Couple of links.

Here's an interview with Bruce Boudreau. Bruce talks about what he expects to be happening at training camp this year.

Here's an article on some of the Caps prospects. There's some qoutes from Mcphee in there. It's a good read.

Some more Ovechkin craziness.


And the last article on the 2004 draft. You should really read this one. That 04 draft was a big one for us. Ovechkin, Green, Schultz, Bourque, Lepisto. Lots of great players from that draft.

Mcphee interview

Tarik has another interview(that's why he gets paid), it can be found here.

*I asked McPhee about the Caps' salary cap situation - the spreadsheet I'm looking at has the team's 23-man roster a little less than $1 million over the ceiling of $56.7 million, and, yes, that's minus Brian Pothier's $2.5 million hit. McPhee, though, disagreed with my assertion that his team is over. But he also didn't want to elaborate in much detail, so it was tough to argue my point.

"Not necessarily," he said about being over the limit. "There are lots of ways to do it. It's so convoluted. We're going to be tight this year, but we'll be able to operate with the players we have. We're fine."

There's a lot of interesting stuff in there. Check it out.

Johnson and Theodore already in D.C.

I mentioned last week that Boyd Gordon was already in D.C. skating. Now goalie's Brent Johnson and Jose Theodore are skating and facing shots. Tarik's got the story's here, and here.

That is so great that they are skating and facing shots already. I think this shows that Theodore is committed to winning. They can't wait for the season to start!

New ticket sales

Tarik's got an article on Washington Post about the ticket sales for the upcoming season. He talks about season tickets, and price increases. The article can be found here.


"The Capitals had one of the NHL's lowest season ticket bases at the start of last season, believed to be about 5,000, but that figure could double and move the team closer to the league's midpoint by opening night."

"Jim Van Stone, the Capitals vice president of ticket sales, said yesterday that 3,800 new full season ticket plans have been sold since late February thanks to a renewed interest in the team and more aggressive sales and marketing strategies. He also said sales of partial plans are similarly brisk, while the renewal rate for existing season ticket holders is about 93 percent, the highest since Ted Leonsis purchased the team in 1999."

"I'd love to say we expected this, or planned this," Van Stone said. "We're amazed by the support."

I personally am thrilled that there are going to be more fans in the stands. Towards the end of last year it was amazing how loud the crowd was, and how the players reacted towards it. Hopefully the fans keep the "ROCK THE RED."

It might be a little harder to buy tickets now.

Ovechkin being Ovechkin

This is one of the funniest video's I have ever seen in my entire life. Ovechkin is crazy.




Is there another professional athlete that has a personality like his?

Clark interview

Captain Chris Clark was on Washington Post live last night. Tarik has the interview on his blog, check it out.

I just want to say that he is ripped. He looks like he can bench 350+ pounds. I bet he's been lifting a lot of weights since he couldn't skate or play hockey for a long time. It's going to be good to have him back.

Ovechkin in Beijing.

Here's the story I mentioned earlier.

"Near the back, I came upon Alex Ovechkin sitting alone on a wall over a pond. The Russians brought the Washington Capitals winger and reigning NHL MVP here to help promote the Sochi Games.

"You all by yourself?" I asked.

"No, I'm with friends," he said, although they were nowhere in sight.

I told him I was from the Pittsburgh paper and had interviewed him several times.

"Pittsburgh?" Ovechkin said, lighting up a bit. "Tell [Sidney] Crosby hello."

"What about [Evgeni] Malkin?" I asked.

"Him, too."

He told me it was a seven-hour flight from home and he would be here two or three days.

"It's for Russia," he said."

Gordon already in D.C.

According to Tarik Boyd Gordon is back in D.C. training and getting ready for the season.

In the article Gordon talks about the playoffs, and the injury's he sustained in the playoffs. It's a good read check it out.

I think it's awesome that guys are already coming back into town. You can tell that they want it this year, you can tell they are hungry. Also Gordon will probably be competing with Steckel for the 4th line center's spot, so it's nice that Gordon is putting a lot of effort into this off-season.

Also, later today I've have an update on Ovechkin at the Olympics. So make sure you check make later.

8-8-08. Alex Ovechkin day.

So today is August 8th, 2008. I nominate today as Alex Ovechkin day. It's the day of 8's. 8-8-08.

Ovechkin is going to be celebrating Alex Ovechkin 8 day in Beijing, China. Ovie is at the Olympics supporting his fellow Russians.

"Alex Ovechkin may be still two years away from stepping on the ice in Vancouver at the 2010 Winter Olympics, but that doesn’t mean he can’t play cheerleader for his fellow Russian summer Olympians. Alex is doing his part in Beijing at the 2008 Summer Olympics by offering his services as an ambassador for Russian athletes participating at the games. Throughout the streets of Moscow Alex can be seen plastered on oversized billboards (image shown above) in support of the Russian Olympians. “Olympic athletes, You can do it. I believe in you. See you in Beijing. Alexander Ovechkin” the billboard says. In Beijing, Alex has hit the ground running, interacting and encouraging the athletes in their pursuit of a Gold medal."

5 ways Matt Bradley would change the NHL

Check this out!

Bradley is so funny. You can tell he's a good guy, and you can tell that he's a good locker room presence. It's nice to have him signed for 3 years.

Caps sign David Steckel to contract extension.

So Steckel got signed to an extension today. He was under contract for this upcoming year(08-09), so he is now signed through the 09-10 season. I think this move shows how much confidence the Caps have in Steckel. He's only played 1 year in the NHL, so the Caps must have a lot of faith in him. He's expected to play 4th line center this year. If I was Boyd Gordon I'd be a little worried right now.

The numbers from the contract haven't been released yet, I'll let you know when they do release the numbers.

Edit-Steckel will make 725,000 this year.

http://capitals.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=379427

You gotta love Steckel. He does it all, he even got into a fight this year.

Expectations.

As you can tell I've changed the blog some. I'm learning how to make it better, and I'm trying to show more Caps pride. I've added the picture at the top, and the "Weagle" logo as the background. I also changed the side bar. The side bar is now red, and has lots of extra feature's now.

The Summer is going by very slow, I don't think an off-season has every gone by so slow. Everybody is already signed and nothing needs done. Now we wait till camp starts. In the years past the summer's didn't take this long, but this summer is different. The team has great expectations this year, the fans know it, the players know it, and the coaches know it. But what exactly are the expectations or goals for this year. Coming into this past year the goal was to make the playoffs. The team did it, maybe not the way they planned but they still made it. So should that be the goal again this year?......No. This team was not satisfied with a 1st round exist from the playoffs. This team wants more then that, and the fans want more then that too.

Take a look at the Pittsburgh Penguins. In 06-07 they made the playoffs with a very young, and inexperienced team. They were facing the Ottawa Senators, a much older team who had been in the playoffs before. Pittsburgh went down 3-1 in the series(sound familiar?). They ended up losing the series 4-1. They were knocked out the playoffs in the 1st round, they only played 5 games, but those 5 games went a long way. Coming into this years playoffs they were the #2 seed and they made it all the way to the Stanley Cup final. They didn't win the Cup, but they made it all the way to the finals. Those 5 games meant so much to that team.

Now back to the Caps. Coming into this years playoffs the Caps were a very young, and inexperienced team, just like Pittsburgh was 1 year ago. The Caps were up agaisnt the Philadelphia Flyers, a team that was much older and had been in the playoffs before, just like Ottawa 1 year ago. The Caps went down 3-1 in the series, just like Pittsburgh did, but the Caps didn't lose game 5. The Caps came back and took the series to OverTime in game 7. The Caps only played 7 playoff games this year. 2 more then Pittsburgh did 1 year ago. If Pittsburgh can make it to the Stanley Cup finals with 5 playoff games, then why can't the Caps win the Cup? Those extra 2 games will go a long way. I think the expecations this year are HUGE. The goal this year should be to win the Stanley Cup. Plain and simple, win it all.