Say Hello, Waive Goodbye

   

  For the second time in less than a year the Capitals waived DJ King. This time he asked for it to happen, in the hopes of getting some ice time somewhere. No one bit so once again it looked as if he was the team's invisible extra man, the assumed odd man out every game day. When Joe B didn't even name him as a healthy scratch on Saturday, I knew things were bad and sure enough, on Sunday it was announced that DJ would be sent down to Hershey. I read sighs of relief from other places, as if he were some dead weight on the team that had no value, when in truth he was traded for- giving up who I thought was an impressive minor leaguer in Stefan Della Rovere (10 goals and 10 assists, 147 PIM for Peoria over the last two years, and no points and 11 penalty minutes in 7 games for St Louis). GMGM thought he had some value, but BB, despite trying to give off this air of badassery, never liked him, so he was screwed.

  I don't get it. People loved Matt Bradley (more on that another post) and love Matt Hendricks. They cheer when Ovie takes someone down, but out and out fighting is bad? We have the only superstar who doesn't get vicinity calls in his favor and we don't need someone to take down the douches? Is Semin taking up all the PIMs?

  So in prep for this rant, I looked up DJ's stats again on NHL.com . I don't know anything about youth hockey. I don't know if everyone scores because the goalies are still learning. It's a concept beyond my American understanding, but the first line of 30 goals and 28 assists at age 15 impressed me. As I went down the list, I saw a guy who was an asset when given regular playing time. Somewhere around 2006-2007, which coincided with his first NHL run, the games played/PIM ratio jumped. Someone somewhere thought he was a pure enforcer. I don't know if he'll ever prove me wrong, but I disagree.

   A one-dimensional badass wouldn't hustle so hard in practice every day with a smile on his face, and his Twitter avatar certainly wouldn't be him fishing in a Snoopy t-shirt. He might have looked like Bambi out on the ice in actual games, but in BB's ADD style I don't know who could look smooth with more time in the press box than on the ice. This guy is awesome, and I don't think seventeen games in two years is anywhere near enough time to give him up as a lost cause. I hope he shows Hershey he's meant for this and makes Boudreau look like even more of a fool. There's a game tonight. We'll see what happens.

  

Vokoun's First Start

No one wants their team to do poorly, but I've been watching DC sports since about 1988, so I've seen a lot of poorly. Those initial expectations of "Ooh, look we're getting Jayson Werth/Albert Haynesworth/Jason Taylor/Jaromir Jagr/Joe Gibbs again/David Wells/Glenn Davis/Donovan McNabb/Michael Jordan!" never quite match up to reality. I asked my resident local sports historian- ok, my dad and the best examples he could come up with of proven stars coming to town and staying good were Sonny Jurgensen and Sam Huff. Two people, fifty some years ago. Therefore I stick to my theory that Washington DC is where big names go when they want a bit of a paid vacation. They don't work hard, collect a check, and then move on somewhere else where they're good again. It seems to refresh them and frustrate us.

 So I kept my enthusiasm to a minimum when it came to Tomas Vokoun. The numbers look good: no GAA over three, save percentages over .900, an under .500 record since 07-08 but it was the Panthers What I saw in practices were solid saves down low, but high and especially glove-side he was weak and slow to move from side to side. I figured (hoped) practice wasn't a game situation but still I couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't the answer to troubles I wasn't even sure they had in the first place.

 I've been reading around that no one better say there's a goalie controversy, that it's only been one game and we really shouldn't focus on Varly's 30 save shutout for the Avs or Jose's 27 save shutout for the Panthers, but I don't like being told my opinion is less than someone else's opinion.


I'm not buying my ticket on the Vokoun love train just yet. Ten minutes of scoreless hockey on low shots doesn't make up for sixty minutes of poor reactions and five goals allowed, especially when the defensive style really doesn't keep down the goals against. I'd love to be proven wrong, but for now I think I'm going to be a little more anxious when Neuvy gets the night off.

Opening Night Thoughts

   Here we are, the first night of the NHL 2011-2012 season for the Caps. As usual, I come to this with a cautious optimism.

   Watching as many practices as I do, I was not surprised that Neuvy was upgraded to Opening Night starter. He's been smoother than Vokoun who looks to me like he has issues with anything three-hole or higher and on the blue line goal drill Thursday, I saw that it was pretty easy to fake him to one side, usually right, and then pass to the guy now in front of a half-empty goal on his left. I don't know what the official book on him is, but it seemed like a fairly consistent pattern to me on the other side of the glass.

   Yes, there is a new set of fantastic guys to go with our old set of fantastic guys, (my crush on George McPhee is unabashed) but anyone watching the last few years knows that can get you through eighty-two but after that, you need a coach. The one constant is Gabby himself. I first noticed in the 09-10 season that they won games they really shouldn't have due to goal scoring. The plays were bad, the strategies were off, but when the horn blew for the last time, the numbers landed in the Caps favor. Unfortunately this encouraged this style of play which, as one would expect, fell apart as the individual numbers went down.

   The one preseason game that was televised had some bright spots- there seemed to be a man parked in front of the goal on offensive plays which lasted longer than the one and done, scurry back to the defensive zone style of late last year, but then again there were power plays where the puck seemed to spend more time near Neuvy.

  Upon us now is the fresh start of a new season, a blank slate where this year's team can make its mark. It saddened me that the theme of camp was "We have to try harder this year." These are good guys. I have no doubt they tried their hardest last year, but if the same things happen- and Bruce is standing in front of the cameras all wide-eyed, claiming "I don't know what happened" again, I will continue to point out the emperor may have a Mercedes and clean carpets but he has no clothes.

O Frabjous Day, Callooh! Callay!

Disclaimer: In this post there are pictures of me. As much as I'd like y'all to assume I am six feet tall and gorgeous, the truth is I spent more time on chocolate peanut butter ice cream this summer than running. My skates are sharpened and I'm working on it but pictures of cool people are going to be compromised for now by my goofy face and overpadded abs..

So I'm behind on sorting out photos and summaries from practices last week, but yesterday I headed out again to Kettler. I staked out a spot on the bench side, near the media fishbowl and consequently saw Tariq El Bashir, the Washington Post writer, walk past and I had to say hi and mention that I tweeted him before. He might have been lying when he said he remembered that, but what can you do. Awesome event #1.

Plenty of banging up against the boards that I tried to capture, but the focus was a bit slow.

Since I was on the end with the press conference room and it was uncharacteristically empty, I stayed to the end to try and get Mathieu Perreault's autograph on a puck for my dad. It was a long shot, but why not try. Luckily, it worked. He was who the woman next to me was waiting for as well, and she called him over. He signed the puck and took a picture with it for me. Awesome event #2.

On the way out, right by the door, were Alan May and Craig Laughlin. I know I interrupted their conversation but they were very cool about it. I need to work on my social skills. I mentioned that I had been wondering which shirt I should buy in the shop- May, Laughlin or Sylvain Cote. Right away they said not Cote, and I said I liked him and thought he was cute when I was in high school. Then they joked about which to get, that Laughlin's mom was the only one who bought his. I showed them the picture of me and Alan from the RMNB party in April and they agreed it was a good shot.

I then said I needed a photo with Craig for my collection, and Alan May took the photo. The first one was sharp but my mouth was open. The second one was blurry but better than nothing.

Craig wandered off, though let me mention that the whole time I was getting half hugs and shoulder touches from him. Very nice. So it was me and Alan and I mentioned this blog. He said the title was catchy.

In case he does remember it, hello Mr. May. I apologize for the amateur nature of the whole blog. I'm working on it. He had things to do so he went one way and I went another. Awesome event #3.

I remembered I did want to check out the shirts in the shop so I headed back that way and Craig Laughlin was there again. I told him our picture was blurry and he said we'd have to take another, but continued on his conversation and then Joe Beninati came in and I was reluctant to speak to him again since I sounded like such a fool the first time. They headed up to the media event upstairs and I went ahead and purchased a May shirt because he had a conversation with me, I tend to agree with his evaluations on tv and twitter and I felt like it.

Last Day at Nats Park, 2011

Sunday was the last home game of the year and I snagged some tickets with a half-price code. There were $2 tickets available but they were way up high and I wanted a good view for photos. I overestimated travel time and underestimated the supply of Strasburg t-shirts to give away so I arrived way early but that turned out well as I was able to check out Signature Sunday for the first time. The options were Craig Stammen, Ivan Rodriguez, Livan Hernandez, and Stephen Lombardozzi. I don't even know what the line was like for Stammen and knew I wasn't going to bother with Pudge and Livo, so I went straight to the Lombardozzi line with nothing but my program as a signable item. He seemed like a nice a guy, the line went fast and I told him good luck and all that once I was there. So total of Nats players met=1.

Edit:
I framed up the autographs from Mike Rizzo and Lombardozzi and I think they look pretty sharp.

Ross Detwiler put himself in a jam early on but got out of it just as fast.

Playing with the zoom: I was sitting right on left field so I ended up with lots of Morse shots. At least that's the reason I'm giving.

You're welcome, and thank you. I didn't want to leave, the atmosphere was so positive and alive, and this was before Mikey Mo's home run.

One final shot walking away.

See you April 12, 2012 Nationals Park!

Caps Camp, Day 6

Thursday, I headed back out to Kettler. There were already two pre-season games (losses) on the books- Baltimore was blamed on bad ice, the sort of ice that only affected one team apparently as Nashville scored two goals... and I heard no outside comments on the Columbus game so, yeah. This day was the first I saw Tomas Vokoun. He was out first with the goalie coach warming up.

Then the others wandered in to stretch out.

Once the practice got going I noticed a few things:
Ovie almost hit MoJo straight in the face on a wide shot. That was a bit scary.
Vokoun was unstoppable low, but anything mid-range or higher seemed to get past, especially on the glove side.
The lines were not sharp, passes were off.

At one point I noticed Joe B. talking to someone in the press room fishbowl, and I am 99% sure it was Calle Johansson in for the alumni game.

Washington Capitals Training Camp, Day 3

After a weekend of baseball, it was time to head over to Kettler on Monday and check out the first weekday of Caps camp. For some reason I didn't think they'd use up both rinks so I brought my skates along and dressed for the possibility of landing on my rear end. So I felt less than my best when Caps TV announcer Joe Beninati walked by. He is always dressed up. I ended up saying nothing of substance and then apologized for saying nothing of substance so I never said anything of substance even though, of course, two minutes later streams of intelligent observations and questions came to mind. So tack on another tongue-tied, less than impressive meeting with a local celebrity to my list.

Another lesson learned- don't leave your ipod on the rink wall because Matt Hendricks was so happy he scored he jumped against the glass and down it went to the luckily for me, carpeted floor. Mathieu Perreault also felt the need to toss a puck to the glass at the level of my face. I have been a fan of his for a while now, but I may have to reconsider.

By now most of the people I saw playing in Group B have been cut, but then they were working hard:

Just before they wrapped up, Group A started on the Capitals Rink so I moved over there. Schultz made his way from B to the locker rooms through the main door right in front of me, towering in his skates. Then Perreault, Hanson, Joel Ward and Braden Holtby decided to cut through the center doors but had to wait for a break in action.

A shot of Braden Holtby for the Holtby's Honeys Twitter/Tumblr:

The big names were in this group:

First close-up shot of DJ King for the year.

I don't know why, but he is my favorite. Maybe because I'd be a fighter too. Probably because he has a lot of hustle and energy in practices and never gets the chance to play regularly and I hate when people get screwed over for no real reason.
Wednesday addition: Alan May singled him out for his hard work in the first pre-season game. I was glad to see that.

The goalie on the near end of the rink was Philip Grubauer. I was impressed with him during the rookie camp and he seemed to be holding his own just as well against the big guys. He had a strong glove and the only shots that got past him for the longest time were by DJ and Ovie high and stick side.

Does Sasha care? Honestly, I don't know.

 I think the main question is, does Boudreau care? That one I'm still working on.