If you are in need of some cheer...

before the Caps face Vinny and the Ning tonight, check this out from Dan Steinberg. It has nothing to do with hockey, and it is one of the funniest interviews I have ever read. Make sure you read it to the end. Here is Fred Smoot's reaction to Dan asking him to explain Redskin player's nicknames:

I (Dan Steinberg) asked about Jimmy Farris, the new guy. "I don't know him," Smoot admitted. Someone else said his nickname was Paul Wall, and Smoot said he had indeed heard that one already. I asked how to spell Paul Wall.

"You don't know nothing," Smoot said. "You know what you need to do? You need to go on BET.com, do your research. I've got 12 movies you need to watch, too, that's the only way I can bring you up to par. It's 2007. Seven. Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna write you a list of 15 movies. You watch these movies. I'm gonna give you three or four Web sites to go to. And then, by three weeks, you should be brought up to par on today's talk and why people do stuff."

Peter, Jr.

CBS Sports takes a look at Nicklas Backstrom, the "young Forsberg":

But even if the launch of Nicklas -- that's with a "C" -- Backstrom's NHL career has come without the kind of fireworks that some might have anticipated, the soft-spoken Swede who turns 20 next week hasn't exactly disappointed anyone around the Washington Capitals either.

"He's right where we want him to be," said Washington coach Glen Hanlon. "If you expect him to be a 50-goal scorer, well that's not going to happen because he's not a goal scorer. He's a playmaker and a two-way centerman who will always be in the right spot at the right time."

Around the internets

Tarik will be back covering the Caps tonight in Tampa but last night he ceded Caps beat duty to Amy Shipley (you can catch her on Comcast Sportsnet occasionally). What Amy found in Florida last night wasnt pretty:

Washington, loser of six of its last seven games, started a grueling stretch of 10 games in 17 nights with a performance that was not just disappointing, but also confounding. The Capitals failed to convert four power-play chances, including two in the final period. They got one goal from Alex Ovechkin and nothing from everyone else. They faced one of the league's least feared franchises and lost -- as usual.

Corey has his own take:

Two days before this game, Caps defenseman Tom Poti sat in his stall after practice and said it seems there has been one big mistake in nearly every game, and it has ended up in the back of his team's net. He proved to be prophetic.

Kamil Kreps made it 2-0 on a breakaway early in the second period. Kreps intercepted a cross-ice pass from Poti in the neutral zone and put a backhanded flip past Kolzig for his second goal of the season.

"I made a bad play," Poti said. "I tried to get it by the guy through the middle, and he picked it off and went in and scored. I made a mistake."

Ever the eternal sports optimist, I am not seeing gloom and doom yet. Lets see what the Caps look like at the end of this road trip.

Around the internets

Tarik takes a look at the "millions and millions of problems" facing the Caps. Ouch.

Corey (via JP) has some info on Michal Neuvirth being traded from Plymouth, and USA Today does a little Panthers-Caps preview. Olie offers this:

``We've talked about it enough the last couple of weeks,'' he said. ``It all comes down to individuals knowing what they have to do and that's it. If you need somebody else to tell you to get motivated, you're probably in the wrong league.''

Dude, Shut Up!

Congratulations to Steve Eminger! He is Capital Addiction's "Dude, shut up" award winner for the week of November 11th.

How did Steve get to be our lucky winner? Lets review:

Steve decides to unleash his "frustration" by giving a few choice quotes to Tarik El-Bashir, Caps beat writer for the WaPo. These include -

"It's past frustrating," he said following yesterday's practice at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. "It's just a matter of them putting me in the lineup, and putting me in there for more than one game, or moving me to somewhere I'm going to play. Because clearly I'm not in their plans."

and then

"There should be room for guys on this defense to come in and out of the lineup," he said. "It's not Anaheim where there's Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer and Francois Beauchemin, who are complete locks to play. It's a situation where it's a young team and there's going to be a lot of mistakes. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I thought I would have been given more of a chance."

So Steve is frustrated and unhappy. Yup, we all get it.

But you know what else I get? That Steve Eminger has had THREE seasons to prove himself. Was he rushed up from the minors? Sure. But so were defensemen Mike Green and Jeff Schultz. And Mike Green and Jeff Schultz are learning from the mistakes that they made in their rookie seasons and have improved considerably. While they are still working on their games, every time I see them skate, I see an evolved player from last year. That makes it really hard for me to have a lot of sympathy for a guy who has had THREE seasons to define himself for the Capitals. Steve Eminger is still really young, and I think he has a future in the NHL ahead of him, but I am unclear on how such a public temper tantrum is helping him.

And to be fair, I asked myself last night what Steve Eminger was trying to achieve. Will giving this interview help him get playing time? I dont think so. Will it put him in the good graces of his coach or GM? Definitely not. Will it be helpful in a lockerroom that is already trying to battle through losses? No, and in fact it is pretty selfishly timed. Will it help him get traded? In his interview, he claims that he is not ready to be traded. So all this article ends up being is an illtimed tantrum. Not to mention that GMGM has a good point in Tarik's article: part of building a good team is having solid depth players. The Caps learned this the hard way last season when they were decimated by injuries, and had no one to turn to.

So Steve Eminger, we have one thing to say to you: Dude, shut up.

NOTE:Hair Gel, you should be very proud of yourself. This week, you had to compete with Sean Avery, Darcy Tucker, and Maxim Kondratiev in order to win.

around the internets

Tarik confirms that the Cap'n is back -- Clark says he will play tomorrow in Florida. Tarik also does a few paragraphs on Tomas Fleischmann, and his resurgence after being benched. Per Tarik, Flash has had three goals and five points since his Oct. 26th benching. Thats nothing but good news for the Caps, who can use the O.

From Flash:

"When I was scratched against Vancouver, I started to think to myself, 'Do I want to be scratched all season, or do I want to play?' " said Fleischmann, whose game has
flourished since being put on a line with Nicklas Backstrom and Viktor Kozlov. "I know I can play. So I want to prove it. I'm trying to push myself to the level. It's in the head. It's good I figured it out now rather than later."

Corey profiles Ovie's new role on the power play and the solid results its bringing in for the Caps.

Ovechkin has a different plan. He forgoes the skating backwards, cautious defensive play in favor of taking a direct path toward the offensive player and bowling him over. In every instance so far, Ovechkin's strategy has proven effective.

"It is a pretty risky play," Poti said. "If the guy sidesteps you a little bit, he's pretty much in all alone against the goalie. It's definitely not the safest route, but he's getting the job done. I guess you've got to do whatever works."

Around the internets

Wow.

Tarik has Steve Eminger going off on his playing time (definitely worth reading). From Eminger:

"There should be room for guys on this defense to come in and out of the lineup," he said. "It's not Anaheim where there's Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer andFrancois Beauchemin, who are complete locks to play. It's a situation where it's a young team and there's going to be a lot of mistakes. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I thought I would have been given more of a chance."

Um Steve....I dont know if borderline insulting your teamates is the way to go.

Tarik also has news on Clark and Semin -- both are skating again, with Clark fully practicing.

Corey managed to catch John Tavares in action, and found a good hockey player, not a great one.