To a hockey game, I went . . .

Caps hockey returned to the Nation’s Capital on Wednesday night. Some folks – not many -- even showed up to watch it . . . So, what did it look like? Here’s your Peerless Prognosticator’s review . . . with grades!

Goaltending: Olaf Kolzig . . . it was one game, and early, but the volcanic temper was held in check. I thought he played a solid, if unspectacular game. But Buffalo is also offense-challenged, and despite having what seemed a dozen 5-on-3's, had trouble converting. Kolzig seemed not to suffer from the smaller pads and glove, but he did seem to have a problem with the lap dances he was given as defensemen got pushed into him. Grade: B

Forwards . . . a very uneven performance. The new rules clearly presented problems for this group – five minors for hooking or holding. As for the good points . . . Jared Aulin looked to be further along than most of the others in terms of having a clue where the play was going . . . Chris Bourque plays with a high motor, and his feisty streak emerged as the game progressed; much is being made of his perhaps earning a roster spot, but I think he’d be better off in Hershey . . . Chris Clark -- for my money, the best Cap on the ice tonight. He played like a guy trying to earn a job. A lot of hustle; I think fans are going to like this guy if tonight was representative of the effort he brings. Taking on the puffed up Andrew Peters after Peters boarded Miroslav Zalesak was a plus . . . Boyd Gordon -- almost invisible out there, and I don't know if that was a bad thing. If his game is to be "responsibility," then I don't suppose you want him to be conspicuous; a solid, workmanlike effort . . . Alexander Ovechkin -- no RoboVisor tonight, for those interested in fashion, he made two superb moves to draw a defenseman to the inside, then went wide, eventually getting in deep alone on Miller. His shootout goal was matter-of-fact efficient. Glide in, pull the puck from the forehand to the backhand, lift backhander over Miller's stick . . . Dave Steckel -- I get the feeling this is a guy who plays better than his skill level. I have to give him props for effort. He gave an honest one on every shift I saw. . . . Overall grade for the forwards: C-

Defense . . . Steve Eminger -- my goodness, did he really play tonight? The stat sheet says 15 minutes, but they were the quietest 15 minutes imaginable. Maybe that's a good thing; C. Johansson used to have a lot of games like that, but let's not yet confuse the two . . . Mike Green -- by the end of the game was probably the best defenseman on the ice for the Caps; just a solid looking guy out there . . . Jamie Heward -- another guy who I think will occasionally bring a smile to a fan's face for his effort, if tonight is an indication. He led the club in ice time and blocked shots . . . Jeff Schultz -- some folks will look at his performance and say, "passive;" I thought he acquitted himself quite well . . . Overall grade for the defense: C-

Other observations . . .

-- Hey, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, and it certainly wasn't as bad as the final score indicated. There was some decent effort out there, and you can see where down the road there might be something to smile about -- Ovechkin (of course), Green, Bourque. The whole was definitely less than the sum of its parts tonight, which I think is entirely to be expected at this stage.

-- For most of the night, the Caps were no legitimate threat to score when Ovechkin didn't have the puck. But there was a 5-minute or so stretch in the second period when Ryan Miller really bailed the Sabres out from some bad defense. I've seen Miller a few times in person, and this time was different. He seems to "get it." He was very economical in his movements and anticipated the play very well (that might be a reason the buffalo head on his jersey has bruises tonight). I compare that to the "frisky puppy" school of goaltending now played by Marc-Andre Fleury in Pittsburgh, who no doubt will learn his lesson down the road.

-- And whatta crowd! I've never seen so many purple seats attend a game in my life. You could have put the entire crowd into sections 121, 100, and 101. They were loud, though, when Ovechkin schooled Miller in the shootout. As the Post reports: "The team announced a crowd of 10,129, but the actual attendance was likely less than half that." . . . Maybe 25 percent of it, and that included the ushers and concessioneers.

-- Speaking of shootouts, it was every bit as lame and contrived as I remembered from watching it in the AHL. Guess it will give me an opportunity to get to the train early on some nights.

-- And where in heaven's name did the neutral zone go? It's tiny! My unscientific Peerless Measurement Standard (PMS) gave it about three Zamboni's wide. I think I can see pretty clearly what this means, and it ain't good. The effort to decrease the size of the neutral zone by moving both the goal line and blue line away from the boards will appear to provide more room in the offensive zone on power plays . . . but that seems to me a cheap (and ultimately ineffective) way to increase scoring. It's going to reduce the NHL to a "half-court" offense (with all that does for the NBA to slow the game down). Teams will gain the zone, then pass the puck around the perimeter looking for the "entry pass" . . . it really IS the Bettmanization/NBAification of the NHL. I think this is going to be a disaster. Hockey is skating, too, not just two guys in a tape-to-tape passing drill at the perimeter of the offensive zone.

OK . . .there's my windy take on things tonight. Aren't you glad you read this far?

-- The Peerless

First Cuts, Last Cuts

This weekend saw the Caps pare back their training camp roster by 20 players who were sent to Hershey. Some were expected – goaltenders Frederic Cassivi and Kirk Daubenspeck, forwards Owen Fussey and Graham Mink, for example. A couple make sense – Tomas Fleischmann and Jonas Johansson, who have not been pros for very long and can benefit from the greater ice time they’ll see in Hershey. But one seems to stand out – Jean-Francois Fortin. In the view of some (including none other than head coach Glen Hanlon), J.F. has been at times the best defenseman on the ice. But, Fortin has had a reputation for a lack of consistency and focus, of disappearing in games and failing to give an honest effort.

Why, then, the demotion? Is he really behind on the depth chart such others as Bryan Muir, or Lawrence Nycholat, or Jamie Heward, who are still on the camp roster?

I wonder if something else isn’t taking place. I wonder if this isn’t an effort on the part of the Caps brain trust to find out one last time just what Fortin’s level of dedication is – whether he will work hard in Hershey to make his way back to the big club, or whether he will now go through the motions and make good on his statement that if he didn’t make the big club, he’d be in Europe next year. It’ll be one of the many subplots to the Caps season.

***

So, Alexander Ovechkin is making his debut as a Cap in Washington on Wednesday. Hmm . . . the Caps will be competing against the Nats, who will host the Giants and Barry Bonds at RFK (hopefully, the Nats still will be in the wild card chase). Wonder what the attendance will be at MCI . . . I’ll guess 6,500.

***

And, the Caps already lead the NHL in one category . . . most Jakub’s (2 – Cutta and Klepis). We take it where we can get it this year.

– The Peerless

You can't go home again . . . and sometimes, you don't want to

From what I read in the last chapter of the "Will Bondra Return to Washington" saga, Peter Bondra was more enthusiastic about the prospects of playing for Atlanta than Washington. Of course, that might just be PR for the faithful in Atlanta.

But, it does put the period at the end of the sentence -- you can't go home again. Sometimes, you don't want to. In any case, it might have been a bad idea had Bondra been resigned. Why? I think a number of elements were coming together that made the veteran winger a bad fit for a team where half the guys can't buy a drink legally in the U.S.:

1. He's 37 years old (he'll be 38 in February). Frankly, I think spending seven figures for a player on the far side of 35 at this point of the new NHL era is nuts. Not all of the ramifications of the new agreement are known -- how it will play out over the next year or two. I don't think teams, especially teams like the Caps, can afford "sick money" -- high salary paid to players who aren't productive (and this pertains more to older players).

2. The Caps have a lot of wingers or guys who can play the position they need to find out about. Not all will make the team, but among Ovechkin, Semin, Sykora, Fehr, Sutherby, Gordon, Zalesak, Fleischmann, and Johansson, they might fill the wings on the top two lines and get valuable development time, which leaves Bondra . . . where?

3. The Caps are already several million over their payroll target, according to reports down here. A $1.5 million deal, plus incentives, might push the Caps closer to $30 million than they want at this stage of their rebuild, especially if the cap is lower next year.

4. In his last four full seasons, his goal scoring went 45-39-30-26. The new rules might open things up for him . . . then again, maybe not. At 37, it a considerable risk to take.

Bondra will have more developed offensive talent in Atlanta than he would have had in Washington -- Hossa and Kovalchuk foremost among them, and Bondra has for most of his career been the type who requires someone to feed him the puck. He's not as adept a creator on his own. In Washington, he'd have had to do a lot of that this year.

It's time to move on, Caps fans.

-- The Peerless

Time to move on

Well, by all indications, it’s over. Peter Bondra is reported to have signed a one-year deal with Atlanta. Given that the Caps have a number of forwards they want to get quality ice time – Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Petr Sykora, Brian Sutherby, Dainius Zubrus, Jeff Halpern, and Boyd Gordon, with perhaps Jakub Klepis, Jared Aulin, Eric Fehr and Chris Bourque fighting for roster spots – it was hard to figure just where Bondra was going to fit in. If anything, he was going to have to fit in on an economic basis, which is where the $1.5 million contract came into play. But, when the Caps secured Sykora and then found themselves several million in payroll where they wanted to be, the idea of bringing back Bondra probably lost much of its luster. Add to that the greater need yet to bring in a veteran defenseman (which is itself an iffy proposition, given the current state of payroll), bringing back Bondra almost become a bad idea.

But, all that hypothesizing aside, it’s over. And it’s time to get on with the rebuilding. That process began in earnest today with the opening of training camp. Hopefully, there will be one or more of the kids who break out and justify the idea that youth must be served.


-- The Peerless

Caps-siers

“Hoosiers” is a great sports flick. There is one scene in it that comes to mind as message boards hum and crackle with ideas for trades and complaints of inactivity in the free agent market.

The scene is one of Coach Norman Dale and his meager squad being introduced to the students and supporters before the start of the Hickory High basketball season. As Coach Dale and the boys are standing at the center of the gym, a chant goes up, “we want Jimmy,” referring to the prodigy Jimmy Chitwood, who had chosen not to play.

Coach Dale steps to the microphone and defiantly tells those in the stands. “this is your team.” It is a team, he says, that demands the respect that their going out night after night through the winter deserves.

Well, so it is with the Caps . . . the forlorn collection of the not good enough, the not old enough, or just the “not enough” enough to compete for a playoff spot. And fans are burning message boards with demands that the Caps sign Peter Bondra to a contract.

Well, folks, this is your team . . .

Olaf Kolzig, the best goalie in Caps history, one who single-handedly carried the club on his broad shoulders to its only Stanley Cup final, but who now is being kicked to the curb like the week’s trash. I suspect he’ll be traded before the end of the season, but it should not diminish one bit from what he’s meant to this franchise on and off the ice since arriving in Washington.

Maxime Ouellet . . . the goalie in waiting, about whom whispers of “gee, is he really that good?” are lurking under the surface. It’s getting to be his time, and it’s time he gets that chance . . . so folks, give the kid a chance.

Brian Sutherby . . . there are folks who are prepared to give up on him, and he’s only 23. It’s true, it’s coming to be his time to see if he can really be “a bigger, faster, more skilled version of Michael Peca,” but here’s a kid with barely a full season of NHL experience behind him.

Alexander Semin . . . now he’s showing up in some fans’ trade ideas. He’s immature, he’s a defensive liability, he this, he’s that. Well, he’s also 21 years old.

Steve Eminger . . . another of that class of 2002 that the club needs to have step up. He won’t turn 22 until the season begins, playing one of the hardest positions in all team sports to master, and he’s expected to be a top-pair defenseman to boot. Except mumblings of “not tough enough” can be heard, he didn’t have a good season at Portland last year, etc. Well, in the 1988-89 season, when Calle Johansson was 22 years old (and was traded to Washington), he was 3-18-21, -6, in 59 games. Sounds about where Eminger might end up.

There is a whole squad of these guys at the doorstep of their careers, either on their way in or on their way out. Regardless, it is a club that commands the respect that going out 82 nights through the winter in the hardest of team sports deserves.

-- The Peerless