I couldnt help...

...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.

The love goes on..

Tarik and Corey continue their pre-season blitz with profiles of Boumedienne and Flash, respectively.

Check out this quote in Tarik's article on Boumedienne:

"He likely came back for the league, lifestyle and money," Hanlon said. "Maybe not in that order. It's the best league in the world, and he can make more money playing here than in Europe. Not many people don't enjoy living over here."

Talk about candidness from team officials...

The Caps have a pre-season game against the Senators in Ottawa tonight, before the Senators come to town for a pre-season one on the 30th.

More from Camp

Tarik has some funnies:

Update:Ovechkin and Kolzig just had a funny exhange on the ice. Fleischmann set up Ovechkin on a semi-breakaway. Ovechkin deked in front, but Kolzig stopped the shot with the very tip of his skate as he kicked out his leg at the last second. Skating away, Ovechkin shouted, "You lucky [bleep]!" To which Kozlig responded, "Lucky? Whatever you [bleep]!" It sounded like they were joking.

Update:Just had the first fight of camp: Clymer vs. Morrisson. Not sure what started it, but Morrisson was still mad after they were broken up, as he skated back toward Clymer and had some words for him.

Update:Another camp first: they are working on shootouts right now. Ovechkin fired high on his first attempt. Erskine scored on a deke, drawing some laughter and applause from his teammates.

Morrisson v. Clymer huh? Wonder what started that one, and who won. They are both kind of...willowy.

Tarik also says that he is expecting at least one trade. Here is how he see the line combos are going down today:

Ovechkin - Kozlov - ?
Semin - Nylander - ?
Pettinger - Gordon - Clark
Brashear - ? - ?

Here are the guys fighting for the remaining spots: Backstrom, Fleischmann, Clymer, Bradley, Sutherby, Laich, Steckel, Klepis and Bourque.

On defense:

Poti - Jucina
Morrisonn - Pothier
Boumedienne - ?

Here are the guys battling for a spot, either on the ice or in the pressbox: Eminger, Green, Schultz and Erskine.

My guess is:

Ovechkin - Kozlov - Flash
Semin - Nylander - Backstrom
Pettinger - Gordon - Clark
Brashear - Sutherby - Clymer

Poti - Jucina
Morrisonn - Pothier
Green - Schultz

I might be completely off the mark with the last combo, but I cant think that the Caps would let such promising young d-men get traded (unless the package was very, very good) or let Green go back to Hershey. Schultz might still get some time there, but I think Green is done there after last year's playoffs. Plus, if Poti and Jurcina continue to eat minutes, Green and Schultz wont have pressure to perform at a top level right away.

The question marks for me are Dave Steckel, who might just beat Brian Sutherby out for a spot. Its hard to believe that Sutherby was taken 16th overall in his draft class, and I think he has certainly not performed to expectations. Steckel has a chance to bump him off, but that fourth line also has to be gritty, and Steckel needs to put on more then a few pounds. Schultz too.

I'm not sure where Klepis and Bourque fit in, and they might have to do time in Hershey before getting a call up. From what I understand, Klepis isnt even signed yet.

Its still way early to be having this conversation, but its so tempting that I couldnt resist. We'll see how things shake down in two weeks and how players look in pre-season games.