...and my little contest with CapsChick and the guys at Four Habs Fans, lets discuss some Habs legends. Perhaps Guy Lafleur? I wonder what he has been up to lately...
Montreal police have issued an arrest warrant for former hockey star Guy Lafleur, accused of giving contradictory evidence as a witness at his son's bail hearing.Lafleur's lawyer, Jean-Pierre Rancourt, says the former Montreal Canadiens great will turn himself over to police Friday morning.
Mark Lafleur, 23, faces more than 20 criminal charges, including sexually assaulting a minor, armed assault, uttering threats and forcible confinement between 2004 and 2007.
A Quebec judge said the elder Lafleur testified before a court in November that his son was abiding by a court-ordered curfew while he was staying with his parents. But Lafleur later admitted he drove his son to hotels to spend nights with his teenage girlfriend.
Well, CapsChick and I won some of our wager against the guys at Four Habs Fans, though we would have preferred to lose this part of it:
Winner of Tuesday night game: HabsBut it was also a night of triumph for trash talking. I've got some of the highlights below:
HabsFan33 said...
Speaking of horrible hair, Al Iafrate used to look like a serial killer from the movie Fargo.
Shmee: We dont deny the truth. Well, except when we lie. Which is a lot.
panger76 said...
Oh, and we have 24 more Stanelty Cups than you.
Shmee:Ouch again.
HabsFan29 said...modern technology! i can trash talk via my Palm while im at my crappy lawyers meeting
Shmee: We love technology.
Shmee said...
And I'm sorry, where is Huet or Halak's Vezina? Oh thats right, neither of them have one. But Olie does.
Shmee: Good, right? Or so I thought.
Habsfan10 said...
I will concede that you have the overwhelming lead in fluke Vezinas ... hey, how is Jim Carrey these days?
Shmee: I believe the term is, "Laying the smack down"
CapsChick said...
I hear he's fine...how's Jose Theodore? Geez, at least our fluke Vezina winner had the courtesy to disappear off the face of the earth. Yours is doing better for another team!
Shmee: We can always count on CapsChick.
DC Sports Chick said...
Wow, I never knew Montreal fans were so bitter just b/c Ovechkin spurned them. I'd say that they sound like a bunch of dumped girlfriends, but that would imply that Ovie had some sort of connection with Montreal in the first place. ("But he said he loved playing in Montreal!") So sad.
Then again, you have to wonder about a team that would force Patrick Roy out...too bad about that Curse of St. Patrick.
Shmee: Nice.
Shmee said...
The Habs PP is officially strong enough to inseminate every woman within a 50 mile radius of the Bell Center.
Habsfan10 said...
That's gonna result in a whole lot of pregnant strippers.
Shmee: These guys are good.
CapsChick said...
And the Caps are on a streak of not losing back to back in regulation, so we'll see what happens on Thursday ;)
Shmee: And CC finds the silver lining for us!
We are having a ton of fun with our threeway (contest), so thanks to CapsChick and Four Habs Fans for showing us a good time. On the internet we mean. And thanks to everyone who has commented. We expect to win this thing on Thursday, which just means that the Caps have to score...six goals. So free wings for everyone.
Sorry for how late I am, I was stuck in a meeting!
Here are my predictions:
When do we get to start the trash talking? I want it on record that our Russian star is an enigmatic, airplane flyin, blonde-haired Adonis type renaissance man, while theirs is a gap-toothed, yellow-skate lace and tinted visor wearin, hair-by-hillbilly-barber goofball. Or something.Interesting, because our Russian scored 46 goals and had 92 points last season, while your Adonis type Russian had 18 goals and 47 points. On a separate note, I distinctly remember that statue...lacking....in a certain department.
I dont have any internet boyfriends (I havent been reduced to that yet, but if the guys in DC dont step up to the plate, it might happen soon), but if I did, the guys over at Four Habs Fans would be my first choice. They enjoy distasteful sex jokes, hockey, beer, and making fun of the Habs in order to show the Habs that they love them. My kind of guys.
That said, they have issued a challenge to Capital Addiction and its one that we will not and cannot ignore. From the guys:
Hey kids! You know who the Habs play this week? Yes, it's the Washington Capitals and their Unfrozen Caveman Millionaire Hockey Player (tm myfo)! On Tuesday. And on Thursday. With an event like this, we turned to our friend Shmee over at Capital Addiction for some ideas.Its on. Our lawyers are still hammering out the final agreement, but I fully expect to kick their asses.
The result? A bet! Well, not a "bet" per se. Shmee, fearing the IRS, the FBI, and /or mob reprisals, has deemed it a "predictions contest." We predict the Habs will win. Shmee predicts the Caps will win. Whoever is wrong will be forced to write an epic poem on why the other team has a better player than the other team's best player. Or something like that, we're still working on some details. We're lawyers, so the negotiations are going badly.
Superman wears Chuck Norris Donald Brashear pajamas.
Enforcer Donald Brashear signed a one-year contract extension today that will pay him $1.2 million next season. I'm told negotations lasted only a few minutes and were handled directly between Brashaer and General Manager George McPhee.
"It's pretty nice to have the biggest dog on the block on your team," Coach Bruce Boudreau said. "And I think we do. He's been a great contributor, other than just a physical presence. In the room and on the ice, I couln't have asked for more from Donald. It's a great reward and a deserved reward."
I am fighting the plague, which in this case may also be known as bronchitis. Sorry for the inconsistent posting here over the past few days, I've been huddled in bed with meds and a laptop to watch seasons 1 and 2 of the Office. Which, by the way, is an awesome show.
I'll still be updating the sidebar though, so there should be links to some good articles there. Hopefully, I'll be back to blogging by tomorrow!
PS: Did anyone else not get to watch the game last night because it was on CSN+? The regular CSN had the Wizards game on, and after 45 minutes on the phone with RCN, they determined that I didnt get CSN+. Stoopid cable company.
Mike Green will be at the ESPN Zone downtown on Jan. 30 at 7pm for a Q&A with fans. From the release:
Capitals defenseman Mike Green will be at ESPN Zone on Wednesday, January 30th to talk with fans and share his insight on the Capitals’ play, just as the second half of the season gets underway. This dinner-time question-and-answer session offers fans a great opportunity to get personal, candid answers to all their hockey questions, while getting better acquainted with Green, one of the NHL’s top-scoring defensemen.Of course, Capital Addiction will cover the event. Which means, we are now officially soliciting one of our readers to attend and write a post about it for us.
After the Q&A, which will be hosted by a Capitals broadcaster, Green will sign autographs for all the fans on hand for the event. Fans can also enter to win an autographed Capitals Dreamseat recliner, which will be given away after the final Q&A event later in the season.
Can someone explain to me how Sidney Crosby's ankle is getting so much attention? Example one: ESPN's entire NHL page is dominated by updates on "ankle-gate" and its repercussions. They barely bother to mention the Caps thrilling SO win, swirling Leafs stories, and other hockey news. Ugh.
Tarik on last night's win:
"It was an important game in our season right now," said Ovechkin, who scored twice in regulation and now leads the league with 38 goals. "We are at .500, but we don't want to stop. We want to keep it going."Corey rightly gives Quintin Laing credit for last night's win:
The score sheet says Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin provided the heroics in the shootout last night, but it might not have been possible without the effort in overtime by Quintin Laing.It looks like things are swinging the right way for the Caps. Injuries have hurt the team, but despite that, they are finding a way to win. Backstrom and Green have found their rhythm, Semin finally looks fully recovered and is notching some goals, and it looks like Flash and Kozlov are heating up. Can the Caps stay hot through the rest of the season? I hope so - and I'll be knocking on a lot of wood for the next 11 weeks. They face a Leafs team on tomorrow night that is pretty low in the standings, but just got a shake up with the firing of their GM. The next month of games is going to be critically important to finding out if the Caps can stay in the playoff hunt.Laing blocked three shots during a 3-on-5 situation to preserve the tie as the Washington Capitals beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-5 in front of a standing-room only crowd at Mellon Arena.
And John Tortorella continues to blow up:
Fuming from a brutal 3-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche last week, Tampa Bay Lightning coach John Tortorella had his players show up for an 8 a.m. practice the next day and skated their tails off.General manager Jay Feaster liked the idea and made a snide comment about his players when asked his thoughts on the early practice.
"We only got 20 minutes from them (against Colorado), so we needed to get that 40 minutes back," Feaster said.
Tortorella said he was simply trying to emphasize the need to work harder as a team.
"It's not about embarrassing athletes," Tortorella said.
As for Tortorella having one foot out the door in Tampa, Feaster supported him and placed much of the blame for the Lightning's last-place standing on himself.
"I believe John Tortorella is the right guy to coach this team," Feaster said. "There's no quit on this hockey team in terms of the coaching staff.
" ... This is my mess. This is my problem. The responsibility lies with me."
No quit in the coaching staff? Maybe not, but there is a whole lot of crazy.
...but laugh out loud when I saw this question in the transcript of Tarik El-Bashir's Friday chat on the Capitals:
Rileyville, VA: Have you ever bumped into Alexander Semin in a hallway, and if so, did he fall down?
Tarik El-Bashir: He does seem to fall down a lot. But he's also a tremendously agile skater, who can stop and turn on a dime. Maybe he falls because he's always on the ragged edge of his blades?
But if he keeps scoring at the rate he has the past few games, who cares if he falls down every once in a while? It might draw a penalty from time to time.
Well now you can. A hit to Nicole for passing this along from Awful Announcing:
That was going to be my poster tonight (I must give credit to Rage for the original idea), but unfortunately, we dont have Nyls either. I've got a lot going on today, so this will be a short post. The Caps need to win tonight. They have no business losing a game to the Oilers, whether they are surging or not. Now, I'm going to go take more sudafed and attend meeting 7 of the day.
Forgive us, please, if we cant seem to stop using the word sweep today. For some reason, its just stuck in our mind. In fact, when I went to sweep yesterday (you can always count on Cap Addiction for bad jokes!), I couldnt stop thinking about that word. However, another thought did come into my head - if we are sweeping the Eastern Conference leading Ottawa Senators, why are we dropping games to the Flyers? Lets hope we start playing consistently every night, because it is consistency that will win us those points.
Tarik on last night's sweep:
"He was more determined tonight," Boudreau said of Semin. "Sometimes when you don't have a great game and you lose, it's not the coaches but your teammates you're embarrassed about. So you play hard the next game. That's what he did."Corey looks at the sweep:
Alexander Semin had a pair of goals and Tomas Fleischmann set up two as the Caps completed an improbable season sweep of the Eastern Conference-leading Senators 4-2 in front of 15,261 last night at Verizon Center.
"That's the depth of our team," defenseman Mike Green said. "One guy goes down, and another guy steps up and elevates his game. If you are going to go far ... you are going to need that."
Agreed. Another great thing (other then our sweep), to come out of last night's game was the depth shown. Tomas Fleischmann, Mike Green, Brooks Laich, the Sashas', and Brent Johnson all either stepped up to the plate, or continued to contribute, hours after hearing the Michael Nylander was out for the season. The Caps are going to need Flash to start filling the playmaker/passer hole left by Nyls. If Flash is smart, he will jump into the hole and give everything he has for the rest of the season.
From Tarik:
Okay. Not great news, but it wont be the death of us either. The difference between this year's team and the Caps from last season is that we have more depth. Not a ton, but a little more. Clark needs to get healthy soon, and Pettinger, Gordon, Laich, Green, Kozlov, Backstom and Semin all need to start finding the back of the net, or continue hitting it. IF the Caps can do that, they will be okay.Veteran center Michael Nylander is scheduled to have surgery on his torn left rotator cuff and will miss three to six months, I'm told.
If you remember, on Jan. 8, I wrote that a source had told me that Nylander's shoulder was worse that the Caps were letting on -- the team said yesterday that he was taking the day off from practice -- and that surgery was a strong possibility. Well, now it's official.
Nylander, who has been playing in pain for more than a month and was unable to sleep because of the injury, was the Caps' second leading scorer with 11 goals and 26 assists. He also was a team-worst minus-19.
GM George McPhee will be speaking to the media soon.
Last regular season game against Ottawa tonight...can we sweep them? I hope so. Check out fellower HLOG'er Sherry at Scarlett Ice to see what Sens Nation is saying.
Mo gets a little love from the WaPo:
And Corey takes a look at Matt Pettinger and his diminished playing time under BB:Morrisonn, who has not scored a goal but has blocked 44 shots and anchors the penalty kill, attributes his turnaround to skating alongside Green and Boudreau's more aggressive forechecking system.
"It's a little bit of everything," Morrisonn said. "I love Bruce's system. It's a great system, and when we're playing it correctly, we're not in our own end all night."
Both he and Clark got off to slow starts, and Pettinger hasn't recovered. He has two goals and three assists in 40 games. He also has been scratched in two straight and three of the past six games.Corey also makes reference to some mysterious ailment Pettinger might be nursing."I want to contribute whenever I can, and I feel like I can play better," Pettinger said. "I don't feel like I've played bad hockey to this point, but I am just not getting the results. In this business that is what it is all about."
Added coach Bruce Boudreau: "I don't know [what is different]. We had a long talk today about it. Whatever it is, I'd like to get him to go find it."
The Caps' game on Sunday vs. the Flyers was a hard loss, since that was a winnable game against an Eastern Conference foe. On the plus side, this has been the second consecutive game when the Phone Booth has been pretty full (in fact, it was the second largest crowd this season, per the WaPo). The last home game was against Colorado, a team that doesnt get to play in DC very often. And the Flyers are one of the Caps traditional enemies, with the Daniel Briere-AO enmity adding to the effect. Lets hope that the new schedule next year brings in more teams that we havent seen in a few years, and with that more fans. And it'll probably take an act of God, but maybe one of these years, divisions will be tweaked so that the Caps can re-kindle those old rivalries (like the Flyers) that pack the house at the VC.
Tarik has Chris Clark nailing yesterday's loss:
"Every time we tried something cute, or out of the game plan, or individualistic, it ended up in the back of our net," Clark said.And even worse news - Clark has apparently re-injured his groin, and is being assessed.
After winning four of five and losing once in regulation in the past eight contests (5-1-2), Washington failed to continue the momentum in the second of a critical five-game homestand."They're only going to give you so many opportunities," coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Eventually Carolina is going to start winning a lot of games, and the teams in the division that are losing are going to start winning. We have to make hay. This is a big week for us."
I would also add the power play should probably start shooting on net, instead of making elegant passes to each other.
In other hockey news:Its hard to believe, but there is other Caps news going on. Really.
Ovie makes the All-Star game while Mike Green is omitted.
"I'm disappointed," said Green, who played in the YoungStars game in Dallas last year. "But it's an honor just to be considered. I wanted to go, obviously. I'm just going to keep doing what I was doing before."
Green's exclusion upset some of his teammates and irked his coach.
"Shame on them," Coach Bruce Boudreau said. "He's going to make it for a lot years to come. He's starting to come into his own."
Hmm. I think this just proves further that the All-Star game is BS and is a Gary Bettman vanity affair. DCSC writes well about it here. If Mike Green concentrates on continuing his excellent offensive play and cleaning up his defensive game, the rest (nice contract, All-Star appearances, puck bunnies with Greenie written in sparkly green across their chest) will come with time.
Corey looks at the day to day of AO returning to practice after the big announcement. There is another interesting tidbit from Corey at the end of the article:
"[Laing] has all those bruises [from blocking shots]," Boudreau said. "If you saw him yesterday, he was limping all over the place, the poor kid. Come Sunday, he'll be ready if we need him."
I am endlessly impressed with Laing and the punishment he is willing to take for the team. In my opinion, he has played himself into a regular spot on the team.
In other hockey news:
On Frozen Blog has an unbelievably entertaining and insightful look into how they broke the AO contract news with SovetskySports’ Dmitry Chesnokov.
I am wowing for two reasons. 1) Ovie contract extention. 2) I was so busy at work today, I FORGOT that the "Meet the Team" party for STH'ers was tonight (smacks forehead). If I wasnt going to make it, I would have liked to give the ticket to a Cap Addiction reader.
But in bigger news then my airhead moment, Ovie is ours. And we are never going to let him go! Do I sound like the stalker in one of those Lifetime movies, or what?
Alex Ovechkin's new deal is worth $124 million over 13 years and will keep the star winger in Washington through 2020-21. It's believed to be the wealthiest deal in NHL history.
The first six years are $9 million per, the last seven years are $10 per.
I'm a happy gal tonight for a lot of reasons. We get one of the best players in the world locked up for the forseeable future. At the end of his contract, AO will only be 35. That said, I think the length of the contract is a bit ridiculuous. There is no doubt that AO wasnt going to sign for less then 8.5-10mil a year. But 13 years? I didnt agree with the DiPietro contract, or the Richards one, or the Yashin one for that matter. And as much as I am a fan, I cant help but find the length excessive. A lot can happen in that time. Again though, I am certainly happy to have AO on the Caps.
This is also a happy moment because all those "well sourced" folks, who had Ovie moving to the Oilers/Habs/Rangers/Superleague/PGA circuit/Real Madrid for 15 mil a year, three live-in Playboy bunnies, a Siberian tiger and his own cotton candy machine, will finally shut up. Actually, what am I talking about? They will just move on to Dion Phaneuf.
From On Frozen Blog:
Earlier today, Alexander Ovechkin, accompanied by family and an attorney, walked into the Washington Capitals’ team offices in Arlington, Va., reviewed with counsel terms for a new contract with the club, and agreed to a six-year pact that will pay him $54 million.More to come on this later, when I get out of my 758 meeting of the day.
ARLINGTON, Va. -- Washington Capitals goalie Brent Johnson was sent to the AHL's Hershey Bears on Thursday so he can work on his conditioning after being out because of a knee injury.
Johnson is expected to play for Hershey on Friday, then return to the Capitals.
He hasn't played for Washington since spraining his left knee during a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 27. He is 3-4-1 this season.
The day after Johnson was hurt, the Capitals recalled Frederic Cassivi from Hershey to be the backup to No. 1 goalie Olie Kolzig.
The Capitals have won four of their last five games heading into their next outing, at home Sunday against the Philadelphia Flyers.
I *try* not to curse on this blog, but I really cant help it in this instance. Bob Clarke is a fucking goon moron. Worse, he is actually so stupid that he doesnt realize how much he is hurting the NHL when he makes these stupid comments. I couldnt decide if I wanted to post on this or not, simply because I didnt want to give this dipshit the time of day. But I'm pissed enough that I need to rant. So here are his incoherent mumblings from taking too many hits to the head:
"When he (Steve Downie) went after [Jason] Blake, I loved it," Clarke told The Sports Network of Canada.I'm gonna assume that everyone is up to date on the Downie -Blake encounter (if not, read this). Clarke doesnt shut his trap there:
"Blake was a guy who had no problem going out and saying [Downie] should be suspended for life or suspended for the year," Clarke said. "When you say something that stupid, why shouldn't this kid go after him for it?
"The kid did what every hockey player should do. If a player like Blake who's been around as long as he has wants to criticize a player, then he has to go on the ice with him and suffer the consequences."
I am going to assume again that if you are reading Cap Addiction, you are familiar with the Downie - McAmmond incident (if not, read this).
Little bit of late start today, so you probably already know everything Caps related happening on the inter-tubes. That said, I trek on:
Tarik talks about Ovie being excluded from the All Star game (he has a title on this article that makes me want to go "Shazam!" after reading it.). Injury update from him:
Forwards Alexander Semin (tailbone) and Michael Nylander (shoulder) said they intend to play tonight against the Colorado Avalanche, and Matt Pettinger should be available after leaving Monday's practice early because of an undisclosed injury. Right wing Chris Clark (groin) has been ruled out.Be sure to read his piece today for an update on Eric Fehr.
"Teams are probably coming into our building and going, 'Oh, they are under .500. This might be an opportunity for us to win,' " Kolzig said. "We are playing better, but still teams look your overall home record and say, 'They're not playing that well at home.' "In other hockey news:
The Captain is baaaaack! Well, kind of. He's practicing again, which is a good sign. But other injuries still plague the Caps:
Veteran center Michael Nylander, who has been playing with a shoulder injury, was held out of practice yesterday while wing Matt Pettinger left the ice after just a few minutes.{...}
Also absent from practice were Tom Poti and Brian Pothier, the Capitals' No. 1 and No. 4 defensemen. Poti, the team's leader in ice time, has missed two games because of an upper body injury that's held him out of the lineup twice this season, while Pothier is believed to have suffered his second concussion in a year when he was crushed along the boards Thursday in Boston by Milan Lucic.
Tarik mentions that Nylander's injury might have to do with his rotator cuff and might warrant surgery. Thats a lot of "mights", so we'll see how it shakes out.
Another quiet day on the homefront other then that. We are still waiting on the official word regarding Ben Clymer.As we continue our cross national efforts to integrate the NHL and Bollywood (getting Lara Dutta to date Brooks Laich? Jeter has already hit that, but I dont think Laich will mind) we give you this morsel:
If Michael Jackson and Bollywood can meet, the sky is the limit.
The Caps are practicing, but have no game until Wed. against the equally injury ladden Avs, so its a bit quiet today. Tarik has some bits and pieces from that sweet OT win against Montreal:
I apparently offended defenseman John Erskine when I asked him about setting up the Caps' fourth goal with a well-timed pass to Alex Ovechkin as the winger stepped out of the penalty box.
Erskine, who has six assists, shot back with a smile, "What are you trying to say? I can make plays."
Ha.
Corey has this from the Montreal game:The sense of accountability seems to have ratcheted up under Boudreau, which is nothing but good.Boudreau said a pep talk from forward Donald Brashear during the first intermission helped the team settle.
"One of our leaders came in after the first period and gave the group [heck]," Boudreau said. "We had a game plan, and some of us were on it and some weren't."
Tarik looks at whats what in Caps World, including injuries, possible Hershey call-ups, AO contract talks, and Uncle Ted on Boudreau, among other things. Semin is a maybe tonight with his bruised tailbone, and Poti is out, to be replaced in the lineup by John Erskine. Quintain Laing will travel with the team after missing a game due to blocking a hard shot in Ottawa. AO and Nylander didnt practice yesterday, but it doesnt sound serious:
Boudreau gave Ovechkin and Michael Nylander the day off yesterday to recover from minor but nagging ailments. The Capitals' first- and second-leading scorers are expected to suit up against the Bruins, who have lost six of their past seven games."They're sore," Boudreau said. "As much as coaches always want them to practice, sometimes it's better to have guys take a day off, rather than not go full out and me get mad at them."
Corey gives a fuller injury report and speculates on Mike Green making the All-Star game:
"I don't even know if he is a dark horse; I think he could be going there," defense partner Shaone Morrisonn said. "He's got my vote. He's a spectacular player — a great offensive player and fun to watch. I usually see him up in the offensive zone, and I am alone on the back end, but that's how it has worked, and it has worked great."
The Caps are at the Bruins tonight, 7pm on CSN, here is the preview.
In other hockey news:
Has anyone else started obsessively checking scores for SE teams playing....?
The Winter Classic did great on TV ratings.
This dude is still trying to buy the Oilers, after being shot down a bunch of times.
John Paddock and Mike Babcock will be the coaches at the All-Star game.
When I broke the news to him after the morning skate, he cracked a big smile then said, "What is that?"That was pretty classic. Not so classic? Semin is out for tonight."I don't know what it is, actually," Backstrom said with a nervous laugh. "But it's good. I've never seen it before, but it's fun to get."
"The whole team had a pretty good month," he added. "We started winning a couple of games. I play with good players, so that makes it easy for me. So I want to thank them for this trophy or ... month thing."
After the interview, I told Alex Ovechkin about Backstrom's honor. He shouted over to Nicklas, "Congrats, Nicky!" Then Matt Bradley chimed in: "I was rookie of the month in San Jose. ...What's so funny? I was."
"Everyone else got hurt that month," Bradley joked. "Seriously."
Capital Addiction has occasionally heard complaints that we dont quite live up to our tagline, "Hockey Meets Bollywood". These complaints have fallen mostly on deaf ears, since we direct any complaints to our cousin Sharad, who is deaf. But Sharad, in a fit of pique, has insisted that we address these complaints.
In compromise, we will now be adding a weekly feature called "Hockey Meets Bollywood". In our first post, we introduce Mr. Manny Malhotra. Some (Sharad) might say that Manny Malhotra doesnt count as Bollywood, but he's 50% Indian, which is good enough for us.
Emmanuel Noveen Malhotra was born to an Indian father and French Canadian mother in 1980. I could say more, but Wikipedia does it better:
He likes paneer (good choice), made good grades (nice Indian Boy), and he plays for a team I dont hate (CBJ). All in all, if he werent already married to Steve Nash's sister, I would ask my Mom to start arranging the marriage.He was drafted in the first round as the 7th overall pick of the 1998 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Rangers. During his NHL career he has played for the Rangers, the Dallas Stars and his current team, the Columbus Blue Jackets. Malhotra spent the 2005-2006 season centering Columbus' 3rd line.
He is the second NHL player and first centre of Indian descent to play in the NHL(the first being Robin Bawa during the 1989-90 season with the Washington Capitals) as his father is from the state of Punjab in India. His mother is a French Canadian. In September, 2007, Manny married Joann Nash, sister of NBA basketball player Steve Nash.
The Mike Green train continued its roll yesterday, this time steaming over the Senators. And dont they sound a bit bitter about their third season loss to the Caps? From Tarik:
"You can tell they feel confident playing us," Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson said. "They have nothing to lose."Corey calls it a "barrage" against the Senators, and I couldnt agree more:
"I think we are a different hockey team than we were, say, six weeks or a month ago," goaltender Olie Kolzig said. "We're confident. We're scoring goals. We're winning a lot more than we are losing, and I think we are starting to believe we are a good hockey team."On the injury front, the Caps lost Semin and Poti during the game. As of now, the injuries are not supposed to be serious.
