On July 1, 2010, the Capitals were coming off a hugely disappointing year in which they bowed out of the playoffs in the first round to the Montreal Canadiens in seven games after a 121-point regular season. The regular season saw the Capitals capture the Presidents’ Trophy, as well as raise the interest in hockey in Washington, DC, to levels most didn’t think were possible just three years prior.

With fans upset about the outcome of the playoffs, general manager George McPhee stood pat with his club during free agency — there were no key departures, nor were there any key additions. McPhee probably decided that it was justified to give the players on his squad one more shot, and overreacting to one playoff ouster was not in the long-term interest in the club. I theorized that McPhee was correct to stand pat on a practical level in terms of the salary cap, as well. McPhee didn’t have a whole lot of cap room to work with, so why spend that on a middling free agent when you can save that cash for the trade deadline when you probably know the holes on your roster a bit better than you did in July?

Twelve months later, McPhee was staring at another early-round flameout in the playoffs, this time in the second round – a sweep at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Capitals had once again finished in first place in the Eastern Conference, albeit in more up-and-down fashion than the previous year. The season featured an eight-game losing streak, an HBO appearance and the Winter Classic. After the second round loss, chatter had grown very loud about the job security of Bruce Boudreau (including in this space), who had presided over four consecutive early-round flameouts.

Amidst all the early-round tumbles and failures, there was one common thread in particular, which reflected poorly on the players, the coaches and the entire organization.

The Washington Capitals were a dreadfully fragile hockey team.

Once one aspect of the game fell apart in the playoffs – falling behind in the score reasonably late in the game, for instance – the entire effort went to hell. Adjustments were not made in the Montreal or Tampa series when the overall game-plan broke down (such as constantly not being able to break either team’s trap), or when the power play was ineffective. Whether this was Boudreau’s fault for not making the proper adjustments or whether it was the players’ faults for not executing the adjustments is largely immaterial – it was probably some of both, and it doesn’t reflect well on either party.

Oh, and there were other issues within either series, with one of the bigger issues being the club’s star players not playing like stars. Vinny Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Steven Stamkos skated circles around and out-produced Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin in the Tampa series.

After the previous two postseasons, the Capitals’ issues became painfully clear. Even if it seemed like McPhee didn’t have a lot of cap room to be active in free agency, or that his roster seemed relatively set (especially on defense), McPhee probably knew he needed to shake up the team. He needed to attack the team’s issues.

So he did.

Priority No. 1 seemed to have been to answer the riddle that is the team’s fragility. McPhee traded his 2011 first round pick (the 26^th overall pick in a weak draft) for former Blackhawk Troy Brouwer on the night of the draft. On July 1, McPhee added old friend Jeff Halpern on a one-year deal to replace the departing Boyd Gordon and former Nashville Predator Joel Ward (four years, $12 million) to presumably mostly play the wing on the third line. Former Montreal Canadien Roman Hamrlik then signed on with the Capitals (two years, $7 million) to probably play about 20 minutes per night and to take some pressure off the young shoulders of John Carlson and Karl Alzner, at least in terms of nightly minutes.

As Japers’ Rink indicated after the additions on July 1, the message of McPhee was clear: It wasn’t Boudreau’s fault, but rather, this was on the players. McPhee obviously believes that Boudreau has what it takes to match wits with coaches like Guy Boucher in the playoffs, but that the players Boudreau was coaching were unable – or unwilling – to execute adjustments, whether such adjustments are related to even strength play or the power play.

In Brouwer, Halpern, Ward and Hamrlik, the Capitals got what they were probably looking for – leadership. The Capitals added a bundle of postseason experience with Ward and Hamrlik, with the former being nearly a point-per-game player in the postseason. Stanley Cup experience was added at the draft in Brouwer, who won a Cup with Chicago in 2010 and is known as something of a leader. Four new faces added from the night of the draft to July 1, as well as the re-signing of Brooks Laich – quite of transformation from last summer’s quietness.

With those added intangibles, the Capitals are probably hoping that the club becomes more accustomed to being able to make adjustments on the fly in the postseason. I usually believe that the leadership stuff thrown around is overrated – and it probably is – but given the Capitals’ failures in the postseason and how they targeted some of their summer additions makes it seem as if one of McPhee’s aims was to find that intangible that the Capitals had been missing. McPhee seems to have been after that playoff player that will hopefully rub off on the entire roster, especially the team’s stars.

Again, I’m not big on explaining what it means to have to the intangible of leadership and “knowing how to win” in the NHL. I’ve never played a high level of hockey. I’m not in the Capitals’ locker room. But it’s obvious why these four moves were made, and each of their impacts – whether large or small – won’t be felt until April 2012. But the most noteworthy moves from McPhee weren’t those four additions. It was the series of changes made in the crease.

No one doubts Semyon Varlamov’s talent. When the young man took to the crease for the Capitals, he almost always gave the squad in front of him a chance to win. He had a flair for the dramatic jaw-dropping save, none greater than the save made on Sidney Crosby during Game 1 of the second round of the 2009 playoffs. His 2010-’11 statistics – a .924 save percentage and 2.23 goals-against average – compare favorably with the best goalies in the NHL.

But there were a couple catches: Varlamov has struggled staying healthy, and has had multiple bouts with groin injuries. Over the past two years, Varlamov played in just 53 regular season games. Part of that is because there were others (Jose Theodore and Michal Neuvirth) who needed time in net as well, but a large chunk of that missed time can be attributed to injury. If he were healthy for the entirety of the past two years, he would have been superior options to both Theodore and Neuvirth and would probably be staring at the No. 1 job in net come October 2011.

Alas, he was not healthy that entire period of time. Varlamov would have entered the 2011-’12 season battling for time in net with Neuvirth, who started all nine playoff games in the 2011 playoffs. Varlamov, a restricted free agent on July 1, wanted a sizeable extension and the starter’s job in net.* If he didn’t get what he wanted, he’d bolt to Russia to play for the KHL’s SKA Saint Petersburg. If that occurred, the Capitals would see a potential top-flight goaltender and former first round pick walk away with no compensation to show for it.

*UPDATE: This appeared to be the case to me little while ago because it’s always about the money in sports. But Slava Malamud, a person in the know, says that money and guarantees were not the reasons for Varlamov considering the KHL. Malamud says Varlamov just wanted a fresh start at a place other than Washington.

Then, McPhee turned “no compensation” into “highway robbery.” I have no idea how George McPhee got the Colorado Avalanche to give him a 2012 first-rounder and a second-rounder (2012 or 2013) for an oft-injured Varlamov threatening to play in Russia when the Avalanche could have easily made a typical offer sheet to a restricted free agent and given the Capitals only a second-rounder as compensation. I’ll just shake my head in approval.

The Avalanche claim the Capitals would have matched their offer sheet, but Dmitry Chesnokov tweeted that the KHL threats were very real, in which case the Capitals would have probably let the Avalanche sign Varlamov, since the goaltender may very well have bolted to play in Russia rather than split time with Neuvirth in Washington. Now, McPhee has a potential top-10 pick in next year’s draft, as the Avalanche don’t project to be a particularly competitive team in the Western Conference next year. The Capitals should end up adding a top-10 draft prospect next summer to a pipeline of talent that currently holds the likes of Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dmitri Orlov.

McPhee then fell into more fortune. On July 2, the best goaltender on the 2011 free agent market, Tomas Vokoun, was still without a job and was running out of options in terms of landing a job. McPhee already had Neuvirth, clearly a NHL-caliber goaltender, as well as Braden Holtby (who I believe to have a higher ceiling than Neuvirth). Holtby, 22 years of age at the start of the season, probably needed a starter’s workload in Hershey to prepare for life in the NHL.

McPhee could have used a veteran goalie to split time with Neuvirth. Vokoun needed a job after the goalie market shriveled up quickly. McPhee needed a cap-friendly one-year deal. Vokoun, 35, was willing to do that in order to be on a team with a chance to win the Stanley Cup.

It was a match made in heaven for the Capitals. I had dreamed of Vokoun signing a cheap one-year deal with the Capitals once Varlamov was traded, but I never really thought it would come through. It was too good to be true, and Vokoun is such a quality netminder that he had to find a multi-year deal somewhere.

Guess not.

Vokoun’s one year, $1.5 million deal with the Capitals is one of the best values found in free agency this summer – if not, the best. Free agency is in large part about finding value, and the Capitals did that here (even if some argue that they didn’t find value paying what they did for Ward). The Capitals paid $1.5 million for one of the top-five goalies since the lockout. That’s serious value that 29 other general managers are currently shaking their head violently in disbelief towards.

Teams should never delve too far into free agent contracts for goalies in terms of years and dollars for the same reason that baseball teams shouldn’t hand out big contracts to relief pitchers. Goalies are interchangeable and volatile. An individual goalie’s performance has the potential to shift wildly from year to year. An elite goaltender one year can be merely ordinary the next. There are also no currently elite goalies that project to be elite for the foreseeable future. (Yes, Tim Thomas had an incredible year. He’s also 37.)

The difference in terms of quality between Goalie A and Goalie B is very small, just as it is with relievers. And Goalie A could turn into Goalie B overnight without any indication. Which is all to say: go cheap in net and spend money elsewhere on the roster. There’s a much bigger difference between a first-line forward and a third-line forward than there is between a goalie that will get 52 starts a year as opposed to a goalie that will get 30 starts a year.

(The Philadelphia Flyers, however, do not believe this to be true.)

McPhee, thankfully, understands the goaltender market. The money he’s committed to the crease for 2011 is $2.65 million, or about 4.1 percent of the $64.3 million salary cap. If Vokoun ages fast and falls off a cliff, it’s not a big deal. More likely, though, is that the Capitals will split time in net between the two – I’d imagine it’ll be a pretty even split, with maybe a slight edge to Vokoun in terms of playing time – and will receive well above-average goaltending at a ridiculously low price.

The Flyers, meanwhile, well, yeah.

McPhee still has one more task left, and that’s signing restricted free agent Karl Alzner without trading Alexander Semin to create cap space in order to do it. Here’s the deal – according to CapGeek, the Capitals were about $1.8 million over the salary cap with Alzner left to sign before Eric Fehr was traded to Winnipeg for a 2012 fourth round pick and prospect Danick Paquette. One more player would seem to have to be moved in order to fit Alzner under the cap, since they’re now about $400,000 under the cap. Alzner will probably command a deal of more than $2 million per year. The Capitals – for all the locker room transformation they could be undergoing with the additions of Brouwer, Ward, Halpern and Hamrlik – probably want to move someone other than Semin, even though he’s one of the main culprits of disappearing in the playoffs recently and would free up a ton of cap space.

Why? The Capitals didn’t score a ton of goals to begin with last year – 19^th in the NHL in goals per game at 2.67 – and that was with Semin, who scored 28 goals last year and 40 the year before. Trading Semin would make the Capitals’ locker room transformation complete, but at what cost on the ice? The guess here is that the Capitals would rather not find out what that cost is and they’ll try to trade other pieces away. With Fehr now traded, the Capitals don’t need to trade Semin anyway — they’re pretty close to fitting in Alzner as it is.

(Of course, this could have at least partially been avoided if McPhee didn’t re-sign completely replaceable players like Tyler Sloan, John Erskine and Matt Hendricks to extensions, but hey, I think we can all let McPhee slide for that after the robbery he pulled off on Colorado and getting Vokoun for that unbelievable price.)

But this might all work itself out anyhow without anyone on the roster being moved. The Capitals don’t have to be at the salary cap until Opening Night, and can carry $70.73 million on their roster until that point, according to Mike Vogel. The Capitals will probably re-sign Alzner to a deal soon and see where they are in terms of the cap. After that, they can afford to wait it out, as a ton of things can happen with the roster between now and the beginning of the regular season.

One of the dominoes that has to fall is the situation regarding Tom Poti, who battled injuries all last year and has his career on the line, according to McPhee. Poti carries a $2.875 million cap hit for each of the next two seasons, but that cap hit could be nullified depending on what turn his career next takes. Which is to say, by October, these salary cap concerns could be a distant memory.

As inactive as George McPhee was last summer is as active as he was this summer. McPhee knew he could no longer stand pat. With one pointed goal – finding leadership on the free agent market – and by falling into a lot of luck – Colorado trading away a potential top-10 pick and Tomas Vokoun needing a job – McPhee may very well have had the best off-season of any general manager thus far.

If you missed my post about the Capitals’ short playoff run and why I would have relieved Bruce Boudreau of his head coaching duties, here it is. Boudreau is obviously going to remain the coach of the team, and I wish him the best. One of the reasons I would have gone a different direction is that a team’s window of opportunity isn’t going to be open forever, and four postseasons of the same script of failure was probably a large enough sample size to realize what was going on wasn’t working.

Alas, Boudreau will stay for another year, and good for him. Everyone loves Boudreau the person and I hope as much as anyone that he and his players figure out the playoff riddle. We now head to July 1, the day free agency kicks off in the NHL and is really the one day teams have to improve the personnel of their team. NHL free agency differs from other sports because the day free agency kicks off is pretty much a free agency bonanza.

The Capitals will not be in business for any top-tier free agents; even if they wanted to add a big contract, they couldn’t because they already have two big contracts taking up a lot of cap space. If the Capitals add any significant contracts on the free agent market, it’ll be of the one to two year variety. Any free agent would most likely be a forward to help out a team that was 19th in the NHL in goals scored last year (2.67 per game).

(The NHL salary cap, by the way, could be rising to as much as $63.5 million, according to Pierre LeBrun of ESPN.com. So there could be a little more room for teams to maneuver, as the cap was $59.4 million this season.)

The Capitals will probably not go after a defenseman — they already have seven defensemen under contract for next year. The only defenseman they’ll be inking will probably be restricted free agent Karl Alzner. As the Capitals try to sort through free agency, they’ll need to answer three key questions beforehand.

1. Is Marcus Johansson ready to assume the No. 2 center spot? He was not ready towards the end of the regular season, which is why the Capitals traded for Jason Arnott. The 20-year-old Swede got progressively better during the season, ending the regular season with 13 goals and 14 assists. He gradually became a more confident-looking and assertive player as the year went along. In the series against the New York Rangers, he was probably the best centerman on the ice.

Standing an even six feet and weighing 197 pounds, Johansson could probably stand to get a bit stronger to become more a presence in front of the net and along the boards, but he’s pretty strong on his skates as it is, much like his fellow Swedish center, Nicklas Backstrom. If the Capitals were not a squad with championship aspirations, they would probably just let Johansson have the No. 2 center position, let him take his lumps there and grow into the position.

But they can’t give out a three-year deal to some average center, either. Not only is that an irresponsible way to dole out cap space, but the Capitals soon have another young centerman in Evgeny Kuznetsov who will probably come to Washington once his contract with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL runs out after next season. So the Capitals have to be wary of signing a veteran who could possibly block younger, cheaper and possibly better players from ice time down the road.

If the Capitals let Johansson handle the No. 2 center’s duties, they might still need a third line center, especially if Brooks Laich bolts. The guess here is that the Capitals look for a center on a one- or two-year deal to hold down either the second or third line center position.

2. How much is Brooks Laich worth? The soon to be 28-year-old Laich is the most significant unrestricted free agent the Capitals need to address. Laich can play center or the wing. Laich’s goal totals the past four years are 21, 23, 25 and 16, while his assist totals are 16, 30, 34 and 32. His production would be difficult to replace on the free agent market, and my guess is that the Capitals will get something done with Laich, as their top priority at the moment is probably to ink him to a deal for three years or so. The question is, for how much money?

Last off-season, Eric Fehr received a two year extension worth $2.2 million each season. Fehr was not a player who could play both center and wing and had only one 20-goal season under his belt. Laich has three. According to CapGeek, Laich made $2.4 million last season. Laich is due a pretty significant raise above the area around where he and Fehr currently sit.

3. The Capitals had problems scoring goals in the regular season and couldn’t solve the 1-3-1 scheme of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Can the Capitals help solve those issues by bringing in one or two of a specific type of forward? Two issues that plagued the Capitals all year — and have for quite some time, actually — and came to the forefront during the Tampa series were the problematic zone entries and the lack of effectiveness of the dump and chase.

The Capitals had major issues entering the zone cleanly against the Bolts — whether it be on the power play or even strength — when carrying the puck into the zone. It resulted in a lot of low-percentage shots from the perimeter with no second chances, or just being spit back out by the Tampa Bay trap altogether. With the 1-3-1 scheme, Tampa forwards gave Washington defenders a lot of time to break the puck out of their own zone, but when Capitals defensemen dumped the puck into the offensive zone, the quality of the forechecking from the forwards to gain possession of the puck was lacking.

These are both issues that have been in place for awhile now — it wasn’t just the Tampa series. Can some new personnel help these matters? Or is it purely schematic? Probably both.

I don’t want to suggest names that the Capitals should go after because I probably haven’t seen enough of them to make an informed judgment on what they’re worth, but the Capitals will and should probably be more active in the free agent market than they were last summer.

I was just starting to think about whether Bruce Boudreau would be fired by the Capitals and if he should be back behind the bench when the bombshell that was Gary Williams’ retirement went off and put any of those thoughts on hold. As big of a hockey fan as I am, my attention becomes diverted when the only Maryland men’s basketball coach I’ve ever known retires – Williams had been the coach at Maryland longer than I had been alive.

I’m sure it was like that for many Capitals fans in the area. But now that the shock value of Williams’ retirement has subsided and a new coach has been hired, I’m back ready to discuss the fate of Bruce Boudreau. As of now, it appears that Boudreau will be back behind the bench. Owner Ted Leonsis said the coach’s fate is general manager George McPhee’s call, and McPhee recently gave Boudreau a vote of confidence. I also don’t sense any urgency from the Capitals in making that significant of a change.

But should Boudreau be back? There are absolutely arguments to be made for each side of the debate.  One side is that Boudreau has led the team to four consecutive division titles after taking over a floundering team on Thanksgiving 2007. He transformed his 2010-’11 squad from an offensively-driven team to a more defensively-minded squad in the midst of the season, which is not exactly easy to do.

The other argument is that Boudreau has had very little success in the playoffs – just two series wins in four years – and that he’s been out-coached every year in the playoffs. There’s merit to each argument, although I laid out the sides to the argument rather simplistically.

I do get mad when I hear fans wanting to cast Boudreau aside without any hint of appreciation for what he’s done for the franchise – first, helping groom the future of the Capitals with the Hershey Bears, a team he won the 2006 Calder Cup with, and second, turning around a franchise with a mounting loss total and a dwindling fan base basically overnight. If you think that anyone could have taken over for Glen Hanlon on Thanksgiving 2007 and win four straight division titles, you’re probably wrong. Boudreau has done wonderful things for the Capitals organization and that should never be forgotten.

But then when I watched the Capitals in the playoffs the first three years of Boudreau’s tenure, I got mad at that, too. The themes were similar throughout. Trouble entering the offensive zone cleanly. Problems with the power play. Star players not playing like star players. Not taking the intensity up to another level from the regular season. Panicking when behind in the score. And most of all, the failure to make adjustments on the fly while the opposing team made adjustments.

During the New York Rangers series this April, I thought maybe the Capitals had grown up from the characteristics that marked their playoff failures the past three years, and I think a lot of Capitals fans thought that. There were reasons to believe that, too – the Capitals came back from a 3-0 deficit with their backs against the wall in Game 4, they closed the series with a sense of urgency during Game 5, superstar Alex Ovechkin was all over the ice, the goaltending was good…everything looked like it was shaping up for a deep playoff run.

Boy, were we wrong.

Each of the characteristics of the previous three playoff years came back to haunt the Capitals against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the conference semifinals – every last one of them. Trouble entering the zone cleanly? Check. The Capitals are still baffled by how to enter the offensive zone against the Bolts’ 1-3-1 scheme and they’re not even playing them anymore. Problems with the power play? You know, it’s funny – I really thought doing the same thing over and over again would eventually produce goals. Guess not.

Star players not playing like star players? Nick Backstrom and Alexander Semin thought they won the Cup after they beat the Rangers and were on the golf course the entire Tampa Bay series. Those people in their jerseys weren’t actually them.

Not taking the intensity up to another level? Sure. My dad said it best when he was talking me off the ledge after Game 3: “You know…this effort wins a regular season game.” Well put. The Capitals have yet to learn how to bump the intensity up to another notch for each playoff round – they were at regular season intensity or, at best, Round-1-against-the-Rangers intensity against the Lightning.

That’s not good enough against a team as good and well-coached as Tampa Bay in the second round of the playoffs. But it’s hard to believe that a team could be out-intensified in playoff games, especially a team like the Capitals that had seen so much playoff disappointment year after year. One would assume that they’d have some sort of idea about what kind of effort is necessary in the playoffs.

Panicking when behind in the score? Oh, God yes. The Capitals reverted right back to how they played the past three playoff years when they got behind, which they didn’t do against the Rangers this year. When they got behind 3-0 in Game 4 in a raucous Madison Square and calmly fought their way back and won in double overtime. They didn’t deviate from their system and never panicked.

But against Tampa Bay, it was Montreal all over again – down a goal in the third period, it was all sloppy individual play in an effort to score goals and a lack of a commitment to a cohesive offensive system to generate scoring chances. And adjustments on the fly? We’ll touch on that later. It wasn’t pretty.

I suppose Boudreau could have something to do with each of these failures in the Tampa Bay series, but I want to single out the point about the star players. It’s not Boudreau’s fault that Backstrom and Semin failed to show up and Ovechkin was good yet slightly underwhelming. In four games, Ovechkin, Backstrom and Semin combined for just seven points and three goals. Ovechkin had four of those points and two of those goals.

Simply put, playoff series are won by star players. Star players win teams championships. Cup-winning teams usually have certain role players that step up, but each team is carried by its stars. If star players fail in playoff series, the coach and role players can do everything right and you’ll still probably lose the series. We can analyze all we want – and Lord knows I’m trying – but it comes down to a team’s star players playing like stars.

And if role players don’t at least somewhat step up in the absence of those stars, then, well, you get swept – which is what happened to the Capitals. And the Bolts’ star players? Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis, Vinny Lecavalier combined for seven goals and 13 points in four games. That’s what superstars are supposed to do.

Combine lackluster star play with no significant help from their supporting cast – which included an ailing and ineffective Mike Green – and it would seem silly to fire the coach.

But we get back to the coach, and there are two glaring things to point out in the many things that went wrong that I mentioned above. One is the power play and the other is adjustments on the fly. Each go hand in hand with the other and both reflect poorly on Boudreau.

The power play never made any significant adjustments throughout the regular season aside from what appeared to be the fruitful development of Jason Arnott and Dennis Wideman manning the points on the power play, but that development subsided when Wideman was sidelined with a gruesome leg injury. Throughout the playoffs, it was much of the same struggles as last year on the power play, although not nearly to the degree of the Montreal series (hard to match that futility).

But it was the same sort of stagnant nature of the power play – slow puck movement, minimal movement without the puck from personnel on the power play, a lack of creativity, and maddening struggles against shot-blocking efforts.

You want a good power play? Look at what Tampa Bay specializes in – spacing and puck movement. Each player is spaced out well – every inch of the offensive zone is being used – and the puck is never on one stick for a long period of time. As soon as a Bolts player gets the puck, he’s immediately seeking a clean passing lane for a quick, high-percentage pass. Players like Lecavalier and Stamkos have rockets for slapshots they can use to deposit those passes into the back of the net.

Granted, John Carlson and Mike Green were banged up and Wideman was out, so there wasn’t the type of healthy defenseman to quarterback the power play that one would prefer. But no teams are completely healthy in the playoffs – the teams who advance generally find a way to fight through injuries.

So how much of the power play is Boudreau’s fault? We really don’t know, since we’re not aware if he’s making adjustments on the power play and the players just aren’t executing the adjustments, or if Boudreau is being stubborn and not adjusting. Either way, it doesn’t reflect particularly well on Boudreau.

The lack of overall adjustments made by the Capitals was also alarming. The Capitals attacked Boucher’s 1-3-1 the same way every game – an ineffective dump and chase (whether the forwards weren’t forechecking hard enough is up to you to decide) and forwards who tried to skate through the teeth of Boucher’s trap as their entry to offensive zone. The issue with the latter was that Capitals forwards were spit back out by the trap either right away or after one shot on Bolts netminder Dwayne Roloson.

Adjustments in between and during games is what coaching is all about in the playoffs, and if adjustments aren’t being made on the ice – whether it’s the coach’s fault or the players just aren’t executing the adjustments – then that’s an issue. Whether that’s more of an issue with the personnel (the core of which has been in place for all four playoff years) or the coach is impossible to know for outsiders.

But it’s the panicking when behind in the playoffs the last four years that worries me the most about this bunch.

When the Capitals were behind in the third period against the Bolts, it was mainly individual play trying to get through the Tampa Bay trap. That’s panicking and abandoning a cohesive plan for an entire unit. And when that happens, it doesn’t really matter if there is a good game-plan put in place by the coaching staff or if adjustments are being made by coaches, because individual players are on their own plan.

When I look back on the Tampa Bay series, I’ll remember one sequence in particular. It’s a play involving Ovechkin, but I’m not necessarily trying to pick on him – the play is a part of a broader issue. The Capitals were down by a goal in the waning moments of Game 3, desperately needing a goal if they were going to have a decent chance to win the series. Ovechkin skated towards the offensive zone, and the rest of the Capitals on the ice appeared ready to chase after a dump-in. Instead, Ovechkin tried to skate through the entire Tampa Bay defense himself, wound up for a slap shot, got a weak shot off and fell to the ice.

Remember how down and out Capitals players looked when they kept on losing during their time on HBO’s 24/7? Remember how Boudreau called them out on it? And remember when they won Game 2 in overtime against Montreal last year and the Capitals acted like they had won the Stanley Cup?

I’m afraid this hockey team is fragile.

How does one fix fragile glass? Well, you put bubble wrap around it to be less fragile. What’s that bubble wrap for the Capitals? It might not be grizzled veterans to surround the young core with – McPhee tried that with players like Arnott and Mike Knuble to no real avail in the postseason.

The Capitals need to be toughened up. They need to lose their fragility. There needs to be bubble wrap placed on this team. I’m beginning to think that the thing that can help the Capitals lose its fragility is a new coach, a no-nonsense coach preaching accountability and discipline.

The Capitals’ window of opportunity isn’t going to last forever. Hockey is a young man’s game. Ovechkin isn’t getting any younger. It’s time to bring in a new voice.

The Washington Capitals have won 11 out of their last 12 games, with the latest win coming in Philadelphia against the Flyers on Tuesday night. With the Capitals hot and the regular season winding down — the Capitals have just eight games left before the playoffs — I find myself wondering whether the Capitals’ recent upturn equates to post-season success. In recent years, does “getting hot at the right time” help a team towards a Stanley Cup?

It seems simple enough to think that it would — a team would seem to have a better shot at success in the playoffs if it’s playing well in March, and then it goes into the playoffs on a roll. It makes a lot of sense. So let’s look at the teams that have won the last 10 Stanley Cups and take a gander at each team’s last 20 games (since the last 20 games of the season is around where the Capitals have started their run). Is there a correlation between late-season success and playoff success?

A table is below, with the year that the Stanley Cup winner lifted the Cup and the winning team to the left, and the records of the teams in their last 20 regular season games to the right. There’s no Cup winner in 2005 due to the lockout. From 2000 to 2004, the records are in the form of win-regulation loss-tie-overtime loss. Obviously, the form is now win-regulation loss-overtime or shootout loss.

Interesting: Of the last four Cup winners, I’d say all of them came into the playoffs hot. Even the Blackhawks, whose record in their last 20 games was less than stellar, won six of their last seven games. Of the other six teams listed, I’d consider two teams came into the playoffs hot — the Lightning in 2004 and the Avalanche in 2001. Six of the last 10 Cup winners came into the playoffs hot, as the four other teams just managed to more or less keep their heads above water for the last 20 regular season games.

So is getting hot at the right time in connection with playoff success largely a myth? I wouldn’t say it’s a myth, but it’s not universal either. It probably helps to be hot at the end of the regular season, but it doesn’t seem like it’s a prerequisite to post-season success. Let’s now focus on the last four years, which would seem to be most indicative of the Capitals’ situation because those are the most recent Cup winners.

The Capitals’ success has to be tied to the trade deadline in some way — the deadline is around when their run of winning 11 out of 12 began, as the second win of this run was the game after the deadline. The Capitals’ entire team seems energized since the trade deadline (the Capitals had won just five of their last 10 before their run of 11 wins out of 12 games). Perhaps more importantly, general manager George McPhee filled needs at the deadline. At last year’s deadline, it turned out he didn’t fill needs appropriately — Joe Corvo wasn’t the kind of defenseman the Capitals needed, and Eric Belanger wasn’t couldn’t quite fill the second-line center void. Scott Walker turned out to play in just one of seven playoff games.

At the deadline this year, McPhee needed a puck-moving defenseman to help the power play with Mike Green and Tom Poti injured, and he picked up Dennis Wideman, who has performed right away better than anyone could have expected. Wideman has given the Capitals’ power play a big lift, and he, along with fellow deadline acquisition Jason Arnott, has played the points on the power play when each player is healthy. The power play has more movement without the puck, quicker passing and a greater sense of purpose with those two at the points. Since the trade dealine, the power play is clicking at about a 22 percent rate (six for 27), but Arnott has been sidelined for a significant portion of that.

It doesn’t hurt that Arnott is the best second-line center the Capitals have had since Sergei Fedorov left, even though Arnott is still ideally a third-line center (but seems to fill the second line role nicely). One has to hope that Arnott can help maximize Alexander Semin’s abilities in the playoffs, as the Capitals will need scoring up and down the lineup — with Semin being a big part of that — in order to be successful in the playoffs. If Alex Ovechkin’s line isn’t doing damage, other lines have to do the job.

Anyway, of the last four Cup winners, was their late-season push accompanied by trade deadline acquisitions like the Capitals’ run has been? Let’s take a look. And by trade deadline moves, I mean moves that have happened around the deadline, so they don’t have to happen on Deadline Day.

The Blackhawks made no deadline moves last year aside from signing a minor leaguer for depth purposes. The Penguins in 2009, meantime, made some serious moves, acquiring forwards Bill Guerin, Chris Kunitz and Craig Adams (on waivers). In 2008, the Red Wings traded for defenseman Brad Stuart. And in 2007, the Ducks acquired forward Brad May, among others.

Of these four teams, the Penguins are obviously the team that got the most out of their deadline deals. Guerin was one of the more effective deadline deals of recent memory, bringing a scoring winger alongside Pittsburgh’s fantastic pivots. Not only did Guerin scored five goals and had seven assists down the stretch in the regular season in 2009 for the Penguins, but he scored seven goals and had eight assists in 24 playoff games for the Penguins in the 2009 playoffs. Kunitz had a goal and 13 assists in those playoffs and Adams had three goals and two assists. The Penguins three big trade deadline acquisitions combined for 34 points in the 2009 playoffs.

Could Jason Arnott be the Guerin-type of acquisition in the playoffs for the Capitals? Can Marco Sturm be the Adams-type waiver wire acquisition? Can the Capitals take the kind of route that the Penguins took in 2009 of getting hot at the regular season and won the Cup, both with the help of trade deadline acquisitions? Time will tell.

It’s a fairly popular opinion among sports fans that in the NHL and NBA, the season doesn’t really begin until April. The six and a half months of the regular season are simply a distraction until the playoffs begin — and the quality of the regular games in these leagues would sometimes seem to indicate that the players feel that the regular season is a distraction, too.

But, at least in the NHL, you’ll often hear owners, general managers, coaches and players lamenting the fact that they left points on the ice that they felt they should have had. It seems like fans brush these concerns aside and look more so at how the team is playing. Is the style of game that my team is playing conducive for playoff hockey? Is my team getting by with questionable goaltending, which will inevitably be exposed in the playoffs? Is my team peaking at the right time of year as to get hot right around when the playoffs are rolling around?

For the Washington Capitals, it seemed like they sleepwalked through much of the first four or five months of the season. It seemed like their effort level came and went, and in December, the team was miserable. They went through a brutal eight-game losing streak, the last game in which they put an astounding 26 shots on net in the third period in Boston, but were repeatedly stonewalled by Bruins’ stud goaltender Tim Thomas. January and February were littered with a mixed bag of efforts. Still, the Capitals remained in the thick of the playoff chase, in part because of the East’s lack of dominant teams. The Capitals, though, looked bored by the regular season.

Everyone knew — the Capitals included — that they’d ultimately be judged on what they did in the playoffs. They had already mastered the regular season in 2009-’10, in which they had racked up 121 points. But they failed to do anything in the playoffs, but instead watched the rest of the playoffs from home courtesy of the well-coached defensive scheme of the Montreal Canadiens. The San Jose Sharks for years had been masters of the regular season only to flame out spectacularly in the playoffs.

The Capitals saw the seventh-seeded Philadelphia Flyers get a favorable first round matchup and roll right through the New Jersey Devils, come back from a 3-0 series deficit in the second round against the Bruins to win in seven games, and beat up on the Montreal Canadiens, only to fall to the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Final in six games. The Flyers, who sneaked into the playoffs on the final day of the regular season via — wait for it — a shootout victory, almost won the Cup.

And so it’s perfectly logical to assume that the only part of the regular season in hockey that matters is just getting into the playoffs, that the rest is a crapshoot based partly off luck, injuries, matchups and getting hot at the right time. After all, once you get in, every team is 0-0. Every team has to win 16 playoff games to win the Cup. No 13-game win streak in November and December matters. It’s a brand new season, really. The regular season is about just getting into the playoffs and taking your chances once you’re there, right? The playoffs seem to be played at a completely different level of intensity than the regular season and the type of game seems different, anyway.

With the Capitals shooting up the Eastern Conference standings and now on top of the Southeast Division, it seems like a good time to look at past Stanley Cup finalists to see the correlation between winning your division (thereby guaranteeing a top-three seed in the conference and at least one round of home ice advantage) and playoff success. Does it matter if the Capitals oust the Tampa Bay Lightning for the Southeast Division crown?

I mean, there has to be some correlation with the Stanley Cup Final participants, right? Doesn’t home ice advantage throughout at least part of the playoffs have to be at least some sort of an advantage? Let’s look at the seed for each Stanley Cup Final participant the past 10 years, with their regular season point totals also shown. The year indicated is the year that the Stanley Cup was handed out. The Stanley Cup winner is in bold. The 2005 season does not have a Stanley Cup winner due to a league-wide lockout over a labor dispute.

I think these findings are pretty interesting because of the contrast of the teams that lose in the Final as opposed to those who win the Cup. Of the past 10 Cup winners, eight have been either No. 1 or 2 seeds. The other two Cup winners have been No. 4 seeds, and the Devils in 2001 had the third-highest point total in the East but got pushed down to No. 4 because division winners automatically get seeds Nos. 1-3. The losers of the past 10 Cup Finals, meanwhile, have been any seed besides a fifth seed. What does this show us besides that the Capitals should really try to avoid being the fifth seed?

It seems like any team can make a run to the Final, but that the higher seed usually wins out in the Final. What’s more is that of the past 10 Cup finals, five have gone to a Game Seven — 2001, ’03, ’04, ’06 and ’09. If we zero in on 2003, ’04 and ’06, we find that a seventh, sixth and eighth seed fell in those Game Sevens to either a No. 1 or 2 seed. So why do random seventh seeds make it to the Cup Final, but usually succomb to the higher seed, even in crapshoot Game Sevens?

Is it because the lower seed had to work hard at the end of the regular season and runs out of gas by June? Maybe, but I really doubt that that’s the reason why the lower seeds lost three consecutive Game Sevens to significantly higher seeds. I’m sure those lower seeds could suck up enough energy to play the biggest game of their lives. Is it due to each team being so physically beat up by the time the Cup Final rolls around that talent usually wins out? Is it a case of the higher seed just being the better team?

This seems feasible, but teams like the Flyers last year had a lot of talent all year but never came together until a new coach in Peter Laviolette implemented a new system. And for the three low seeds that lost in Game Sevens, if they were talented enough to get to that point in the playoffs, it seems fair to assume that those teams aren’t exactly devoid of talent. And Game Seven is notoriously a crapshoot kind of game, one where the team with the most talent isn’t guaranteed of anything.

Or maybe, just maybe, the big advantage in being the higher seed in the Cup Final — and especially in a Game Seven — is having home ice. Playing in front of your home fans can do one thing more than anything else, more than even manufacturing energy for the home team to feed off of. It’s that for those one or two borderline plays that could be a penalty or no-call, maybe a referee gets sucked up in the atmosphere of the building and makes one or two calls in the favor of the home team when the calls could have easily been a no-call. And it could be a no-call in favor of the home team, too. Even though the Capitals have lost three of their past four Game Sevens on home ice, I’d imagine having home ice advantage in a series, and specifically, a Game Seven, can indeed be a big advantage.

So is it important to win your division? Apparently it is, even if the regular season results have no direct bearing on playoff results — it’s not like division winners get a first round bye like in football. But I do find this strange correlation between regular season success and Cup Finalists (both winners and losers) rather interesting, even if I don’t exactly have any answers for why correlation is what it is, especially for the teams that lose in the Cup Final.

If someone would have told me before the regular season that, by the all-star break, the Capitals would be second in the NHL in killing off penalties (86.0 percent) and seventh in the league in goals against average (2.45), I would have been ecstatic. During the off-season, I wanted a commitment to a more aggressive penalty kill and different defensive philosophies in order to shore up the Capitals come playoff time, as their exciting, run-and-gun style of play ran into a buzz-saw last April when it ran into the well-coached, disciplined defensive scheme of the Montreal Canadiens.

But yet, I’m underwhelmed. While I understood that a greater commitment to defense would result in less goal scoring, I couldn’t anticipate the Capitals scoring a very average 2.71 goals per game for the season (16th in the league) and would struggle mightily at times to put the puck in the net. I just couldn’t envision a Bruce Boudreau-coached team having trouble scoring goals during the regular season, and I certainly couldn’t envision a power play as crappy as the Capitals have thrown out there recently.

I mean, I want to decline penalties these days.

But make no mistake – the defensive style the Capitals are playing should make them a tougher team to beat in the postseason. (The Capitals are sure hoping so.) It should make them less vulnerable to well-coached defensive systems. It should give them an alternative way to win games come April. If they’re having trouble scoring, at least they can still theoretically steal a series with their defense and goaltending.

(The Capitals’ goaltending, by the way, is as good as could have been expected. There’s no other organization that I know of that has three young, cheap goaltenders who can play at an above-average level in the NHL.)

But the lack of scoring makes some Capitals games damn near unwatchable. Some are almost so boring that I would rather watch the New Jersey Devils take on the New York Islanders in a battle of Eastern Conference incompetence.

OK, perhaps not that much. Still, I bet everyone longs for the 121-point regular season last year where every game included lots and lots of goals and lots of exciting back and forth action. But again, the real season begins in April. The regular season is simply preparation for the real season, and it seems like the Capitals are playing a style more suited for April.

Success in the playoffs can be a bit of a crapshoot, based in part off what team you get as your first round matchup. The Capitals last year had a horrible matchup in the first round, whereas the seventh-seeded Philadelphia Flyers matched up well against second-seeded New Jersey.  Then, the playoffs can become about attrition, to the point that by the conference championship series, it may very well come down to what teams are the healthiest.

Yet, if the Capitals don’t start scoring, they could be looking at dropping down in the Eastern Conference playoff race and getting a really poor first-round matchup in the Boston Bruins. Or, if they stay in the four or five seed, they may very well have to face Pittsburgh, a team that, while beatable, would probably necessitate a seven-game series and leave the Capitals weary for the next series.

Long story short, the Capitals have to start scoring if they want to win the Southeast Division, currently led by Tampa Bay by four points. Both teams have played 51 games. So how do they get scoring? Let’s get to it…

1. Fix the power play.

This is the simplest way to get the Capitals back on track. If they could score on the power play at an above-average clip from this point in the season onward (about 18.0-20.0 percent), they could tick their goals per game up to a more reasonable level while not affecting the style of play they have going on for five on five situations.

The power play, clicking at a 17.1 success rate for the season and dreadful lately, is, as currently constructed, stale. There’s just nothing going on. Probably the most alarming thing about the power play is that this lack of scoring stems all the way back to last April when the Canadiens shut down the Capitals’ power play doing one thing – shadowing Alex Ovechkin and not allowing him to get the puck. Montreal was not going to allow Mike Green on the left point to pass to Ovechkin on the right point for a lethal one-timer that had killed so many teams in the 2009-’10 regular season. So, the Canadiens cut off the pass. And the Capitals still haven’t figured out a Plan B on the power play.

There’s no movement without the puck on the man-advantage. Everything is static on the perimeter — the Capitals pass back and forth like pee-wee teams do in order to practice how to properly pass. I’d like everything to be more mobile and flexible, meaning more players cutting towards the net and more rotation of players along the perimeter. There’s nothing stating that players along the perimeter need to stay in one spot for the entirety of the power play. I swear – there really isn’t.

But before we figure out how to run an offense, the Capitals need to get in the offensive zone in the first place, a task that has proven to be damn near impossible in some games. I have one suggestion for this issue. Gain the red line, dump the puck and outwork the opposition on the forecheck. Yes, it’s dirty work. No, it’s not particularly pleasant. But it wins playoff games. And once you have the puck, a cycle isn’t such a bad thing, either.

I would like to see more of John Carlson on the power play, but let’s face it – if the Capitals are going to be lethal on the power play (which is pretty much completely necessary come playoff time), it’s going to have to be Ovechkin, Green, Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin who have to get it together. Matt Hendricks might provide a nice little spark on the power play in early February, but it’s going to have to be the top guns who provide the scoring on the power play in the playoffs. The big dollar players will have to step up.

And for God’s sake, when you have an open shot, please shoot the damn puck. And don’t be afraid to stick your nose in the crease and mix it up. Be a presence in front of the net.

2. Hope that players returning from injuries help a lot.

Without Semin or Eric Fehr in the lineup, Wednesday’s lineup against the Atlanta Thrashers has been the norm. The Capitals had Jason Chimera on the first line, with Mathieu Perreault and Jay Beagle on the second line. Beagle has seen time on the third line, and D.J. King has seen time recently on the fourth line.

With that lineup, it’ll be a tough task to score goals no matter who’s on the bench. That lineup isn’t conducive to scoring a lot of goals, which increases the need to stick to the bear fundamentals on offense – dump and chase, forecheck and crash the net. Even if the Capitals were doing all those things, they’d still struggle to score just because the personnel right now aren’t suited for scoring goals.

With the return of Semin, and eventually Fehr, the Capitals have to be hoping that the lineup falls back into place, putting goal-scorers on each of the top two lines. Personally, I love the Chimera-Boyd Gordon-Fehr combination as the third line because they’re great at forechecking and cycling, so I’d hope Boudreau has them as the third line (but if he does, it’ll last maybe five minutes, if that).

I’d also challenge Marcus Johansson before the trade deadline with the second line center spot and put Semin and Brooks Laich on either side of him. I’d put Mike Knuble on the first line with Ovechkin and Backstrom to see if they can rekindle last year’s magic.

Eventually, though, it’s probably unavoidable that the Capitals will have to…

3. Trade for a second-line center.

Back in July when the Capitals did nothing in free agency, I said it wasn’t a huge deal with the second center spot because the Capitals had four months of the regular season before the trade deadline to figure out if the slim chances would come through that Perreault or Johansson would lock down the second line center position.

Perreault is just not a second line center. Johansson might be as soon as next year, but he’s not quite there yet to lock down the position come playoff time (although I’d still like to see what Johansson, who seems to have improved a good bit since Semin last played, can do with Semin and Laich on his wings).

More than likely, the Capitals general manager George McPhee already sniffing around for a second line center to maximize Semin’s talents in the playoffs and become stronger up the middle. Whether they can find a legitimate second line center out there (there are so few teams pretty much out of the playoff races at this point) and at a fair price, I don’t know. But it’s obvious they need one.

4. And as a team-wide goal, peaking at the right time would be awesome.

All teams, even the best ones, go through a couple of slumps each year. The Capitals went through their awful eight-game losing streak, and appear to have gone into the all-star break in a funk. Remember, the Flyers were basically unwatchable for much of the regular season last year, and they almost won the whole damn thing. It’s OK to struggle in the regular season, but the Capitals need to peak at the right time to roll into the playoffs with momentum.

With the Southeast much stronger than last year, motivation in games down the stretch shouldn’t be an issue. The key tends to be to get heated up in late February, get rolling in March and go into the playoffs red-hot in April. Whether the Capitals can follow the general regular season arc towards playoff success remains to be seen.

Due to my lengthy hiatus from the blog, I haven’t gotten a word in about the Capitals. Without further ado, here are my thoughts on the Capitals, who are in second place in the Southeast Division with 55 points and looking up at the Tampa Bay Lightning (57 points).

1. HBO is the greatest television network ever.

I think all hockey fans – and sports fans, for that matter – can agree that HBO did an unbelievable job with “24/7: Penguins/Capitals” and hope that this isn’t the last time the NHL and HBO hook up with one another. It’s difficult to put into words just how great this four-part series was – it captured everything why fans love hockey and sports in general, it captured a behind-the-scenes looks at the players and their lives like has never been done before (in any sport), and it put together unreal behind-the-scenes looks for individual regular season games at unprecedented levels (the Dec. 23 Capitals/Penguins game in D.C., and of course, the Winter Classic). The series was remarkably quotable, and made fantastic work of the F-word. Bruce Boudreau came off as an old-school, foul-mouthed coach who motivates more than he designs schemes to attack the opposition, whereas his counterpart, Penguins coach Dan Bylsma, came off as a master technician who is extremely direct with players. Some terrific soul put all four episodes in 15-minute intervals on his YouTube account here.

HBO put the entire first episode on YouTube (with the curse words edited out):

Some of the scenes that HBO put together in this series are so fantastic that it’s difficult to fairly put into words how great of a job HBO did with this series – you just have to watch in order to fully appreciate it. What I found so incredible was how HBO balanced the background information of each team (the results of the game, the injuries of the team) and the unprecedented raw footage they were getting.

This series got me to thinking about other ways the NHL and HBO could get together on a series. Putting together a similar series revolving around the Winter Classic could be a possibility for years to come (my proposition for next year’s Winter Classic – Detroit vs. Colorado at Mile High or the Big House at Michigan), but let’s even think more outside the box than allowing cameras full access during a regular season (which the NHL, the Capitals and the Penguins deserve full credit for allowing – that’s not something that most leagues or teams would allow). How about an uncensored HBO Game of the Week on a Thursday night or something? Consider this: the Capitals and Penguins are playing each other, and HBO gets the best play-by-play man in sports, Mike “Doc” Emrick, on the call. We have uncensored peeks at players who are mic’d up. We get uncensored peeks into the locker room during intermissions.

Now, I have no idea how HBO would turn around all of this uncensored material in mere minutes, but I’m sure they’d love to have a crack at this. Also, is the idea of doing an HBO series revolving around the playoffs so crazy? The logistics of it would be difficult, to be sure – if HBO zeroed in on just a couple teams that everyone thought would go far in the playoffs, and one or both of those teams didn’t go so far in the playoffs, what would happen? Can HBO just pick another team? But as intense as the regular season show was, the intensity was go up a few notches for the playoffs. There are no games that are more intense than playoff hockey games.

2. The Winter Classic was great for me as a Capitals fan, even though I was just watching at home.

I can’t imagine how fun it must have been to actually be in Pittsburgh for the Winter Classic, but one could tell what a spectacle the scene was in Pittsburgh through television. 68,000 people present for an outdoor hockey game between two of the more bitter rivals in the game with the two biggest stars the sport has to offer on center stage? Sounds pretty sweet, but this lived up to the hype. It’s unfortunate that it rained during the second and third periods and muddied up the ice a bit, but that’s part of the deal when the NHL decides to take its game outside for one night – it might rain, it might snow, it might be freezing cold, it might be unseasonably warm. Everyone just has to hope that the ice surface holds up, and given the rain looked like it was coming down pretty well, I’d say that the skaters held up through conditions that weren’t ideal. It was the game that Capitals fans zeroed in on more and focused on more intently than any game since Game Seven of the Montreal series last year.

Eric Fehr was the hero of the game with two goals, and Mike Knuble had possibly the most Knuble-ish goal ever. But it was in the last 10 or so minutes of the game that the kind of game the Capitals are beginning to adapt took hold – no longer are the Capitals pressing full-bore for as many goals as humanly possible in the 60 minutes allotted for the game, but they’re becoming more accepting of dumping the puck in and clamping down on defense. Sure, the Capitals should still take their chances offensively when they present themselves (like on the second Fehr goal via the beautiful John Erskine-Jason Chimera-Fehr breakout), but a vital key to playoff success to clamping down defensively in the final 10 minutes of regulation with a lead. It’s something that the Capitals have struggled with under Boudreau, and showed signs in the Winter Classic – and in other recent games (I swear, I saw Alexander Semin dump the puck in the third period of a recent game) – that, maybe, just maybe, this team can learn how to play a little bit of playoff hockey.

3. That the rest of the Southeast Division has closed the gap on the Capitals is a very good thing. And that brutal eight-game losing streak might be a good thing, too.

The Southeast Division is probably the most balanced division top-to-bottom in the Eastern Conference. For the Capitals viability as a postseason team, the quality of competition within the division this season is a very good thing. By this time last year, the Capitals had essentially clinched the division, a top-three spot in the Eastern Conference bracket of the playoffs and seemed destined for the top spot in the East. Through March and the regular season portion of April, the Capitals were playing bored. There’s no other way to put it.

That should not be the case this year, as it seems as if the Southeast could sneak as many as four teams into the playoffs and that the Lightning possess the personnel to hang with the Capitals for at least the majority of what’s left of the regular season. That the Capitals will be playing games significant to the outcome of the division and playoff race is a significant boost to the Capitals’ playoff hopes. I’m a believer that, generally speaking, teams ideally bust out of whatever slumps – slumps as far as wins and losses or individual slumps for players – by late February. By mid-March, teams, I think should be gearing up for the playoffs and peaking at “the right time.” At that point, teams can roll into the playoffs riding momentum.

With the Southeast set for games significant to the standings from this point on the end of the regular season, the Capitals have an opportunity to peak at the correct time and roll right into the playoffs. When, in March, a team is leading its division by 35 or so points, it has to be tough to get up for games with motivation not what it is for other teams fighting to get into the playoffs. It has to be tough to flip that proverbial switch come playoff time and be ready for playoff intensity when, as a team, you haven’t played at full-bore since February.

There are no more “gimme” games on the schedule in the form of the Southeast teams. Florida, Tampa, Carolina and Atlanta bring it every night against the Capitals. And, again, that is a very, very good thing. Half-assed divisional games could not have been good for the Capitals last year come playoff time. While regular season results aren’t essential to playoff success (the 121-point Capitals lost in the first round last year, while the Philadelphia Flyers, a team that qualified for the playoffs via shootout on the regular season’s final day and almost won the Stanley Cup), peaking at the right time and not coasting through the season’s final two months is indeed very important.

The Capitals are tied for the division lead in large part because they went through an eight-game losing streak in December, which may very well turn out to be a good thing beside the fact that it has kept them close to their competition within the division, but it made the Capitals respond to adversity in such a way that was not necessary last season. In the playoffs, as a team, you may find yourself down in a series, 3-1. You may find yourself playing a must-win game in a very loud building at the home of an opposing team. As a team, you have to respond to the challenge in the playoffs, and this losing streak may turn out to be an extended slump that was good for the Capitals to face a challenge to prepare them for the playoffs.

Another possible reason for the Southeast Division gridlock besides the losing streak and quality competition is the possibility of a lack of team-wide effort in some earlier games as a part of the mentality that nothing but the playoffs matter, and really, who could blame them after last year? The Capitals will be judged solely on their performance in the playoffs, not whether they get the second, third, fifth or sixth seed – and the players know it.

But then, the Capitals play a game like they did against the Lightning on Wednesday where it looks like they’d rather be anywhere but Tampa Bay. It’s concerning when the Capitals bust out these kinds of efforts, where, let’s be honest – it doesn’t look like there’s a whole lot of effort. Even though the players probably know that nothing matters to them in the grand scheme of things until the playoffs start, they still have to play hard throughout the regular season to just get into the playoffs and because it’s awfully difficult to just flip the intensity switch in the playoffs.

4. The special teams have flipped the script.

Last year, the power play was powerful and the penalty kill was ugly. This year, the roles have been reversed. Washington’s power play is clicking at a very average 17.7 percent this year (17th in the NHL), but they’ve been dreadful recently. There’s just nothing going on during this power play. There’s little to no creativity. There seems like there’s an unwillingness to work hard. But most concerning of all, this stems all the way back to last April when the Montreal Canadiens cut off the pass from Mike Green to Alex Ovechkin along the point that Ovechkin would put on net with a one-timer. Since then, opponents have focused on taking away the bread and butter of the Capitals’ power play. And the Capitals haven’t figured out a Plan B yet.

A typical Capitals power play these days consists of one of the following – a) dumping the puck into the zone, not working hard enough to get to the puck first and setting up the offense, or b) Lots and lots of passing on the perimeter, followed by blocked shots. There’s no creativity as far as creating passing lanes and shooting lanes with movement in the offensive zone from players without the puck. There’s not enough commitment in front of the net on the power play. This year’s power play is like last year’s penalty kill – stagnant. I’d try to mix up the personnel on the power play. I want to see more John Carlson on the power play. Hell, I want more Jason Chimera for an effective dump and chase presence.

As far as the penalty kill, this year’s version is seventh in the league, killing penalties at an 84.8 percent rate. It’s a much better penalty kill than last year due to the players that set up in a box in the defensive zone are much more mobile than they were last year. They now attack the puck-handler with more vigor rather than just sitting in a box like last year.

5. What’s wrong with Alex Ovechkin and his relatively low scoring totals (15 goals, 30 assists)? How about Nicklas Backstrom (11 goals, 29 assists)?

I’m not going to stress out too much about these two (at least yet), but one thing I’ve noticed about both of these players is that their explosiveness seems oddly absent in their game, especially with Ovechkin, who looks a bit slower than in years past. One thing I will add about Ovechkin is that his effort level seems to come and go — during the recent Vancouver game, it appeared to me, at least through television, that his effort level seemed to be notably higher in the third period once the Capitals were down two goals (in comparison to the rest of the game, of course). Hell, Ovechkin looked like he played harder in the two Pittsburgh games than any other games this year. As far as Backstrom, it seems like he has a high quality scoring chance or two each game but just isn’t putting those chances away like we’re used to, and he still makes world-class passes every game. But remember, if the Capitals’ power play was on track, the two players’ production levels would be notably higher.

6. The Capitals may very well lack a true identity.

We all know that last season, the Capitals were a run and gun, free flowing offensive juggernaut that scored 318 goals in the regular season. As everyone found out, the Capitals’ style didn’t quite translate to playoff hockey. The Capitals realized this and made a conscious decision this season (and especially during their eight-game losing streak) to play a more defensive-minded game. Some have gone as far as to say the Capitals are utilizing a form of the trap,  but sorry, I’ve seen a trap — what the Capitals are doing is not a trap. The Capitals’ improved defense can largely be accounted for through the improved penalty kill and simply better defensive personnel from last year (John Carlson, Karl Alzner and Scott Hannan are better than Milan Jurcina and Shaone Morrisonn). It’s bearing results, too — the Capitals are ninth in the league in goals-against average at 2.60 per game, while they were 16th last year at 2.77.

But the Capitals are consciously trying to become a more defensive-minded team. But what the Capitals did so well last year — putting the puck in the damn net — has faded. The Capitals are 13th in the league in goals per game at the moment, scoring 2.80 goals per game. Now, it goes without saying that a team with Ovechkin, Backstrom, Green, Alexander Semin and others shouldn’t be 13th in the league in goals. In the end, it looks like the Capitals are (wisely, I might add) trying to become a team fit for the playoffs. But their team-wide personnel suggests their potential still rests with scoring goals, not focusing on preventing them.

What we have here is a team coming upon a fork in the road. The team has been built to score goals, but it’s a style that probably doesn’t work too well in the playoffs. So are the Capitals still an offensive team trying to do away with the theory that a run and gun team can’t win in the playoffs? Or are they a defensive-minded team with their eyes solely on trying to play playoff hockey? What are they? Ideally, a team can be both — have enough offensive firepower to consistently get leads by late in the game and enough discipline defensively to maintain that lead until the end of the game. The team that can best strike that balance by April is probably lifting the Cup come June.

You know what will fire up a fan base?

After their Presidents’ Trophy winners lose in the first round of the playoffs to an eighth seed, the general manager of the team tells the fan base just before the beginning of free agency that the team is in a ”great position” heading into free agency because they already have a ”good team” – this, the same team that lost in the first round of the playoffs – and that they’ll be relying heavily on young players to fill key needs. Then, the general manager follows through with his pre-free agency words by doing nothing on the only day that teams can realistically improve their teams via free agency, while the team’s chief rival beefed up significantly.

Yup, that should do it. That should fire up the fan base.

It doesn’t sound great on the surface. The Capitals’ needs, which I outlined yesterday, are glaring, perhaps no need more glaring than the hole at second-line center. The Capitals need a centerman on the second line to maximize the abilities of Alexander Semin in the playoffs, and also need a defenseman — a good penalty killer, ideally – to take pressure off of Mike Green in the playoffs. With about $4.5 million to work with on Thursday, general manager George McPhee and the Capitals did nothing.

At first blush, it seems like my offseason fear could be playing out; that the Capitals are not making the necessary adjustments and tweaks to their roster and are instead going into hibernation for the summer behind the basic excuse that they were a much better team than the Montreal Canadiens in the first round, but got knocked out because of a hot goaltender, a poor schematic matchup with the Canadiens, and just plain bad luck.

After all, the Capitals stood pat with their roster (with a stated heavy reliance on young players in the organization who aren’t necessarily on team currently), while the Pittsburgh Penguins signed defensemen Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek, and the New Jersey Devils signed Anton Volchenkov, arguably the top defenseman on the market.

By standing pat, the Capitals project to send out an Opening Night roster that includes Tomas Fleischmann, he whom resided in the press box during Game 7 against the Canadiens, as the second-line center. It includes 19-year-old Swede Marcus Johansson as the third-line center with Mathieu Perreault knocking on the door for a spot at a center position. And it includes big, bad John Erskine with a spot on defense.

Nope, the Capitals’ inactivity on Thursday doesn’t look good on the surface. But there’s zero reason to panic. The Capitals may very well end up better off by not doing anything in free agency, assuming they don’t end up with center Matthew Lombardi, and given Lombardi’s lofty contract demands, there’s really no reason to believe he’ll become a Capital.

Look, the Capitals had about $4.5 million to work with. Because of that, they were never going to end up with any of the prized defenseman on the market – Volchenkov, Martin, Michalek, or Dan Hamhuis (who signed with Vancouver). The Capitals can’t control what their competition does, so there’s no reason to get all wrapped up with who Pittsburgh or New Jersey signed. At best, the Capitals were going to sign one of the following centers to fill the second-line role — Matt Cullen (who went to Minnesota), Saku Koivu (stayed in Anaheim), or Lombardi. Does the fact that the Capitals didn’t land one of those three centers mean they won’t win the Stanley Cup? Of course not.

Cullen and Koivu are both on the wrong side of 30 (Cullen, 33, and Koivu, 35). Cullen (16 goals and 32 assists in 81 games last season) got three years from the Minnesota Wild at $3.5 million per season, while Koivu (19 goals and 33 assists in 71 games) re-upped with the Anaheim Ducks to the tune of two years at $2.5 million per season. The Capitals couldn’t cut a deal with Lombardi right now even if they wanted to, given his contract demands (I’m sure the 29 other teams feel the same way, seeing as he remains unsigned — although, Olli Jokinen managed a hefty contract, so I suppose anything is possible). 

Given the internal options the Capitals have at center – Fleischmann, Johansson, Perreault, and perhaps even Brooks Laich — were the Capitals getting the proper short-term upgrade in terms of value with either Cullen or Koivu, especially given that either player would leave the Capitals little room to wheel and deal at the trade deadline next March? Probably not.

While it’s a pretty risky roll of the dice to go with the Capitals’ internal options at center — especially given what we’ve seen out of Fleischmann and the inexperience of both Johansson and Perreault – it’s a gamble that makes sense. The value just wasn’t on the open market to justify shifting most of the team’s remaining cap space to a 33- or 35-year-old centerman, when significantly cheaper internal options — Fleischmann, Johansson and Perreault — if given a full season’s work, will probably come close to, or perhaps even match, the production of either Cullen or Koivu next year.

Further, the roster that won the Presidents’ Trophy last season remains largely intact save for a few minor pieces such as Brendan Morrison, Eric Belanger and Shaone Morrisonn. The concern for the Capitals is not the regular season. No matter what they did on Thursday, the Capitals were going to blow through the regular season once again, barring injuries. Of all the teams in hockey, the Capitals are probably the biggest lock to win their division and earn a top-three seed for the playoffs.

(Even if the Capitals didn’t somehow win the Southeast – say, a couple of major injuries occurred at some point – and instead, just made the playoffs, the playoff seed earned via the regular season doesn’t really matter come playoff time, as we’ve seen).

Considering the regular season is not as important to the Capitals as it may be for other teams in the League, the real deadline for the Capitals becomes the trade deadline next March — and the Capitals will have dollars to play with at that time.

What the Capitals should now focus on is beginning the process of changing their schemes and philosophies that work in the regular season to schemes and philosophies that work in the playoffs. That means fixing a penalty kill in which the penalty killers are immobile within their box, as I believe most of the penalty killing issues are more schematic than personnel-related. That also means shifting the offensive philosophy to more of a dump and chase game — I believe much of the issue against the Canadiens was Capitals’ insistence to play their fancy regular season type of game rather than shift to the gritty playoff style necessary to win the Cup. The Capitals need to play a playoff-style of offense and defense beginning on the first day of training camp — if this past April’s first round exit won’t enforce a change in philosophy, nothing will.

Come Opening Night, a few players from the Hershey Bears’ back-to-back Calder Cup teams, such as John Carlson, Karl Alzner, Andrew Gordon and Perreault, will get a prolonged look at the NHL level and will get their well-deserved chance to become a full-time part of the Capitals. Players from abroad like Johansson will get their shot, too. The Capitals should adhere to their blueprint to draft and develop their own talent. 

As the season winds towards the trade deadline and the Capitals (barring significant injuries) inevitably sit in first place in the Southeast, that’s when it will become time to re-evaluate the team. Hopefully, by then, the Capitals will have instilled new offensive and defensive philosophies. And by then, the Capitals will definitely know if their young pieces are good enough to fill what we now consider to be the team’s pressing needs. They’ll know whether Carlson and Alzner are the answer on defense and the penalty kill, and they’ll know for sure whether Fleischmann, Perreault and Johansson are good enough to fill the center positions on the second and third lines come playoff time.

If the Capitals still need help at those positions at the deadline – or at any other position that may crop up due to injuries or unexpected ineffectiveness of current players — they’ll have the cap space to swing a few deals before the playoffs, when their needs are much clearer. Maybe Johansson and Perreault turn out to be the real deal as centermen for the Capitals, while, God forbid, a key piece gets injured at the wrong time, and the Capitals end up having to get a scoring winger, of all things. Who knows? Professional sports come at you fast.

If next year’s trade deadline passes without new offensive and defensive philosophies, and without both a second-line center and legitimate penalty killer stemming from the internal options currently available or from unknown players traded to the Capitals at next year’s deadline, then Capitals fans can yell and scream at McPhee.

But as for now, they’ve already accomplished their No. 1 personnel priority. They resigned that Nicklas Backstrom guy. I hear he’s pretty good.

In baseball, free agency can linger for months. In hockey, teams have essentially one day — July 1 starting at noon (EDT) – to significantly improve their clubs via free agency. Last July 1, Washington Capitals fans got a Christmas-in-July present in the name of Mike Knuble. Sure, teams can pick up the Brendan Morrison-type relatively cheap later in the summer, but for all intensive purposes, July 1 is the day to address your needs via free agency. The Capitals are close to $16 million under the $59.4 million salary cap coming into Thursday, according to Cap Geek. Key restricted free agents Jeff Schultz, Eric Fehr, Boyd Gordon and Tomas Fleischmann remain unsigned for next year, so considering their expected deals for the 2010-’11 season, that would leave the Capitals with about $4.5 million left to play with on Thursday, according to Tarik El-Bashir of The Washington Post’s “Capitals Insider.”

Needs

Everyone who watched at least some of the Capitals’ first round playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens knows exactly what the needs of the team are — second line center and a top-four defenseman. The Capitals tried to band-aid their hole at second line center last offseason with the addition of Morrison, which didn’t pan out. Thus, the Capitals acquired Eric Belanger via trade at the deadline last season, but Belanger proved to be more of a third line center than a second liner. The Capitals tried a merry-go-round of centers at the second line all season, including Morrison and Belanger, along with Tomas Fleischmann, who could never win enough faceoffs to maintain a spot at center. A year later, the Capitals are still looking for a second line center to maximize the abilities of Alexander Semin and Brooks Laich.

As far as a defenseman is concerned, as I outlined in a previous post, for a free agent defenseman to impact the Capitals to his maximum abilities, the Capitals must recognize their faulty penalty killing scheme. No free agent addition will be able to help take the Capitals to the next level if they’re held back by a faulty scheme. That scheme is a penalty kill in which the penalty killers don’t move once they get into their box. I think adjusting the penalty killing scheme to be much more agressive to the puck handler (similar to what the Canadiens’ penalty killers did to the Capitals) is priority No. 1 on the defensive side of things, but nevertheless, a defenseman will be needed come next April, at the very least, to take pressure off of Mike Green — there’s no reason Green needs to be fulfilling big-time penalty killing duties in the playoffs.

Remember That…

A team is never one player away from winning the Stanley Cup. Capitals fans believed that Knuble may very well turn out to be the veteran, crease-crashing piece that the Capitals needed to win the Cup, but the Capitals obviously took a step backwards from their second round exit two postseasons ago. Teams can gear themselves up for a potential Cup run by adding a piece or two in free agency, but all it takes is one untimely injury come April, and everything comes crashing down.

Also remember that this isn’t fantasy hockey — there is indeed a salary cap. The Capitals most likely will not want to spend all the way to the cap ceiling due to possible future financial concerns and that teams always want at least a few dollars to play with come next March so they can wheel and deal at the deadline — needs may crop up mid-season that aren’t visible in July due to injuries and regression of production from key pieces (especially from players on the wrong side of 30). Considering that the Capitals will have about $4.5 million to spend on Thursday, I’d assume that the Capitals will go after a second-line center that will take a short-term deal for about $2.5-3.00 million per season.

Possible Free Agent Additions

The name that a lot of Capitals fans probably want is Matthew Lombardi of the Phoenix Coyotes, a top-six forward who would be the ideal fit for the second line given the options available on the free agent market. Lombardi, a centerman known for his great speed, would seemingly mesh well with Semin. In 78 games for the Coyotes, Lombardi scored 19 goals and 35 assists, and made $2.35 million last season. From Scott Burnside of ESPN.com:

“Lombardi may be another Coyote who is victim of the team’s cash crunch. A center who scored 19 goals last season, he will be attractive to many teams because he will be cheaper than other centers on the market and would be a nice No. 2 pivot who could help the power play. The Rangers might be interested if they can ease some of their own cap crunch.”

I’m not so sure if I’m buying Lombardi being a cheap option. At 28 years old, I’d imagine Lombardi would be looking for the biggest contract of his career. Lombardi would certainly fit as a No. 2 center, and his 2009-’10 salary would fit into the Capitals’ plans. But I struggle to think that an offense-starved team like the Rangers wouldn’t offer Lombardi more dollars and years than the Capitals, though.

El-Bashir mentions that Saku Koivu and Matt Cullen could also be options for the Capitals. Koivu, 35, and Cullen, 33, would probably be much more willing to take a one- or two-year deal than Lombardi. Koivu, who made $3.25 million last season, recorded 19 goals and 33 assists in 71 games for the Anaheim Ducks, while Cullen ($2.88 million) put up a combined 16 goals and 32 assists for both the Carolina Hurricanes and Ottawa Senators.

Here’s what Burnside has to say about Koivu and Cullen:

Koivu scored just 19 times in 71 games this past season after the former Montreal captain signed on with the Ducks a year ago. After a one-year experiment in California, one wonders whether now might not be a good time for the classy 35-year-old to join brother Mikko in Minnesota, where the Wild are desperate for leadership and a playoff berth (not necessarily in that order).

Another interesting theory to consider: What about a stop in Washington to fill the space previously held by Brendan Morrison as a second-line center? The Caps are another team looking for a final piece to the Cup puzzle, and Koivu is one of the game’s stand-up guys who’ll almost certainly come at a much cheaper price tag than a year ago. He’ll never be a 40-goal guy, but the Caps have plenty of those already.

It’s worth noting that 29 of Koivu’s 52 points came in the second half, and he missed six games over that period with injury. The chances of Koivu staying in Anaheim go up if Teemu Selanne decides not to retire.

[...]

Like a handful of loyal Carolina soldiers, Cullen was sent off to the playoffs by the Canes at the trade deadline. Things didn’t exactly work out as planned for Cullen or the Senators (he delivered just four goals in 21 games with Ottawa), but he did lead all Ottawa forwards in ice time in the playoffs and tied for the team lead with captain Daniel Alfredsson with eight points. Cullen remains an attractive plan for teams that may not have the financial wherewithal to go after the few big guns on the market. Cullen is a skilled player who has scored more than 20 goals in a season twice since the lockout. He can play center and man the point on the power play. Depending on what Toronto does with Marc Savard, Cullen may be a fit for a team with the worst power play in the league.”

Burnside seems to think that Koivu would be a good fit in Washington. Koivu would almost certainly it into the Capitals’ financial situation — so, too, would Cullen. It’s a matter of who the Capitals think would mesh the best with Semin and Laich, and I really have no idea who would.

Still, I’m guessing a lot of Capitals fans would much rather see general manager George McPhee go after a defenseman with their available cap space, but I just don’t see it happening. There are three very legitimate top-four defensive defensemen on the market — shot blocking machine Anton Volchenkov (Ottawa), Dan Hamhuis (played with Nashville last season, had his negotiating rights recently traded to Philadelphia, which then traded his rights to Pittsburgh), and Zbynek Michalek (Phoenix). The Coyotes are working hard to re-sign Michalek, who profiles as Anton Volchenkov-Lite.

Hamhuis and Michalek are both 27 years old, and Volchenkov is 28, so all three are entering the prime of their careers and will be looking to be paid like it. My guess is that all three will command at least $4.0 million per season, which would price all of them out of the Capitals’ range.

The Capitals could theoretically go after a defenseman like 31-year-old Henrik Tallinder (Buffalo) or 35-year-old Andy Sutton (Ottawa), but I see McPhee staying put with what he has rather than add a piece like that — remember, the Capitals will get a full season, barring injury, from both John Carlson and Karl Alzner.

The Bottom Line 

I think the Capitals’ defensive issues — especially the issues on the penalty kill — are more schematic-related than personnel-related. The penalty killing issues were obvious in the regular season, but became much more exposed during the playoff series against the Canadiens. I don’t think any free agent defenseman will magically transform the Capitals into a top-10 penalty killing unit, but rather, only an overhaul of the penalty killing scheme would be an effective elixir. I hope the Capitals recognize the need to fix the penalty kill, and I think they will put in the necessary work to fix it for the playoffs next year.

The Capitals already have the necessary defensive personnel to help put together a 121-point season. The defensive personnel and scheme is plenty good enough to win the Presidents’ Trophy, but it’s not good enough to win the Stanley Cup. I foresee McPhee waiting to possibly add a top-four defenseman until next March, because there’s already plenty in Washington to roll through the regular season, especially with the addition of a full-time Carlson and Alzner.

By waiting until March, it’ll give McPhee time to move a piece or two around in order to make room financially for a true impact defenseman that can take pressure off of Green (like I said before, I’d prefer Green not be killing penalties in the playoffs). And more importantly, by waiting until March, it’d give the Capitals time to institute a new penalty killing philosophy and scheme (the No. 1 defensive priority) before committing significant dollars and years to a free agent defenseman.

As for Thursday, I think the Capitals do indeed get a second-line center. I’d like to see it be Lombardi, but I think he’ll be priced out of the Capitals’ range, maybe moreso with the years than the dollars. I’ll venture a total guess that Koivu is a Capital by Thursday evening.

The Washington Capitals drafted 18-year-old Russian center Evgeny Kuznetsov with the 26th selection in the 2010 NHL Draft in Los Angeles Friday night.

Kuznetsov played in the Kontinental Hockey League last season as a 17-year-old. He was a part of Chelyabinsk Traktor in the KHL, which is the same team and hockey school that produced Alexander Semin, who is apparently close with Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov has two years left on his KHL contract and will surely play in North America when his contract ends, although he’ll try to come to North America earlier than two years from now. But he’ll definitely be in Washington for developmental camp in July. Alex Ovechkin called Kuznetsov after he was drafted to welcome him to the organization.

Kuznetsov played for the Russians in the World Junior Championships this past winter (the John Carlson tournament), scoring two goals in six games. He also participated in the under-18 version of the World Junior Championships, recording 12 points in seven games, which included five goals. Capitals’ scouting director Ross Mahoney felt that Kuznetsov could have been the best player in the U-18 tournament.

The Capitals, drafting 26th in the first round, had Kuznetsov 12th on their big board. General manager George McPhee looked into trading up with the ten teams ahead of them in the draft order to assure that they would get Kuznetsov, but they could not pull off a deal, obviously. Fortunately for the Capitals, Kuznetsov was still available at 26, and McPhee called Kuznetsov’s selection a unanimous choice.

When I was watching the Capitals announce Kuznetsov as their selection, the quick scouting report that the Toronto Sports Network gave on him was something to the tune of, “Russian, extremely talented, dynamic skills, inconsistent, doesn’t bring it every night.”

Call me crazy, but that sounded kind of familiar. Apparently, though, Kuznetsov is more of a passer than Semin was at the same age. Also unlike Semin, Kuznetsov isn’t afriad to speak a little English. Apparently, though, Kuznetsov is one hell of a talent like Semin.

Here’s Kuznetsov speaking through a translator after he was drafted by the Capitals:

Here are McPhee’s thoughts. The most interesting thing he said was that the Capitals don’t have the same concerns about signing Russian players because Ovechkin’s presence assures that the Russian players will do everything they can to get to North America:

Here’s Mahoney, the Capitals’ scouting director:

Here’s a Kuznetsov goal in the 2010 World Junior Championship against Austria:

Kuznetsov’s first KHL goal:

UPDATE: The Capitals drafted forward Stanislav Galiev out of Moscow, Russia at 86th overall and is good buddies with Kuznetsov. Galiev, who is a big fan of Semin was rated the 37th-best player in the draft by The Hockey News (be honest, Capitals’ fans — how many of you are scared by all the Semin comparisons in this draft?). The Capitals selected German goaltender Phillip Grubauer out of Winsdor, Ontario from the Winsdor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League with the 112th overall selection, as they moved up a bit to get him. The selection of Grubauer, the 47th-best player according to The Hockey News, left the Capitals with three of The Hockey News’ top 60 players even though the team had only one pick in the first 85 selections overall in the draft (so maybe there is something to the Capitals being able to draft talented Russians that other teams shy away from due to signability concerns). Center Caleb Herbert went to the Capitals with the 142nd overall pick, while defenseman Sam Carrier came to the organization at the 176th overall selection.

Here’s Galiev scoring a goal: