Metro...The Fifth Circle of Hell

Yesterday, I had the occasion to leave downtown for suburban Virginia at about 3:45 pm. I entered the Metro station to board my Orange Line train, as I have done regularly for years. But as I descended into the station on the escalator, I realized…this day would be different.

The disembodied voice echoing through the station was reporting that westbound Orange Line trains were carrying passengers only as far as the East Falls Church station, due to debris and power lines in the tracks. Then, The Voice uttered the two words that send shivers down the spines of riders across the region…”shuttle buses,” as in “there will be shuttle buses between East Falls Church and West Falls Church.”

With great trepidation, I boarded the westbound train for whatever adventure awaited me. At each stop along the way, the driver of the train reminded passengers of the outage between the Falls Church stations, and reassured passengers that Metro was on the case with shuttle buses waiting to ferry passengers to West Falls Church. One could see from the looks on the faces of passengers that those reassurances were being treated with skepticism.

The train emerged haltingly from the bowels of Ballston with dark skies overhead and bumper-to-bumper traffic on either side of I-66. The train inched along, delayed as single tracking ahead caused inbound trains to block our way. Finally, we got to East Falls Church, where trains emptied, escalators backed up, and faregates were clogged with people trying to exit the station.

4:10…Shuffling along with the herd, I made it to the bus stop, where there were…no buses. Not only were there no buses, there was only one sign directing passengers to where they were supposed to be, and that was inside the station. Once outside, one followed the crowd. And oh, what a crowd it was. It would have been one of the larger crowds for a hockey game in December. Spilling over into the exit lanes for buses, commuters looked in vain for a bus.

Meanwhile, Metro transit police were milling about, talking to one another, standing around, and generally doing nothing to direct crowds or to even control them. One officious dweeb in particular (whose name I did not get, but who I will refer to as Officer Shortpants, for the blue shorts he was wearing) was walking up and down the line, strutting as if he was chief of police and making jokes about the situation.

“Where are the buses?”…they’re coming, we were told. Finally, a bus – note the singular – arrived. Having no designated place to stop to take on passengers, the driver merely stopped arbitrarily in front of what I suppose he thought was the thickest part of the crowd. What ensued was a rush that looked like several hundred Rosie O’Donnell’s unleashed on an all-you-can-eat buffet. It was not pretty.

Eventually, the bus filled and groaned with the weight as it rolled away from the bus stop. What it took away made barely a dent in the crowd, now growing as trains rolled into the station above. This scene repeated itself often…a bus would arrive, stop somewhere along the line of people waiting, stand as the throng rushed forward, then crawl away.

In the meantime, Officer Shortpants was strutting, police were walking about with no apparent purpose, people were muttering, and clouds were gathering. One commuter cracked, "someone's going to jail tonight," a reference to the possibility of one (or many) commuter going off.

5:15…Finally, one transit police officer took – for lack of a better term – “charge,” and directed incoming buses to pull to the front of the bus loading area to take on passengers. Unfortunately, those buses had to compete with regular line buses arriving and departing. So, to the extent they were held up, wherever they stopped, that is where they took on passengers. The drivers didn’t know any better…no one gave them any direction (Officer Shortpants playing to the crowd and paying no attention to the buses).

People were getting angry and wondering how far it was to walk to West Falls Church. When asked – pointedly – why buses were being allowed to take on passengers at the back of the bus departure area instead of the front, where most people had been waiting for over an hour and where another officer said they would be stopping, Officer Shortpants replied with arms spread wide, “what do you want me to do?”

Well, that was one answer he could have given, but it wasn’t one that made anyone happy, or made anyone think that the Metro Transit Police could control anything bigger than a one car parade.

5:45…the rain clouds have returned, and people are openly discussing hijacking a bus. I watched as one transit police officer (the same one who told the crowd that buses would be directed to the front of the bus loading area) told a colleague that they needed help. The colleague, a rather fit looking fellow looking all the part of a modern, young law enforcement official, blurted, “go tell the supervisor to get over here to help.” Makes one wonder…with a crowd of several hundred or more milling around in disorganized fashion, with no apparent rhyme or reason to how buses were arriving, taking on passengers, or departing, just where was that supervisor?

6:00…finally. Another officer commandeered an Annandale-bound bus and directed the driver to make a detour to the West Falls Church station, which allowed some of us who had been at the station for almost two hours to make some progress toward our destination.

We did not get to West Falls Church until almost 7:00 (there were pedestrians, in a driving rain, actually passing our bus as it was inching along in traffic), and I didn’t actually “get there,” at least not in the bus. A few blocks from the station, with the bus stalled in traffic, the West Falls Church-bound group on the train got out and walked the rest of the way. At the station, I waited another hour for my commuter bus to take me to Loudoun County. Just before 9:00 pm, more than five hours after I left downtown, I was home, still soaked to the skin from the heat and the rain, and having missed the first period of the Stanley Cup final game I was looking forward to watching.

I can appreciate that there will be acts of nature that will make what is usually an uneventful commute a nuisance, or even a nightmare. What I cannot accept is that Metro has no discernible contingency plan for a station out of service (one cringes at what must pass for Metro's plan for a homeland security event). I don’t fault the drivers of the buses – they had no direction. I don’t even fault the transit police (except the feckless Officer Shortpants, who should be dismissed, or confined to a desk filling out forms for the duration of his career) – they had no procedures. No, the fault lies with the management of the system, which lacks the imagination, talent, or desire to plan for contingencies such as that which interrupted service yesterday.

The irony was watching buses gorged with passengers passing by and a sticker pasted on the window of each bus asking "why travel any other way?" Well, yesterday offered an answer. It was an embarrassment for Metro.

The 2007-2008 season, by the "tens" -- Wingers: Chris Clark

And the last winger we’ll look at…

Chris Clark

Theme: “For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: ‘it might have been!’”

Chris Clark played 18 games this season. In his 17^th game – on November 28^th – he hit some bad ice (although on the Verizon Center surface this year, “some” applies more to the patches of good ice one might have found), injured his groin, and saw his season go up in a spray of snow (he played one more game – nine minutes on January 13^th that saw him leave the ice for the last time this season after one shift in the third period of a 6-4 loss to Philadelphia).

It was a waste on a lot of levels. His abbreviated ten-game splits (ok, one split and part of another) suggest he was on his way to a season that would have constituted a step back from his previous two seasons, each of which saw him set personal career highs in goals scored. But the statistics are a bit misleading...

In Clark’s first seven games, he failed to register a single point and was minus-2. This might have been a function of his playing mostly third-line minutes with a struggling Matt Pettinger or a defense-oriented Boyd Gordon. While such a line looked as if it could provide some offensive punch – on paper – at the start of the year, it was not getting the hoped-for results.

On October 24^th, Clark was returned to the top line, where he set those personal highs the previous two years. He responded immediately, with two goals on three shots in a 5-3 win against Tampa Bay. That set off a 10-game stretch in which Clark went 5-3-8, +2. He was looking like the Clark of the previous two seasons. But it was in that tenth game in which he skated off – seven minutes into the third period – with the injury that would essentially end his season.

What the season would have looked like if Clark had not been injured is hard to speculate about. The top line of Ovechkin-Nylander-Kozlov on opening night in Atlanta became Ovechkin-Nylander-Clark in late October, then became Ovechkin-Backstrom-Kozlov when Nylander went on the shelf. Would Clark have been a more productive right wing on the top line than Viktor Kozlov? Hard to say. Kozlov didn’t put up extraordinary numbers (they were consistent with his career averages), but is perhaps a more adept puck handler than Clark and a good fit for the games Ovechkin and Backstrom play.

The interesting part now becomes what happens in the fall. Clark has a new contract taking effect in 2008-2009, and he could end up on the right side on any of the top three lines. With Ovechkin, Backstrom, Kozlov, Nylander, and Semin all being of the top-six forward specie; with Sergei Fedorov perhaps returning; and with Tomas Fleischmann and Eric Fehr competing for time on those lines, it is hard – at the moment – to see Clark on either of the top two lines. But we said that last summer, too. And Clark didn’t miss a beat when he was moved to the top line in October…

“What might have been” is what 2007-2008 was for Clark. It was a waste, a product of bad ice and bad luck, and for that, Clark gets…

Incomplete

The 2007-2008 season, by the "tens" -- Wingers: Eric Fehr

We’re getting to the end of the look at wingers over the past year, and that brings us to…

Eric Fehr

Theme: “Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.”

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Eric Fehr was on a steady rise through his apprenticeship after being selected 18^th overall in the 2003 entry draft. In his last two years of junior hockey following his selection by the Caps, Fehr had seasons of 50 and 59 goals with Brandon in the Western Hockey League. He followed that up with a respectable 25 goals in 70 games in his first year as a pro at Hershey, then 22 goals in 40 games with the Bears the following season.

Then, in February 2007, Fehr came up lame. An injury that defied treatment and (at least for disclosure purposes) diagnosis kept Fehr on the shelf for the better part of a full year, interrupting what seemed like a steady march from juniors to the right side of the top line of the Caps. Eventually diagnosed (or disclosed) as a herniated disk, the injury threatened to delay significantly, if not completely derail Fehr’s future with the Caps. But he returned to the ice to play 11 games in Hershey and 23 with the Caps in 2007-2008. Those 23 games with the parent club were not especially noteworthy…

* three games

…but his return to the ice was the key. He had to come back before he could succeed. There were, however, two games that might have given Caps fans a hint of things to come. The first was his eighth game back, on February 26^th against Minnesota. It happened to be “deadline day,” and the story line that night had nothing to do with Eric Fehr (it was the Caps trading for a goalie and not trading the one they had). But Fehr had a goal and was on the ice for all four goals the Caps scored (finishing +4 for the night) in 11:58 of ice time in a 4-1 Caps win. Less than a week later, Fehr notched three assists in a 10-2 win over Boston in which he played 12:10.

Fehr will be turning 23 just about the time the Caps take the ice on the 2008-2009 season. If one looks at the 17 players selected ahead of Fehr in that 2003 draft, only the Rangers’ Hugh Jessiman has been more disappointing (for the same reasons, by and large – injuries). Except for Jessiman, who has yet to play in the NHL, Fehr has, by far, the fewest games played of the 18 players (48, compared to 112 for Montreal’s Andrei Kostitsyn). That is what the missing year has cost him.

Fehr is a restricted free agent, but it would seem unlikely that a healthy Fehr will be anywhere but in Washington next season. A goal scorer of his potential , who – absent injury – was on a steady upward climb to the NHL, doesn’t seem to be the sort of player the Caps will give up on. For both Fehr and the Caps, the quote from Buddha with respect to endurance seems relevant. The 2008-2009 season could be an important one in Fehr’s development and his future. But for his 2007-2008 season, the only result we can find in it is…

Incomplete

The 2007-2008 season, by the "tens" -- Wingers: Quintin Laing

And now…

Quintin Laing

Theme: “53 to block”

If Quintin Laing was a square on the game show, “Hollywood Squares,” no doubt you’d hear that a lot. For it is what Laing brings to the game – an uncanny ability to throw himself in front of speeding pucks. His statistics over 39 games do not leap off the page…

By any measure, he is a player who is likely to have to scratch and claw for a roster spot at the NHL level. So, he does what he can, and what he can do is block shots. Among forwards, Laing finished 23^rd in the league in blocked shots. But here is the amazing statistic – among the top 300 forwards in blocked shots, Laing was one of two to average more than one blocked shot per game, and his 1.33 blocked shots-per-game led all forwards among the top 300 in total blocked shots (the Blues’ Ryan Johnson deserves a nod here, finishing .004 blocked shots-per-game behind Laing…it really is a small group).

Laing also complemented that aspect of his game with some otherwise physical play, averaging 1.26 hits per game, seventh on the team and fifth among forwards (late-season acquisition Matt Cooke and injured Chris Clark not among those counted here, each having played fewer than 20 games with the Caps this season).

Unfortunately, Laing’s contributions are not as frequent at the other end of the ice. He was 1-5-6, +4 in his 39 games was the worst points-per-game average among all Caps forwards not named “Pettinger” (“Brashear,” too, but his role is unique on this club), as was his shooting percentage (one goal on 48 shots for 2.1 percent). However, his lone goal was a game-winner – December 10^th in a 3-2 win over New Jersey. Seeing as how the margin for the Caps making the playoffs was two points, that goal is as important as any in this season.

As noted above, Laing is likely to be one of those guys who is always going to struggle to stick on an NHL roster, especially on a contending team. It is worth noting that Laing played in only four games after the trading deadline, when the Caps upgraded their forwards with Sergei Fedorov and Matt Cooke. Of Laing, whose effort cannot be slighted, it might be said that one wishes his talent matched that effort -- he'd be one helluva player.

Laing is very good at one aspect of the game (blocked shots), decent at another (hits), but almost non-existent in others (scoring, passing). In grading, that makes for an A in one class, perhaps a B in another…and iffy grades for the rest of the “semester,” but some credit for the level of effort applied. It is with that in mind that for Laing, he grades out at…

C

Awards -- The Jack Adams Award

Since the awards presentations will be made in a couple of weeks, we thought we’d start weighing in on the candidates and our picks for several of them. We’ll start with the Jack Adams Award…

An annual award presented by the National Hockey League Broadcasters' Association to the NHL coach adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success. The winner is selected in a poll among members of the NHL Broadcasters' Association at the end of the regular season.

The finalists for this year include:

Mike Babcock, Detroit Red Wings

Bruce Boudreau, Washington Capitals

Guy Carbonneau, Montreal Canadiens

There are many ways to exhibit coaching excellence in the context of the Adams award, and the three finalists exhibit different forms of it. There is the coach who, with superior talent, keeps his team focused, happy, and productive, so as to make the most of that talent. That is Mike Babcock. There is the coach who led a non-playoff team in his first year behind the bench, but who has a lot of young talent at his disposal. He has to manage his operation in the most storied franchise in the sport in front of perhaps its most rabid fan following, leading them to the top spot in the conference. Guy Carbonneau is that coach. There is the coach of a team that was given up for dead before all the leaves had fallen from the trees last autumn, but led them back on an improbable run to the playoffs. Bruce Boudreau was the author of that accomplishment.

Long ago, when we were taking courses in management, the art of “management” was described as being able to put your people in the best position to succeed and achieve your organization’s goals. And what is coaching, but “management” of a specialized order? The “art” here would be to put your players in the best position possible to succeed and to win. In other words, to maximize the skills each player brings to the contest.

In that respect, it would be hard to overlook one coach, whose ability to evaluate and maximize his player’s skills stands in such stark contrast to his immediate predecessor. There is a “then and now” aspect to his performance that was a stunning as it was unexpected. The team he took over – comprised of considerable talent, if raw and inexperienced – was underperforming, even by the meek standards set by pundits who had the team on the playoff margin at best, being a lottery pick at worst.

They were dead last in the league.

And, they were boring in achieving that dubious distinction. Despite having some of the best young offensive talent in the game, they were averaging 2.2 goals per contest. They seemed to have resigned themselves to playing to their description as a poor defensive team, giving up 3.1 goals a game. After a three-game winning streak to start the season, they were on a 3-14-1 slide, during which they lost six games by at least three goals, while scoring two or fewer goals 12 times and getting shutout twice.

That was then. The front office decided a change was in order and summoned a long-time minor league coach (successful minor league coach, we hasten to add) to try to right the ship. Well, what happened? The club – under new management behind the bench – went 37-17-7 to finish the season and wrap up an unprecedented rags-to-riches finish, becoming the only team in NHL history to go from 14^th or 15^th in their conference during the season – they were 15^th when the new coach took over and 14^th at the season’s 41-game midpoint – to a playoff spot, winning their division in the process with the second-highest point total earned in the Eastern Conference since the Thanksgiving holiday break.

What did it? A complete overhaul of philosophy and approach. The club has some precocious offensive talent?...well, use it! The star player was 14-9-23, even, in 21 games before the coach arrived, 51-38-89, +28 in 61 games after. The heralded rookie?...1-8-9, -5, in 21 games before the coach arrived; 13-46-59, +18, in 61 games after. The defenseman with a nose for the net the coach had in the minors?...3-4-7, -8, in 21 games before; 15-33-48, +13, after. The result?...The team went from scoring 2.2 goals a game in the first 21 games to scoring 3.1 a game in the last 61 – a 40 percent improvement.

And the more aggressive offense had its effect at the other end of the ice as well. Keeping the puck on their own sticks left less time for the opposition to have it on theirs…the result was to drop the goals allowed per game average from 3.1 to 2.7 (1.9 since the trading deadline).

There isn’t a member of this trio of finalists who is undeserving of consideration. In fact, one might add a few other deserving coaches that did not make the finalist cut, despite a few of them no longer serving in that capacity – Ron Wilson in San Jose, Claude Julien in Boston, Joel Quenneville in Colorado, Michel Therrien in Pittsburgh, Craig MacTavish in Edmonton, Denis Savard in Chicago. It is a crowded field of fine candidates.

However, there is one coach whose performance is extraordinary, owing to the circumstances of his arrival – taking over a team that was perhaps days from its season being all but over in November and guiding it to the playoffs, who stands slightly above the others. While we would not have an argument with any of the other finalists winning, if we had a vote (and we’ll admit to bias), we’d pick…

Bruce Boudreau, Washington Capitals

The 2007-2008 season, by the "tens" -- Wingers: Donald Brashear

Next up for the wingers…

Donald Brashear

Theme: “My passions were all gathered together like fingers that made a fist. Drive is considered aggression today; I knew it then as purpose.”

OK, the quote comes from the late actress Bette Davis, but was there any tougher character on the screen? As for Donald Brashear, we think he – and his fellow practitioners around the league – plays the toughest role of all in hockey, that of “enforcer.” Whether one is in favor of or is against fighting in the sport, it holds a unique – and some believe useful – place in the sport. We won’t opine on that.

What is beyond doubt, though, is that Donald Brashear remains one of the true heavyweights in the NHL. And does that give players like Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, and Nicklas Backstrom a little more freedom to do what they do? We suspect it does, and in that respect, Brashear plays an important role on this team, regardless of how many points he might put up or what his plus-minus might be.

For the record, here are Brashear’s ten-game splits…

Brashear is not expected to generate a lot of offense, but on a team that looked to generate more offensive pressure than perhaps any of its recent predecessors, Brashear did not generate much. Points-wise, it was his lowest total (nine) in more than a decade (eight, in 1995-96, with Montreal). In terms of the less well-quoted statistics, Brashear was the biggest hitter on the team (0.21 hits per minute played). He also led the club in fighting majors (12).

But if physical play is to be a player’s contribution, there is a fine line between supplying that physical edge and taking undue, undisciplined liberties. On a couple of occasions, Brashear crossed that line this year, most notably in the late stages of a game on March 8^th in Boston. It was already a chippy game, following as it did the 10-2 whupping the Caps laid on the Bruins five days earlier. Brashear has already been involved in the second fight of the game only 14 seconds into the contest (Matt Bradley kicked things off at the five second mark). But late, the Caps were nursing a 1-0 lead when Brashear took a double minor for high-sticking, then compounded the problem by taking a roughing call. The Caps surrendered two goals on the extended five-on-three, and the Caps lost what might have been their most heartbreaking game of the year (had they not reached the playoffs), 2-1. That was a situation one would not have expected a veteran like Brashear to have a meltdown of that magnitude.

After that sequence, Brashear’s ice time was not reduced appreciably, and to his credit he played a much more disciplined game in the season’s final stretch. While he didn’t drop the gloves in those last dozen games he played after the Boston incident, he took only two inconsequential interference minors in those games (both games won by the Caps).

Brashear provides a measure of freedom for others to do what they do best. Perhaps the price to be paid for that is that from time to time, his style will be more a detriment than a positive. For the most part, Brashear was on that side of the line. And for that, he gets…

B-

From Mickey to the Gong Show, by way of...Melrose Place?

In 1984, after a 13-4 drubbing of the New Jersey Devils, the Edmonton Oilers' Wayne Greztky was famously quoted as follows, regarding the Devils...

"They're putting a Mickey-Mouse operation on the ice. It's ruining hockey."

A decade later, the Devils shed their mouse ears and won a Stanley Cup title.

Well, now a couple of others icons from entertainment history have been called to mind to describe another NHL team. James Mirtle evokes "Melrose Place" in describing unfolding events in Tampa as the Lightning go through a change in ownership, one which appears set to replace Coach John Tortorella with Barry Melrose -- yes, that Barry Melrose -- who last coached in the NHL when Gump Worsley was playing in goal (well, it just seems that way).

Meanwhile, Eric Duhatchek wonders if the situation won't turn into a "gong show" that will leave Vincent Lecavalier pondering the wisdom of signing on to a long-term contract extension with the Lightning.

Damian Cristodero lays out some of the particulars in this morning's St. Petersburg Times. There was one part of his article that caught our eye with respect to team management...

"Much depends on how OK Hockey divides responsibilities. How much will [incoming owner Oren] Koules be involved in hockey operations, not to mention the St. Pete Times Forum? What will [co-owner Len] Barrie's job be? Bet that [GM Jay] Feaster, who is somewhat shielded with three years left on his deal, and team president Ron Campbell will be watching."

"OK hockey?" From the looks of things, that might be the best Lightning fans can hope for, perhaps for quite a while. The Caps were 6-2 against the Lightning this past year, including wins in the last five meetings. It is hard to envision the Lightning improving on that next year, given what their team might look like.

It might take a long time to build a winner...the Devils after Gretzky's Mickey Mouse comment, and even the Lightning, which won the Stanley Cup in 2004 after many years at the bottom of the league. But we might be getting a lesson in just how quickly it can fall apart. The Lightning can't be any worse next year than last, having already finished 30th, giving them the pleasure of drafting Steve Stamkos in a few weeks. But they can be just as bad...

Does John Tavares like the beach?

The 2007-2008 season, by the "tens" -- Wingers: Matt Bradley

We’re back with another winger to look at…

Matt Bradley

Theme: “…gives a lickin' and it keeps on stickin'"

That’s a take on the old Timex watch jingle, but it seems to suit Bradley, who is as representative of the term “energy forward” as you’re likely to find anywhere. In a strange way, Bradley is a reflection of the change in philosophy on the part of the Caps that came with the coaching change, although part of what Bradley’s effect might have been could also be a product of the absence of Chris Clark for most of the season. The indicator is ice time.

Here are Bradley’s ten-game splits…

But here are Bradley’s ten-game splits for ice time…

Bradley consistently received more and more ice time as the season progressed. Of particular note, Bradley played in 16 of 21 games through Thanksgiving, and only twice did he receive more than ten minutes of ice time (and one of those was in a blowout 7-1 win in Toronto). Bradley played in all 61 games after the Thanksgiving break, and in only 23 of them did he play less than ten minutes (nine of those coming in the first nine games after the break…and the coaching change).

And why the jump in time?...Well, Bradley hits things. A lot. Alex Ovechkin is acknowledged as a big hitter among forwards, especially skill forwards. However, Bradley more than holds his own in that department. Ovechkin registered 220 hits in 82 games while averaging 23:06 in ice time a game. Sparing you the math, that works out to 0.12 hits per minute of ice time. Bradley, with 126 hits in 77 games averaging 9:59 of ice time a game, averaged 0.16 hits per minute of ice time. If he’s out there, he’s going to punish something.

It isn’t as if he was a stiff on offense, either. While not ever likely to assume the role of a top-six forward, he had two game winning goals this year. It might not sound like a lot, but it was as many as Alexander Semin had…Viktor Kozlov, too. It doesn’t include his game-winning goal scored in the 12^th round of the Gimmick, against Edmonton on January 17^th.

Bradley’s performance this year is also indicative of the benefits of getting supplemental scoring. In 41 Caps wins this year, Bradley was 7-10-17, +14. In 36 losses, he registered only an assist and was -13.

There is another statistic for Bradley that is surprising, and it cleaves into two parts. For someone as rambunctious in his style as Bradley, one might have expected he have more than 74 penalty minutes in 77 games. 50 of those minutes came as a result of ten fighting majors, second to Donald Brashear’s 12 (the Caps were 5-4-1 in games in which Bradley dropped the gloves). Only 24 minutes were earned – 12 minor penalties – otherwise. That was as many minor penalties as Nicklas Backstrom had.

It would be fair to say of Bradley that he is one of those unsung guys that earns a living toiling in the trenches. We can’t know if he likes that role (no kid grows up dreaming of mucking in the corners, we suspect), but it is one he seems to have embraced – gives a lickin’, and keeps on stickin’. And the Caps appear to have embraced him as well, rewarding him with a three-year, $3 million contract extension. Given his role and his ability to play intelligently within the confines of it, Bradley deserves a decent grade for this year…

B+

81

It's not Sidney Crosby's new number. It is the number of shots the Red Wings attempted in last night's 3-2 loss at the hands of the Penguins. But it's how they break down that tells the tale...

34 shots on goal
26 shots blocked
21 missed shots

The defensemen for Pittsburgh had a combined 22 blocked shots. It was a tremendous effort on their part to give Marc-Andre Fleury help in repelling the Red Wings.

But therein lies the problem, too...81 attempts in 60 minutes. That's an attempt every 45 seconds. By way of comparison, the Red Wings had 68 and 64 attempts in games one and two, respectively. Part of that was late pressure (12 attempts in the last 6:23 after the Samuelsson goal to bring the Wings within one), but it is still almost Gatling gun production.

Looking at the shot charts for the two teams (as compiled by ESPN), Pittsburgh did a better job in Game 3 of getting chances in the middle of the ice, but even the shots Detroit put on net were largely in quality areas.



With that effort on the part of the Penguin defense, they can compete, but can they continue getting in the way of Detroit shots often enough to give their offense a chance?

Post Season Analyses...They're Everywhere!

In this interlude between the end of the Caps' season and the draft, your Caps' bloggers have been hunkered down, going over the year and providing their own season-in-review summaries for Caps fans. Have a look...they're really good (except for that doofus who writes about "the tens")...

Japers' Rink "Rink Wrap"

On Frozen Blog "Top 10 Story Lines"

A View from the Cheap Seats "Season in Review"

Bleatings from a Caps Nut "Season Wrap Up"

In Ahead of the Play "Roster Review"

Caps Blue Line "State of the Team"

...and of course, our own "the tens" (more of which is coming, honest)

If we're missing anyone, let us know, and we'll update this list.

Happy reading, Caps fans.

Bradley -- Cooke -- Fedorov

Humor us for a moment.

Tarik El-Bashir reports that Matt Bradley has been signed to a new, three-year deal with the Caps. We'd have to think this has ramifications for the re-signing of unrestricted free agent Matt Cooke, since Cooke made more than twice as much last year ($1.525 million) as did Matt Bradley ($700,000).

It is not unreasonable to think that for 2008-2009, Cooke's salary on the open market would end up being at least $1.0 million more than what Bradley re-signed for with the Caps.

If one assumes that Mike Green's re-signing is a slam-dunk, will-happen item, you'd have to think there was at least a place-holder in the Caps' budget for him. Ditto for other restricteds like Boyd Gordon or Shaone Morrisonn.

But about whom is there some uncertainty...a player for whom money might need to be freed up to re-sign?

Perhaps the signing of Matt Bradley (and what we now presume will be a lack of overwhelming desire to re-sign Matt Cooke) provides a glimpse into whether Sergei Fedorov will return.

Hey...it's summer, we are entitled to delusions.

photo: The Associated Press

Small wonder

Detroit took a 2-0 lead in games last night with its 3-0 win over the Penguins, in Detroit. The Penguins were shutout for the second consecutive game. Why?

Sidney Crosby had six shots on goal. The rest of the top-six forwards?...

...one (Marian Hossa, 13:25 of the second period).

Evgeni Malkin had only one attempt (a missed shot at 12:38 of the first period).

And if you're wondering about how this series might unfold, think: "Montreal Canadiens." They are the only team (of 31) to have lost the first two games of the finals on the road and come back to win the title. They did it in 1971 against the Chicago Blackhawks.

The kid's good, but good enough to overcome that? Probably not.


Photo: Claus Andersen/Getty Images

Your Finals Progonosto -- Red Wings vs. Penguins

Well, we’re finally here. The Finals. Hockeytown and Hokeytown…

Detroit Red Wings (1) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (2)

OK, OK…we couldn’t help ourselves. It’s the Red Wings and the Penguins, two teams that did not play against each other in the regular season, which lends a bit of mystery to this series. But it really isn’t a mystery that these teams are facing off against one another now. Statistically, they are 1-2 in just about everything. Not only that, they dominate the top of the statistical charts. Look at how far back the third place team is in these assorted measures…

There are also the “onlys,” as in…

In their 12 wins, Pittsburgh has been involved in only two one-goal games, Detroit only four.

Detroit has lost only one game in 12 when leading after one period…Pittsburgh not at all in seven.

Both teams are undefeated when leading after two periods.

Pittsburgh has trailed at the first intermission only twice…Detroit only once.

The two have split only six occurrences in which they’ve trailed after two periods…in a combined 30 games played.

And, there are the “did you know” items…

Did you know that Detroit has six three-goal-or-more winning margins among its 12 wins?

Did you know Pittsburgh is the only team in the entire tournament with a perfect record in one-goal games?...they’ve only had two, though.

Did you know that Pittsburgh has five empty net goals in 14 games?

Did you know that Detroit is +15 in goal differential in the first period of games (23-8)? Only one other team has scored as many as 15 first period goals in the tournament (it’s not Pittsburgh, either).

Did you know that Pittsburgh – in 12 wins so far – has eight different players with game-winning goals?

Did you know that Detroit has four shorthanded goals on the road? No other team has more than two shorthanded goals, total.

Did you know that Pittsburgh leads the tournament in home plus-minus? (+12)…and that Detroit leads in road plus-minus? (+11)

Did you know that Detroit has eight players with at least ten points?

Did you know that Pittsburgh has only two players averaging more than 20 minutes of ice time a game?

Let’s go back to that graphic up at the top…those are the obvious numbers. Pittsburgh is marginally superior to Detroit in most of them, as befits a team that is 12-2 so far in the playoffs. What about some of the less obvious measures…

Hits. Three Penguins – Brooks Orpik, Ryan Malone, and Jarkko Ruutu rank 4^th, 5^th, and 11^th, respectively, in hits. The highest ranking Red Wing is 18^th…Pavel Datsyuk.

Blocked Shots. You’ll find five Penguins – Orpik, Sergei Gonchar, Hal Gill, Rob Scuderi, and Kris Letang – on the leader list before you find a Red Wing (Brad Stuart, tied with Letang). Of course, this might be a function on how the Red Wings limit opponents’ chances.

Takeaway/giveaway ratio. So far, only one Penguin forward has been relatively loose with the puck, measure as a takeaway-to-giveaway ratio of less than 1.00 – Evgeni Malkin. Detroit has three – Mikael Samuelsson, Darren McCarty, and Tomas Holmstrom.

The top four faceoff men for the Red Wings (by draws taken) are a combined 58.5 percent in winning percentage. None of them have a losing record. The Penguins’ top four are a combined 47.5 percent, and only Jordan Staal has a winning record…he’d be tied for fourth on the Red Wings.

At this point of the season, we’re supposed to say that this will all come down to goaltending. Well, it won’t – not directly, that is. Statistically, Marc-Andre Fleury for Pittsburgh and Chris Osgood for Detroit are almost mirror images of one another. The tale of the tape (their rank in parentheses)…

There is where the similarities end. How these two got to the top of the heap in the playoffs is a different as a penguin and an octopus. Both teams have averaged a combination of 60 shots per game (those on goal and those allowed on goal) over the course of the playoffs. The Penguins seem more accommodating in terms of trading chances. Their shot differential advantage of 4.4 shots ranks them a respectable fourth among all 16 teams in the tournament, but their superior offensive talent has permitted them to engage in such a war of attrition with teams. It was perhaps no more clearly on display than in the series against the Rangers.

In Game 1, the Rangers stormed out to a 3-0 lead, only to watch as the Penguins scored two goals 14 seconds apart in the second period to launch them on a four goal onslaught spanning 16:47 of the second and third periods. Even when the Rangers managed to tie the game, the Penguins had an answer in the end with Evgeni Malkin scoring the game-winner with 1:41 left in regulation.

In Game 3, the teams traded haymakers over the first half of the contest, the score tied at three after Jaromir Jagr scored with less than seven minutes in the third period. But Pittsburgh put it away with a late second period goal, then a marker early in the third for a 5-3 win.

Pittsburgh is like a three-year old at Churchill Downs who lays back in the pack over the first three-quarters of a mile. But late speed and a strong finish in the stretch provides a comfortable margin of victory…it the Penguins’ case, 1.78 goals/game.

But that style makes Fleury have to play the position more – he will see chances. And in that respect, he has – in this tournament – shaken off the “underachiever” tag he brought with him from previous playoff experiences in the AHL and in his first appearance last year.

On the other hand, the Red Wings have split those 60 shots by roughly 36-for and 24-against. They do not trade chances with other teams. Only once in 16 games had an opponent outshot Detroit – game 3 in the opening series against Nashville. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Red Wings lost that game, 5-3, surrendering their highest number of goals in any game in the playoffs. That has the effect of forcing teams to expend effort defending (and chasing) the Red Wings, and it places considerable pressure on opposing goalies, who have to play that much better knowing that they will face far more chances on average than will Osgood.

Detroit is like that octopus, winding its tentacles around an opponent, gradually getting an advantage, tightening its grip on the puck, and before too long, the opponent is looking up at a 3-1 or 4-1 hole, tired and beaten.

The result is that Osgood hasn't had to “play” his position as much as has Fleury in the playoffs, but he’s had to have the mental strength to maintain his focus. He has done so, having allowed one or no goals in six of the 12 full games in which he’s played.

If there is one player in this series, more than any other, on whom the outcome might depend, it is Johan Franzen for Detroit. Through 11 games, Franzen was 12-3-15, +9, with five game-winning goals. But he was scratched for the last five games of the conference final against Dallas with concussion-symptoms. The Wings were 3-2 in those games and were held to 13 goals (2.60/game) after scoring 42 in their first 11 games (3.82/game).

Franzen’s presence would give the Penguins something they haven’t seen much of, if at all in the playoffs thus far – two solid scoring lines playing at the top of their game. But Franzen has not been cleared medically for game one. That is the window of opportunity for the Penguins here. Stealing one against the Red Wings in Detroit early would be a huge boost of confidence for a young team. It might not make a lot of difference to the Wings, who are experienced enough to know it’s first to four, not first to one, but getting out fast could give the Penguins the edge.

These are teams with very similar results, arrived at in somewhat different ways. Pittsburgh has a more physical dimension to their play and have simply pulverized opponents. Detroit has taken the long view in games and in series, using a methodical puck-possession scheme that it plays to near perfection to deny opportunities to opponents. The big guys – Crosby and Datsyuk, Malkin and Zetterberg, Gonchar and Lidstrom – will probably all be heavily represented at the top of the statistical lists. But it might come down to the little things – those that the next tier players provide (Holmstrom’s ability to raise a fuss in front of the net, the Red Wings’ faceoff skills; Gary Robert’s force-of-nature style, Ryan Malone’s grit) and the ability of the stars to play solid two-way games.

Why Detroit will win...

The Red Wings have been here before, and you have to be here to get there. What do we mean by that? Look at the team to which this Penguin team is most often compared – in style and in age: the Edmonton Oilers of the mid 1980’s. Much has been made that the Oiler team that beat the Islanders in 1984 for their first Stanley Cup was young (as are the Penguins) and supremely talented (as are the Penguins). Well, the Oilers lost in the final in the previous year with their core players – Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson, Kevin Lowe, Charlie Huddy, Grant Fuhr – getting their baptism.

How that will be reflected here is in the Red Wings doing more of the little things – faceoffs, winning the turnover battles, etc. – better than will the Penguins…a product of their immense experience.

Why the Penguins will win...

Strangely, this could be the Penguins’ best chance to win a Cup over the next several years. The reason for that is that they have in place the one thing they sorely lacked – a scoring winger in Marian Hossa. Hossa, who is an unrestricted free agent after this season – one who will command a high seven-figure salary, might not return next year. But in this moment, he is casting off the bitter taste of his performance in last year’s playoffs (one assist and -6 in a four-game sweep in the opening round) with a vengeance. His 9-10-19, +7, in 14 games gives the Penguins the oomph from the wing that they needed to complement their talent and depth down the middle.

In the end…

The old saying goes, “age before beauty.” What “age” has given the Red Wings is comfort in playing a simple, elegant, efficient game. The rambunctious Penguins – as we have pointed out in an earlier round – have a lot more moving parts to their game. At this point, that means they still probably depend more on talent than execution (which is not to say they are undisciplined, just not in Detroit’s class in that respect). This will manifest itself in terms of the Red Wings being able to play their game more and for longer stretches than the Penguins will theirs. That, in the end, will be the difference.

Red Wings in six.

The 2007-2008 season, by the "tens" -- Wingers: Matt Cooke

And now, as we move down the list of wingers…

Matt Cooke

Theme: “I think it's liquid aggravation that circulates through his veins, and not regular blood.”

"I'm just looking forward to playing somewhere where they want me.” So said Matt Cooke upon getting the news that he had been traded to the Capitals for forward Matt Pettinger. Pettinger – an energy forward who showed a goal-scoring touch in the previous two years – spent 56 games trying to get out of a goal-scoring rut (two goals) while struggling in other aspects (-11) and – by his own admission – developing a rift with coach Bruce Boudreau.

Enter Matt Cooke. Upon arriving – his arrival delayed because of work visa paperwork – he was installed on the second line with Alexander Semin and fellow newcomer Sergei Fedorov. He would then be moved down to a checking line in later games, but would return to the second line by the end of the year.

In fact, Cooke’s short tenure breaks down roughly into three pieces...

In the first of them, the Caps got a look at the full Cooke. In his second game with the club – the Caps hosting the Bruins – Cooke made the trade look good with a goal and a pair of assists in a 10-2 win.

Five days later, Cooke accumulated 17 minutes in penalties and was ejected after incurring a major penalty for kneeing and a game misconduct in a 2-1 loss to the Bruins that very nearly scuttled the Caps’ season.

Cooke then posted a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win over Atlanta in completing his first phase with the club – 2-3-5, +3, with 19 penalty minutes in seven games.

Over the next seven games, Cooke failed to register a point. It corresponded in large part with his being moved off the second line for a significant portion of that stretch. Getting steady time on the second line with Semin and Fedorov in the final three games, Cooke was 1-1-2, +3.

Cooke could be evaluated in comparison with the player he replaced – Matt Pettinger. A grinder for much of his early career, Pettinger developed a scoring touch in tallying 36 goals over the two seasons preceding this one. But Pettinger got off to a slow start and moved backwards. His scoring dried up, and he lacked jump in his game. By the time he was traded for Cooke, he was a dismal 2-5-7, -11 in 56 games with the Caps.

Cooke supplied the energy that Pettinger couldn’t summon, and was every bit the pest he was advertised as being. Statistically, he was somewhat unremarkable, but with Fedorov and Semin he contributed to a second line that was more consistently productive than it was before his arrival. More to the point, Pettinger was contributing almost nothing from the third and fourth lines at 10-12 minutes a night, while Cooke was supporting an improved second line getting 12-14 minutes a night – certainly a net positive for the club, whatever Cooke’s statistical line might have been.

While it is uncertain that the unrestricted free agent will be re-signed, Cooke contributed this season in a manner consistent with the style advertised for him. It perhaps does not rise to the level of contribution his fellow newcomers – Fedorov and Cristobal Huet – enjoyed, but it was an element in the Caps’ final drive. For that, he gets an above average grade:

B-

37, huh...

Alex Ovechkin is reported to have garnered 250 of 287 votes from his peers in the NHL as Sporting News Player of the Year. 37 players voted for someone else. I wonder, maybe these guys had something to do with it...

...and I can even read this guy's lips..."just say 'NO' to Ovechkin!"

...shhh. I know, Shean Donovan isn't a Flame any more.

The Sporting News: Ovechkin Player of the Year, Green to All Star Team

Alex Ovechkin earned the first of what promises to be several post-season awards, named Player of the Year by The Sporting News.

Alexander the Great, indeed. All Ovechkin did was score 65 goals, the most by an NHL player since 1996, win the Art Ross Trophy with 112 points and lead a charge by the Capitals from last place to a Southeast Division title.

Mike Green was named to TSN's all-star team as well, joining Nicklas Lidstrom on the defense.

Congratulations to both!

Not "Continental"..."Kontinental"

The "Continental" was a continuing sketch on Saturday Night Live focusing on a creepy self styled ladies man. The "Kontinental" is a hockey league.

James Mirtle covers the matter of the next step in the evolution of the Russian Super League and the driving force behind it -- Alexander Medvedev (the gentleman on the right, above).

One thing struck me right between the eyes when I took a look at the map to which Mirtle links in his column...

Bobrov
Tarasov
Kharlamov
Chernyshev

No, it's not some personal injury law firm with offices in Moscow. These are the divisions of the Kontinental Hockey League. Named for playing and coaching legends in the sport in Russia/Soviet Union. It recalls memories of the divisions of the National Hockey League -- Patrick, Adams, Norris, Smythe.

You remember those, don't you? When there were real rivalries in hockey?

...unless you're pining for a resumption of that rabid Capital-Panther duel next year, that is.

The 2007-2008 season, by the "tens" -- Wingers: Tomas Fleischmann

And now, we pick up the wingers with…

Tomas Fleischmann

Theme: “the canary in a coal mine”

Coming into this season, Tomas Fleischmann had played a grand total of 43 games as a Capital. On that basis, there were probably a fair number of fans who had already concluded that Fleischmann did not have a future with the club – he was 4-6-10, -13, in two short stints with the club. Frankly, the club seemed on the brink of making a similar assessment last summer. Fleischmann went to training camp as a man without a contract, whereupon he played himself into a new one-year deal and onto the top forward line on opening night with Alex Ovechkin and Viktor Kozlov.

Fleischmann didn’t play like a top line forward. He managed one goal and eight shots in his first ten games...

What’s more, he averaged less than ten minutes playing time a game. For a player with Fleischmann’s skill set, who appeared to have cleared an important hurdle coming into the season – proving he could play at this level – it could have been demoralizing. His second ten games were marginally better (3-1-4, getting 14+ minutes a game).

But Fleischmann, who enjoyed considerable success under Bruce Boudreau at Hershey in the 2005-2006 season (30-33-65, +15 in 57 regular season games and 11-21-32, +14 in 20 playoff games in the Calder Cup run) found something of a niche under the new coach. Over the next 40 games he was 4-16-20 – not the stuff of a top-six forward, but getting ice time in the low teens, it wasn’t that bad, either. It was at the end of this period (February 13^th) that Fleischmann was re-signed to a two-year contract extension.

But then, something happened…on February 24^th, against Minnesota, Fleischmann had a pair of assists and was +4 in a 4-1 win. Over the next ten games, he would not register a single point, would be credited with only nine shots on goal, and would average less than nine minutes of ice time a game. As the team was entering the desperate phase of their playoff run, Fleischmann spent it largely on the bench. While Matt Cooke – acquired from Vancouver at the trading deadline – was getting considerable minutes providing some grit on the second line with Sergei Fedorov (another deadline acquisition) and Alexander Semin, Fleischmann was getting third and fourth line ice time.

Fleischmann was, in a sense, the canary in a coal mine as far as an indicator of the Caps’ position with respect to the rebuild. If this was a “preparation” season – getting youngsters ready for prime time next year by giving them minutes now, those minutes he got in those 40 games he played from November 23^rd through February 26^th would likely have continued. But when Fedorov and Cooke were obtained, Fleischmann spent more time sitting than skating. It was a signal that the Caps were ready to compete for that playoff spot now…and Fleischmann was not. He did manage a pair of goals and an assist in his last five games, but the character of his season appeared to have been defined.

These days, when fans are prone to make quick judgments about players and voice them in message board or blog forums, it would be tempting to conclude that Fleischmann played himself off the team, or that the Caps have concluded that others have passed him by. Well, there is the fact that the club re-signed him to a two-year contract. They see something there. This year was Fleischmann’s first full year as an NHLer. A lot of the time, it showed. But he also showed flashes of the puck-handling and playmaking skill that made him a top playoff performer at Hershey when the Bears won a Calder Cup.

Whether Fleischmann makes that next leap is now a question for next year. Competition for top-six forward time on this club will be tight, even if Fedorov and Cooke (both unrestricted free agents) are not re-signed. The club seems set on the left side with the Alexes, Nicklas Backstrom and Michael Nylander will hold down the center positions, and Viktor Kozlov will likely man the right side on the top line. That leaves Fleischmann to compete with Eric Fehr, perhaps Chris Clark, and other youngsters coming through the system for time on the right side on the second line.

This year was a very uneven one for Fleischmann, but not one that should have been unexpected, given his experience and circumstances. He dropped the ball, in a sense, after having been given a chance on the top line to start the season. But he played respectably, given his minutes, over the middle third of the season. However, when crunch time came, others would get the ice time. Considering all of that, Fleischmann earns a…

C

Practice...practice...practice...

....carrying hardware. It might come in handy next year.

Fedorov's obviously done this before.


Photos: Matthew Manor/IIHF-HHOF Images