Thursday, January 3, 2008

around the internets

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.


UPDATE: Tarik has word that Backstrom (or Nicky, as I will refer to him from here on out) is the NHL's rookie of the month:
When I broke the news to him after the morning skate, he cracked a big smile then said, "What is that?"

"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."
That was pretty classic. Not so classic? Semin is out for tonight.

12 comments:

PaV said...

Not sure why he keeps on trying to buy the Oilers.

I am glad that Paddock got picked. I thought he would be out of the running after that 7 game losing skid, but heck, we are still 1st in the east!

Mike Green is a diamond in the ruff. He was picked at the same time that Ovie was so he was looked over. Under the new coach he seems to have really found his game.

If Ovie can get his game going combined with Semin and Green, the CAPS will have an amazing young core to work with.

All you need to do is get Ovie signed! :P

Shmee said...

Signing Ovie is the Caps number 1 priority (or should be!) but I am not worried about. There is no way that Uncle Ted or GMGM will let him go anyhwere. Plus, he cant go anyway because we own his right for I think three more seasons (or six?).

PaV said...

I thought Ovie was a RFA this summer? The team1200 was taking about teams sending out offer sheets if the CAPS do not get their act together and sign him.

Shmee said...

He is an RFA, and if some other team makes an offer sheet on him, the Caps will have to match it.

But, Ovechkin can refuse to sign and demand that the rights to him are traded to another team. I dont think AO would do this.

That said, AO will be signed by Uncle Ted and Co, they are too smart not to sign him. In the WaPo today, Ted made a comment about AO being with the Caps for a long, long time.

PaV said...

Well it would make sense right? He is a franchise player. They do need to get some decent goal tending (sorry, I know Olie is a hero in DC).... and some secondary scoring. I give the Caps 2 seasons before they are a huge contender in the east.

PaV said...

Hey - did you see this?

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=226399&hubname=

Shmee said...

Yup, it makes absolute sense for us to sign him, and no sense for us to let him go. Some people are panicking that we will lose AO, but I think that is a tiny possibility.

Yeah, congrats to Nicky. We saw it this morning and made it an addition to this post. He deserves to be considered for the Calder.

PaV said...

Well (and me being the NHL GM and all... :P ) the only way I can see you losing AO is IF he doesn't accept any offer sheets from any team and test the waters and does not re-sign with the CAPS.

If that is the case then your GM would most likely move him over the summer. He would draw a huge in a trade with any team

But again, lets not hope that happens.

Luck to your team tonight!

PaV said...

Hey - totallllllly off hockey here, but is there any chance that you would have any bhangra/hindi mixes kicking about?!

I found some online, most of it is re-mixed stuff, but nothing great.

Thanks

Anonymous said...

Gostei muito desse post e seu blog é muito interessante, vou passar por aqui sempre =) Depois dá uma passada lá no meu site, que é sobre o CresceNet, espero que goste. O endereço dele é http://www.provedorcrescenet.com . Um abraço.

Shmee said...

Hmmm....nothing great. But I might have few suggestions. email me at capitaladdiction@gmail.com

PaV said...

Thanks - dropped you an email :-)