Caps Bring Back Boyd Gordon; Maybe Play in Olympic Stadium?

From the press release:

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have signed center/right wing Boyd Gordon to a one-year contract, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today. In keeping with club policy, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Gordon, 25, completed his sixth professional season with the Capitals in 2008-09 and registered five goals and nine assists. He was third on the team with a 56.1% faceoff percentage in the regular season and led the team in the playoffs at 63.3%.

Gordon was also third on the team in shorthanded ice time, playing an average of 3:39 per game, and his 16 penalty minutes tied Viktor Kozlov for the fewest on the team for anyone who played more than 30 games. He had two game-winning goals and the Caps were 12-0-1 when Gordon recorded a point (5-0-0 when he scored a goal).

According to Capitals Insider, the one-year deal is worth $761,250. The team's other restricted free agents, Shaone Morrisonn, Eric Fehr and Jeff Schultz, have until Wednesday to accept their qualifying offers.

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The Globe and Mail reports that when the NHL issues the 2009-2010 schedule tomorrow, the Caps will have a road date against the Montreal Canadiens -- in Montreal's Olympic Stadium.

The final tinkering to the 92nd NHL regular season will be made in the next 24 hours, but a league source indicated yesterday that a Habs home game against the Washington Capitals and star sniper Alex Ovechkin “is still in the mix for late November.”

The indoor game at Olympic Stadium is expected to be contested on Nov. 28 or the previous Saturday to help commemorate the Canadiens’ centennial celebrations that will conclude on Dec. 5 with a match against the rival Boston Bruins at the Bell Centre.

Caps fans will find little solice in playing inside the "Big O", a run-down antiquated stadium, as opposed to playing in the Winter Classic, which spurned the Capitals and instead invited the hated Philadelphia Flyers to face the Boston Bruins at Fenway Park on Jan. 1.