Capitals Development Camp -- Day 5

Day 5 – “Psychology” Day

Today’s sessions were an object lesson in the psychology of having a lot of competitive young men in the fifth day of working in confined spaces. Break things up with a couple of scrimmages or a paint ball field trip, but it’s still the same guys seeing one another and competing with the aid of sticks. Today, the irritables set in.

First, there was Coach Bruce Boudreau, whose patience appeared to be tested in the first session with the level of intensity being displayed on the ice. When he had a chance to get everyone together at the bench to go over the next drill, he let them know it, too. Not particularly harshly, from what we could hear, but the message was delivered. On Day 5 of drills, testing, scrimmages, more testing, more drills, another scrimmage, paintball in 100-degree weather, well… one might expect the level of intensity to waver, even among healthy young fellows such as these. Shoot, even Evgeny Kuznetsov wasn’t smiling as much as he had been earlier in the week.

Then in the second session, there was that guy again – Trevor Bruess – making things difficult for goalie Taylor Nelson by getting right up in his mask to screen him from the shooter during a drill in the second session. After some jostling, Nelson had enough and let Bruess know it with a shove. Gotta admire the kid’s spunk, especially given that Bruess responded by shoving Nelson off his feet and right back into his own net. It didn’t end there, either. Bruess skated off while barking back at Nelson, and as the players gathered back at the bench to get their instructions for the next drill, Bruess was still barking and casting daggers with his eyes at Nelson. As the players broke out for their next drill, Bruess looked as if he wanted to continue the conversation, but the drills went on.

As for the object of the exercise – conducting drills and teaching the boys the finer points of Caps hockey – today's ice time was very much devoted to running the power play. Positioning, proper separation, rotation, puck movement. It went from 5-on-none drills (to instill a sense of where players should be and where they should go) to 5-on-4 drills. In the second group, Marcus Johansson looked to get some special attention concerning where he should be positioning himself (his first instinct still seems to go out high in a defensive posture).

Each session ended with a staple of D-Camp. Thirteen pucks were lined up and the blue line for each team, and players took their turns in skating in on a penalty shot/breakaway in a scramble format. Rush in, shoot – if you score, the puck comes off the ice; if you miss, you have to collect the puck and bring it back to the blue line before the next shooter takes the ice. And goalies, after making the save, can shoot the puck away from the shooter into one or the other corner. The one thing we took away from this is that Kuznetsov has a future in the Gimmick. Losers had the privilege of doing a bag skate.

If you’re into who played with whom on what lines/pairs, here is what we saw (largely unchanged from the week's norm):

Group A

Red: Kuznetsov/Cullen/Forfar
Green: Della Rovere/Hauswirth/de Kastrozza
Gray: Eakin/DeSimone/Wiles
White: Woods/Gustafsson/de Kastrozza
D-Pairs: Orlov/Finley, Jank/Carrier, Bond/Ruel, Yadlowski/Flemming
Goalies: Holtby/Dunn

Group B

Red: Burke/Hebert/Lefrancois
Green: Mitchell/MacLeod/Bruess
Gray: Galiev/Johansson/Burt
White: Alexander/Miele/Pisano
D-Pairs: Lowery/Stevenson, Spinell/Cullity, Davis/Wey, Sotnieks (rotating)
Goalies: Grubauer/Enzukens/Nelson

And so ends the drills portion of the week, the festivities coming to a close tomorrow with a 10:00 am scrimmage. In the meantime, some more pics (including getting ready for the equipment sale)…

Capitals Development Camp -- Day 4

We’re going to go out on a limb here and guess that Braden Holtby is not much of a morning person. Or Trevor Bruess, for that matter.

The boys went at it again, a scant 18 hours after the start of Scrimmage 1, held yesterday afternoon. And in the tried and true tradition of hockey played everywhere, familiarity with an opponent – even if they share the same employer for the week – breeds contempt.

Team White defeated Team Red, 6-5 in a shootout, to take a win and a tie into the final scrimmage of the week, to be played on Saturday at 10 am. What did we notice?

-- First, it was a nice crowd for a 9:00 am start and it being a workday.  The rink looked to be about three-fourths full from our spot.

-- Braden Holtby might need his vision checked. That guy whose legs he took a one-handed slash at (and connected) happened to be the Caps first round draft pick this past June. Kuznetsov is his name. Seems the young forward got a bit too close to Holtby as the goalie was trying to play a puck (well outside the crease, it should be noted), got tangled up with him (leading to a goal when Holtby could not retreat to his crease in time), and as he was starting to head back up ice after the score took the business end of Holtby’s stick in the back of the legs, causing him to turn in wonder before limping to the bench. This prompted a few comments from the upstairs crowd directed at Holtby, although those folks might not to have the term “heat of the moment” in their lexicon. Was it the smartest thing Holtby’s done this week? We’re going to bet on “no,” but it’s hardly an unprecedented reaction from a goalie, even on one of his clubmates.

-- Holtby was not the same after that incident. He got caught wandering a bit too far from his crease on one other occasion -- also resulting in a goal -- and all told allowed four goals in two periods after his teammates staked him to a 3-0 lead in the first period.

-- Trevor Bruess, on the other hand, packed a whole game’s worth of aggravating behavior into one period – the third. With Team Red already starting the period on the penalty kill, Bruess – representing Team White – egged Joe Finley into taking a slashing penalty right off the opening draw to give his team a 5-on-3 advantage. Bruess also mixed it up with Cody Eakin as the two were headed to their respective benches, and there might have been a kerfuffle had Stefan Della Rovere of Team Red not stepped between the two (no doubt to deprive Bruess of having all the fun). Frankly, we smile at the thought of a Della Rovere and a Bruess playing on the same team. They sure would be a pain in the ass to play against.

-- Eakin had the goal of the morning, though. Working to get position in front of Holtby’s crease, he was knocked to the ice. But lying on his side just outside the paint, he still managed to deflect an incoming puck around Holtby for a goal. Some goals are wristers, others are slappers. This was more a “Tempur-Pedic.”

-- But while Eakin had the goal of the day, Della Rovere was potting a pair of his own. So did Jake Hauswirth for Team Red, but the curious thing about his goals was that neither involved a goaltender actually defending his net. His first was on the Holtby-Kuznetsov scramble, and the second was when Holtby was just too far east of his crease when Hauswirth got the puck.

-- Team Red (Group A on your scorecards) has the talent, Team White (Group B) has the grit. For the first period, Team Grit didn’t let Team Talent get a sniff of the offensive zone. Team Red just couldn’t find a clean way to get out of its own end. But as the game wore on, the superior firepower that Team Red possessed more than nullified the territorial advantage Team White enjoyed.

-- Wade McLeod just completed his third year at Northeastern University and is a free agent invitee to this camp. He’s not a big fellow, but he does go in among the trees, and he was rewarded for his effort with a couple of goals. That is the kind of thing that might get a player noticed.

-- Camp Gimmick followed the 5-5 regulation tie, and while the fancy stuff missed (Evgeny Kuznetsov taking the great polar route – almost behind the players’ benches – before trying to pull Dan Dunn out of position, Phil DeSimone’s trying to deke Dunn to the ice, Johansson trying to show the puck to Phillip Grubauer before pulling it back to slip between his legs) it was Stanislav Galiev using just the ol’ meat and potatoes skate in, cut across, and slip the puck five-hole that sealed the win for Team White.

Today, score one for grit.

And now, pics…

Capitals Development Camp -- Day 3

Day 3 – They wowed me…with science!

No pucks today at Kettler; it was a day for some high-tech prodding and evaluating. The boys went through a series of time and maneuverability tests involving Star Wars-y looking little things on tripods, pieces of tape tacked on the boards at precise spots, and a bucket of water.

Seriously.

We caught the Group A boys in the first session, who were put through a variety of skating tests – things like a down and around the end boards and up the wall to time their blue line-to-blue line times, a sprint from a standing start at one blue line to the other blue line, an “S-curve” test to assess speed at making turns (not to mention an ability to stay on one’s feet), and a sprint-stop-back-sprint mini-herbie that tested one’s ability to stop and start (and again, stay on one’s feet). It was vaguely reminiscent of watching time trials at Indianapolis in its devotion to measuring times and the sheer repetitiveness of it. But there were other things we took away from the Group A session that weren’t necessarily subject to, well, subjective measurement…

-- The Odd Couple: Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dmitri Orlov. These two are the “Mathieu Perreault and Francois Bouchard” of this year’s camp – almost inseparable. Sharing a homeland and a language helps, but in an odd way they reminded us a little of Felix Unger and Oscar Madison, too. Not the sloppy versus fastidious comparison, but rather in Kuznetsov’s exuberance and Orlov’s comparatively quiet demeanor. Although it was Kuznetsov who would go off looking for Orlov, following him around and exchanging banter with him until the next drill.

-- Joe Finley… What impressed us from a distance was more an attitude he seemed to have that players in Group A were “his guys.” His body language and seeking out other players to chat them up just looked to us like he was a “leader” out there.

-- High-tech, low-tech… The timers are probably the cutting edge of speed-assessment devices, but we were a bit surprised at the preparations for the “S-turn” drill. Pour water out of a bucket to trace an “S” skating path, and wipe the water with the blade of a stick? Uh, guys? Go to Home Depot and spend ten bucks for a watering can.

-- Joe Finley II… Speaking of that “S-turn” drill, Joe showed ‘em how it is done. Some guys took the turns tentatively and ended up stumbling to the ice. Not Joe. He took the second turn of the “S aggressively, went skates over helmet and hit the boards with malice and purpose, as if they shot his dog. They probably heard the crash in Upper Marlboro.

-- Kuznetsov II… We are convinced that the last thing this kid does before taking the ice is paint a smile on his face. He started the day with one, and he ended it with one. He had it on all the while in-between, too. No one could be having more fun than this kid at this camp. Chatting up Orlov, Finley, Anton Gustafsson… just about anyone who skates by. Going through his drill purposefully, but without the dour expression of others, then staying long after the session ended to play an extended game of puck keep-away with one of the coaches of the session. You get the impression that Kuznetsov really likes the idea of playing hockey in North America and in Washington. And if this is true, then a dozen or so general managers might have bet wrong that he was too much of a risk to draft because of perceived problems in getting a Russian on this side of the pond.

-- Smile Gus… Another case of body language has to do with Anton Gustafsson. He just looked a bit frustrated with his results in the drills this morning. Not stick-smackingly frustrated, but more like “dammit, I almost nailed that” kind of frustrated. He still looks to be significantly ahead of where he was in earlier camp participation.

-- Stefan Della Rovere… SDR has the look of a guy who isn’t necessarily going to impress guys holding stop watches (or their electronic equivalent). And it showed a bit this morning. Not that he was stumbling over himself or anything as dramatic as that, but he didn’t look sharp. His contributions, though, are as likely to come from the intangible – an ability to aggravate an opponent, the ability to deliver the timely hit, a willingness to take a hit to make a play – as from the tangible sorts of measures on display today.

Later today the boys go at it in a scrimmage. We can’t make it for that one, but there won’t be any lack of coverage from our fellow wizards. If you can’t get out to see it yourself, you’ll still have lots to read. Meanwhile, here are some pics from this morning’s session…

Capitals Development Camp -- Day 2

Today was Day 2 of Capitals Development Camp, which is actually Day 1 for The Peerless, which is Day 4 of our summer vacation. All that said, today was a day to find refuge from the Khao Yai National Park in summer… oh, wait, it’s Washington. It’s a humidity thing.

Anyway, refuge being welcome from the rather humid outdoors, so too was hockey. Welcome, that is. And today was the second day of Camp Hockeywanda at Kettler Capitals Iceplex -- summer camp for hockey prospects -- where 18, 19, and 20 year olds (give or take) gather to participate in such summer staples as two-on-none drills, five-on-five scrimmages, and of course, the dreaded “herbies.” But we’ll get to that…

There are really three broad categories of player at such events. There are those whose skill level is just so clearly evident that you know at some point, absent the sun stopping in the sky and sucking the earth into its fiery embrace, they will find their way to the NHL. Not this year, certainly, and perhaps not next year. But they have the skills and the presence that says, “NHLer.”

Then there are those guys who have been here before. These young men have gone through the drills, have some knowledge of the system the Caps use, know what’s coming (those herbies), and exude the sort of confidence borne of knowledge and experience.

Then there are the guys who are looking for that one chance to impress. It might be with a sparkling move, it might be with their sheer determination, it might be with their sense of responsibility and “coachability” – getting an instruction and getting it right, this time and every time. They might not have been a high draft pick, they might be a camp invitee, but this is their chance to measure themselves and maybe get a second or third look down the road.

In the first group you would be inclined to think Marcus Johansson and Evgeni Kuznetsov would be included. You would be right, but for entirely different reasons. Johansson was in the morning group (the one with arguably lesser known names among them) and carried himself with the sort of confidence-bordering-on-arrogance that players who have big things ahead of them seem to universally have. Oh, and yes, he is skilled. But what impressed us as much as anything was that he delivered the only bona fide hit of the morning session.

The obvious comparison to make with Johansson is with his countryman, Nicklas Backstrom, who went through one of these a few years ago (has it been that long?). At this point, we would have to say that Backstrom’s talent was clearer to see, but Johansson looks a lot more confident and comfortable than we remember Backstrom being in his first year going through this. He has to demonstrate an ability to compete against better talent down the road, but we can’t discount the possibility that he will be on the roster on opening night.

On the other hand, Kuznetsov has a very obvious skill set. He skates rather effortlessly, and he is very smooth as a stickhandler. He also seems rather comfortable in his own skin, looking as if he was cracking wise at every opportunity (not inappropriately). But what we noticed was that he is a perpetual motion machine. We recall one drill, one in which the sides alternated ends of the ice, one group at one end going through it while the next group was poised to take to the other end at the whistle. Kuznetsov reminded us of the dragster at the line, revving its engines in anticipation of the green light.

The third player in the mix might be Stanislav Galiev who might take a bit longer than the other two to crack an NHL lineup, but he skated with the sort of confidence that comes from being a step ahead of and above much of the competition.

In the second group are names that followers of the Caps would certainly recognize as players making progress (in some cases haltingly) through the system. Perhaps the most interesting of this group is 2008 draftee Anton Gustafsson. He is reported to be healthy for this camp, a welcome change from the past. But whether it is a product of his being healthy or having been through these camps before, he looked quicker and smoother than we remember seeing him. One play stood out. In one of the drills, Kuznetsov skated in on the goaltender and very adeptly pulled that puck back and wrapped it around the goalie. Gustafsson was the next skater in, and he used almost exactly the same move with the same successful result. We doubt he would have tried that, let alone succeeded, in the past.

Cody Eakin also looked better for having had the experience of this camp (not to mention the confidence-building experience with the Hershey Bears in this year’s Calder Cup run). Watching him matching up against Kuznetsov in the scrimmage drills was an interesting game-within-a-game treat one gets at these events.

Stefan Della Rovere looked a bit subdued in today’s session, but he looks as if he’s been here before. And the experiment to make a winger out of Joe Finley appears to be over. Finley looks to be a more polished skater, and we took note that even when he hits a guy at half-speed, it is like getting hit by a Kenworth.

The third group of players is largely a group of free agent invitees, players who have something of a long shot to find a place in this organization on a long-term basis. But that doesn’t keep some from having their moments. One in each session caught out eye. Cameron Burt skated with Johansson and Galiev in the morning session and held his own in terms of keeping up with the pace. It is hard to develop a chemistry with linemates on such short notice, but he seemed to be in position often enough in the scrimmage portions of the session that with time he might be click with Johansson and Galiev. Not to say that it would ever happen, but it suggests that he has the skill to get a longer look, either here or with another club.

Chris Forfar got our attention in the afternoon session for standing up to Joe Finley, who on a couple of occasions smeared the young forward along the wall. To his credit he tried to return the favor when play headed the other way, but giving away eight inches and 60 pounds meant that effort was in greater supply than success.

No Caps Development Camp session is complete, though, without the “herbies” – the 60-seconds or so of hell in which players skate to each of the lines and back in a series of sprints. Well, to today’s was added a twist… changes of direction. Not only did the players have to blue line and back, red line and back, but when they got to the far blue line, coaches were perched in four corners of a box in the far end. Exhausted from the drills and the first part of the herbies, players had to go from coach to coach and back, which probably tested their ability to concentrate (uh, Woods, right?... “No, French!”) as much as it did their endurance.  The coaches were having to play traffic cop, pointing out which coach to skate to, to prevent players from skating into one another.  Ahh... summer camp.  The stuff of memories.

It was a great way to break up a soggy summer, and with four days left it should make for a fun week. Here are some pictures from today’s activity (click on the image for a larger view)…

So...what did I miss?

Apparently, nothing.

Since last we wrote, last Friday, no free agents have been signed. None, nada, zilch, the big donut. Has every team in the NHL caught McPheeitis? Were Brett Lebda and Joe Corvo (the last defensemen signed, both last Wednesday) the last decent defensemen available?

While we wait on the what the final episode of “As the Kovy Turns” has in store, and while we all ponder the importance of the Blackhawks matching the four-year/$14 million offer sheet deal for Niklas Hjalmarsson tendered by the San Jose Sharks (and Caps fans thought the four year deal for Jeff Schultz was an overpayment?), we might wonder what is going on here?

No takers for Shaone Morrisonn?
None for Brian Pothier?
None for Andy Sutton?
None for Marc-Andre Bergeron?

What gives?

Sure, you would think that after Day One, when the best of the best of the best are picked over, things would slow down. You would think they would really slow down in week two. But no signings in the past five days? Last year, in Days 8-12, 15 signings were recorded (according to tsn.ca), 12 of those signings involving players who changed teams. And this group included Saku Koivu signing with Anaheim, Kurtis Foster with the Lightning, and Brendan Morrison with the Caps.

As if we needed more proof, this is just another reflection of the fact that this is just a very thin crop of free agents. Keep kicking the tires, guys. There must be a great buy out there somewhere…

You Sure You Want To Do This, Kid?

So, Semyon Varlamov wants to change his number. Not satisfied with “40” he was issued when he joined the team (the club apparently having a thing for two-digit numbers ending in "0"), the young netminder has decided to don the number “1” for the 2010-2011 season.

Think it’s a smart move? Well, take a peek at the goalies who have worn “1” in Caps history and their win-loss records in the red, white, blue, black, and gold:

Ron Low (1974-77): 30-94-9
Gary Smith (1977-78): 2-12-3
Jim Bedard (1978-79): 17-40-13
Rollie Boutin (1979-81): 7-10-1
Pat Riggin (1982-85): 67-46-19
Pete Peeters (1985-89): 70-41-15
Mike Liut (1990-92): 27-27-5
Martin Brochu (1998-99): 0-2-0
Craig Billington (1999-02): 11-19-7
Rastislav Stana (2003-04): 1-2-0
Brent Johnson (2005-09): 34-41-12

That comes out to a record of 266-334-84. That would be a 32-40-10 record to put it in 82-game terms. Not the stuff of champions, but some of these goalies played (often heroically) for teams that were bad to the point of being legendary.

Still, as the 12th goalie in Caps history to wear the number “1,” here’s hoping he can do what nine of the previous 11 failed to do – finish his Caps career with an above-.500 record. Oh, and maybe win a Cup or two along the way.

Morning Line -- Caps Cap

From capgeek.com...

Whereas capgeek.com (geez, they do good work) has Tyler Sloan in the roster mix, we do not.  That leaves five roster spots open -- perhaps four forwards and a defenseman -- and almost $9.3 million in cap room.  There is still the issue of whether free agents Tomas Fleischmann (RFA), Andrew Gordon (RFA), and Eric Belanger (UFA) are to be re-signed.  And, there is the matter of whether Mathieu Perreault will make the opening night roster (Gordon as well, if he is re-signed).  There does appear to be a hole for a 5/6/7 defenseman (Caps fans might argue a 1/2/3/4/5/6/7 defenseman) that would come from outside the organization.

What would a "LeBron-Bosh-Wade" Trio Look Like in the NHL?

LeBron, Chris, and D-Wade. Let the championships begin.

LeBron James made his long-awaited announcement of where he would “take his talents” next year (to use his formulation). We can’t say we care a great deal, our following NBA basketball closely having ended when Earvin Johnson and Larry Bird left the stage. But it did get us to thinking, what would be the NHL equivalent scenario of a LeBron James – Chris Bosh – Dwyane Wade trifecta?

Looking at the NBA version, you first have arguably the best – and certainly most compelling – player in the game in LeBron James. No player in the NBA possesses his mix of skill and brawn, his ability to score from 30 feet or looking down at you as he dunks the ball in your face. He can run the floor, he can rebound. And he does it while being the face of the league. You want to argue for anyone else? What other player in the league could command an hour of prime time television time to announce where he would play basketball?

Next, you have a fine player who occupies a place on the edge of the “elite” in the NBA, a player with fine statistics who has toiled in relative anonymity for a team that struggles as often as not. Chris Bosh has spent seven years in Toronto with the Raptors, but has made the playoffs only twice (both times losing in the first round). Only once has any of his Raptor teams finished above .500.

Finally, you have the host – Dwyane Wade – a player of remarkable skill in many aspects of the sport. A scorer, a playmaker, he can beat you in any number of ways. In seven seasons he has averaged fewer than 24 points per game only once, fewer than six-and-a-half assists per game only once. His teams have made the playoffs six times in his seven seasons, and he won an NBA title in 2006.

OK, so who might be the NHL equivalents of such a trio? Well, in place of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, imagine…

…Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, and Rick Nash. Ovechkin – the guy who will score over, around, or through you. Crosby – the playmaker, the scorer, the guy who will do whatever he needs to do to win. Nash – the power forward with a lock-picker’s touch. We also have Ovechkin – arguably the best (and certainly most compelling) player in the NHL – who has known little but post-season disappointment. There is Nash – the best player on a struggling team that has made the playoffs only once in his career with the Columbus Blue Jackets. And there is Crosby – mentioned in the same breath with the elites in the game (and thought by many to top that list), who has an NHL title on his resume.

Now, imagine Ovechkin and Nash joining Crosby in Pittsburgh (since Crosby is the “Wade” player in this scenario, it’s his team). On ESPN last evening, we already saw a projection that the Miami Heat would win 66 games next year, be guaranteed of a playoff spot (a 100.0 percent probability) and have a 35 percent chance of winning a title in 2011. Would an Ovechkin/Crosby/Nash trio have the same probabilities were they to join forces?

Not on your life.

You could make the argument that even with Evgeni Malkin on that team, the reconstituted Penguins would not win 66 games. The Detroit Red Wings of the 1995-1996 season hold the NHL record for wins (62). Such a team as the one that has this all-star trio might be a good bet to reach 55 wins, but remember that only two teams in the history of the NHL have reached the 60-win mark (the Montreal Canadiens of 1977-1978 being the other).

Would such a team be guaranteed a playoff spot? In the Eastern Conference, as currently constituted, you would have to think so. But a guaranteed top-spot? A division championship to get a top-three spot? They would certainly be a favorite – probably the favorite – to win the top spot in the East, if not the President’s Trophy. But a lock for that kind of finish? Probably not.

What about a championship? Would such a team have that 35 percent chance of winning a title that the Heat have by one projection? Remember, that 62-win Red Wings team lost in the Western Conference finals in six games to the Colorado Avalanche, a team that won 15 fewer games than did the Red Wings that year (but went on to win the Cup in the finals). It helped that in the four games the Avalanche won in that series, the best playoff goalie in NHL history – Patrick Roy – allowed a total of only five goals.

It is the difference between hockey and basketball. The NBA has become – oddly enough for a team sport – an individual-driven enterprise. Individuals are marketed, individuals can make a difference. Hockey is – with its constant motion, four rolling lines, three alternating pairs of defensemen – much more of a team game. And there is no basketball equivalent to what a “hot goalie” can do to the best laid plans in building a team.

Dream all you want about an Ovechkin/Crosby/Nash trifecta. Or substitute whoever you please in your “fantasy” top line. In the NHL, it’s about what you build around those stars as much as the stars themselves.

Just another way to think about the off-season as one part of a “process” for building a roster.