reading this, because Wideman only got 15 minutes of ice time. Or maybe he hasn’t, because Knuble only got 5:57. Remember how I said last game the Capitals seemed to always have someone in the right place at the right time? This was the opposite of that.

-Speaking of, sort of, how long do you think Dale Hunter will be around? If he is coach next year, I think he’s on a very short leash. I have my issues with him (that I will discuss in another post, get excited), but I think we can all agree his hardcore shot-blocking Rangers-copying style is unsustainable for 82 games.

-Thought I had just now: wouldn’t it be awesome if the Caps just played in whatever style their competition did? Issue: the teams that get this far all play in more or less the same style. Sorry. Bad bullet point.

-Apparently the stat line for “rookie goaltenders whose fiancee has a baby two days before a Game 7″ is 0-1. Still, if anyone’s concerned, that’s a very small sample size.

-What happened to the odd man rush? We had fewer than we had last game, and still couldn’t buy a goal. (Insert “buy a vowel” joke here, what with Pat Sajak being a season ticket holder?)

-I had two Good Charlotte (DC band!) songs prepped for tonight. Unfortunately, I have to use this one: “The Day That I Die“. I’m aware how embarrassing it is to listen to Good Charlotte: just slightly less embarrassing than listening to Billy Joel. NEW YORK BURN

Happy off-season, Caps fans. If you find something to do besides vandalism, tell me.

I’m leery of accidentally jinxing the Capitals with what I’m about to say — after all, Holts had a shutout going until the NBCSN morons actually said it, because they hate the Caps — but for significant stretches of time this team reminded me of… well…

They reminded me of the 2009 Capitals. On multiple occasions they set up their PP-style cycle at even strength, they were putting on consistent pressure that created odd man rushes, and Ovechkin nearly scored while seated on the ice, which happened second most memorably in 2009 (the first most memorable being, of course, the goal).

Notes I Took During The Game:
-Brilliant start. We came out like a team with a major chip on our shoulder (which we were), and the Rangers didn’t know what to do. They didn’t regroup until about halfway through the first, and then only sporadically. We looked good. I mean, real good.

-Number 8 scored at 88 seconds in, which was a delight. I will give you zero dollars (Canadian) if you can guess how he beat Lundqvist. Plus, he had assists from 19 and 52, which bodes well. Green’s looking like he did in — well, you can probably guess.

-What a PK. With no Beagle and Laich in the box for the first one, that was huge. Anything after that would be trivial. Even a double minor. Killing that was a huge momentum swing and confidence boost for the Caps. Really exorcised the demons from last game.

-On that subject, are the Rangers blading or something? I’ve been hit in the face with a baseball hard enough for it to leave stitch imprints, and I’ve never started bleeding. Are these guys anemic?
» Continue reading “Capitals Force (Surprise, Surprise) Game 7 Against The Rangers”

Now this is an odd one. The focus of this game will not be Ovechkin, Semin, Oshie, and Backes, but the men behind them: Dale Hunter and Ken Hitchcock. Hitchcock (formerly of the Stars, Flyers, and Blue Jackets) was recently appointed head coach of the St. Louis Blues, while Hunter (formerly of the London Knights, number retired, 19 years in the NHL) has taken over behind the bench of the Washington Capitals. The Blues have since had time to adjust to a new system; the Caps have had 2 practices and probably the legends of Hunter’s discipline. Hopefully John Carlson is related tales of Hunter’s temper and capacity for violence.
» Continue reading “Blues @ Capitals – Eyes On The Bench Bosses”

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”