Translation Services from Your Uncle Peerless

Tarik El-Bashir reports in this afternoon's "Capitals Insider" that Capitals' general manager George McPhee "is not expecting the Caps to make any major moves" as the trading deadline approaches tomorrow.

Uh, yeah...right. Buy that if you will, but we've seen this act before -- last year, in fact, when the Caps didn't do anything except get a hall-of-fame bound center, a number one goalie, and a pest, all for a sheet of S&H green stamps (God, I'm old) and a pack of Wrigley's spearmint gum.

So with that in mind, let's take a look at the quotes McPhee provided to "Capitals Insider" and see if we can divine the true meaning...

Quote: "If we can add a little something here or a little something there, we would do it. But we don't sense right now that very much is going to happen with our club - and that's fine."

Translation: "There are 24 hours left to sense something that is going to happen with the club."

Quote: "What it comes down to is making the right decisions for your hockey club, and taking that long-term look. We've taken a long-term approach, and we've got a good club as a result. We can continue to be a good club if we're smart about things."

Translation: "We're not trading Karl Alzner for Chris Pronger, but we're not above trading a guy at Hershey or a pick to get a Derek Morris."

Quote: "We have some terrific young players that took some years to accumulate and we're not interested in giving them away."

Translation: "We're going to fleece somebody."

Quote: "You don't know what can happen, but right now it's quiet."

Translation: "We put a few irons in the fire this morning."

Quote: "We talked to a lot of clubs yesterday, we talked to everyone again today. But I expect the rest of the day to be quiet and we'll see what happens tomorrow."

Translation: "We'll just let those irons cook a little bit longer."

This has been a public service from your old pal, Uncle Peerless.