“When they tell me to play, I’m gonna go on the ice and gonna play the best that I can.”

Of all the new faces on the Washington Capitals this season, none is more experienced — and perhaps none more under the microscope — than 35-year old netminder Tomas Vokoun. Vokoun has toiled his entire career 13-year NHL career for bottom-dwelling teams, first during the infancy of the Nashville Predators, then the last several lost seasons for the Florida Panthers. Yet, he has consistently been one of the better goalies in the league in terms of save percentage and goal against average yearly, despite playing for teams that have made the playoffs just twice during his tenure.

Vokoun famously signed a one-year deal for about one quarter of the market price for starting goalies to have a chance to play for the Capitals, citing the opportunity to play for the sport’s Holy Grail as the motivating factor.

After the Caps’ first training camp practice Saturday, Vokoun met the D.C. media for the first time and gave a really in-depth interview about all sorts of aspects about his transition, his relationship with countryman and fellow goalie Michal Neuvirth, his preparation for the season and what his expectations are for the upcoming season, both for the team and his own personal goals.

How did your first practice with your new teammates go?

“It felt good. I’d say it was a little bit harder than it usually is. I travelled [Friday] all day, but I felt good, it was a good up-tempo practice and thankfully for us — wasn’t overly hard so it felt good. Nice to kinda slowly break in and you don’t want to first day, you don’t want to pull something that’ll set you back longer. You want to go in and work hard, but it wasn’t too bad.”

What do you expect your workload to be this season?

“You know what, that’s coach’s decision and I never want to, in my career, include myself in those decisions. Coach always make the decision who’s gonna play and whoever that is that’s obviously his job. For me it’s to prepare for every game because quite frankly, you never know. You may not think you’re gonna play and end up playing and vice versa. But like I said, it was never made, those decisions myself, and I’m not expecting anything in that department to change this year.”

Have you had a chance to sit down with coaches Dave Prior and Olie Kolzig yet?

“I talked to Dave quite a bit when he was in Czech. We sit for a good three hours. Right before I left, last week when I was [in D.C.], we talked a little bit. It’s a long season. I think we’re gonna have lots of time we can spend together. I always enjoy working with people. For every goalie coach I play for there’s a little bit different mindsets on how things are supposed to be done. It’s good to learn and listen to other people on what they have to say. That’s how you learn new stuff and hopefully improve your game. For me, at my age I’m kind of on the baseline of what to do but you always need many hands and it’s good to have a guy that has so much experience and been around this team so long. He knows a lot of stuff. I’m just gonna kind of slowly find out.”

Does your preparation change at all going from a bad team to a favorite?

“Actually, not at all. I played in international competition when I play on teams where we’re considered favorites, and I played in the Olympics, things like that. So, for me, it doesn’t change. It doesn’t matter who is in front of you, my job is to stop the puck. That never changes. But obviously both are different things, there are different challenges you have to face. As a goalie in the NHL, you have to be able to deal with all of them. So for me [the preparation] doesn’t change. Definitely not in the preparation. My preparation doens’t change if it’s a pre-season game to playoff game. At least for myself, I play every game I want to win. Obviously, it’s not possible, but you prepare that way and and I say last ten years I’ve been preparing the same way for every game. So I don’t think anything will change for me.”

What’s your relationship with Michal Neuvirth? Is it difficult or a benefit that he’s a countryman and that he looked up to you growing up?

“People think it’s something but it’s not. It’s a little bit different because there’s always gonna be things people gonna say in the paper back home and stuff like that, something I’m not worried about. I have a great relationship with my teammates and I alyaws did, even with all the goalies I played with. I keep relationships going with basically every guy I played with as a goalie. We call each other and stuff like that. I’m really easy-going. Michal said a lot of nice things about me, and that’s totally appreciated. But everybody understands that it’s a performance-based business and a competition. But I’ve been around long enough to be able to deal with that. Hopefully I can learn something from him, he can learn something from me and we just try to make each other better. Every year, it sounds like a cliche, but it’s true, because if you stay the way you were a few years back you wouldn’t be in the league anymore. So I’m looking forward to it.”

Is the pressure different playing on a team that’s expected to go deep in the playoffs?

“It’s gonna be, for me, hopefully, I’m gonna have the chance, which I didn’t have the last few years, to sit in that crease some games and you know, that score is 4-1 or 5-1 and I don’t have to worry every minute of every game. If it’s 1-1 or 2-1, every mistake you make people tell you ‘Oh, [you] give up bad goal and we lost’. You know, it’s kinda hard when every game is like that. Once in a while you’re gonna give up bad goal. I think we have a great team we have a chance to have… hopefully we’re going into the season, these 82 games, to build a good foundation to do what we want to do and go far in the playoffs and I think nobody here is setting up goals in the regular season. The messages was pretty clear over the summer. Obviously, the games are played on the ice, but what happened in the summer I think makes a great team even a little [more] improved from that, so it’s up to us players to perform up to our abilities and hopefully it’s gonna be enough to do what we want to do.”

Does it help that there are players here alreayd that you’ve been teammates with?

“I played with Dennis, I play with Roman [Hamrlik] for long years on the national team. I played against Alex [Ovechkin] many times being in the same division and against Russia and he always makes it competitive.”

Why did you sign a one-year deal to come to Washington?

"For me, this is a chance I basically never had in my career. And you never know, you may not get another one. So I’m gonna do everything I can to take advantage and not to waste it. I’m glad I’ve got the chance to play for team like this. I’m at the point in my career that I didn’t even think it would be possible anymore. So hopefully it’s a refreshing thing for me and definitely through the summer I take the preparation real seriously and came here hopefully ready and start working to the goal to help this team. And whatever that means, that’s gonna be determined, but like I said, hockey’s a team sport and you need all kinds of different people with all kinds of different [roles] on the team. When they tell me to play, I’m gonna go on the ice and gonna play the best that I can.”

In conjunction with my blogger brethren Adam Vingan of Kings of Leonsis, we present a point-counterpoint on which new member of the Washington Capitals in under the most pressure this upcoming season.  Adam thinks winger Joel Ward has a target on his back, I think it's veteran goalie Tomas Vokoun. 

Later this week we'll take a look at which veteran Caps player fits that description.  As always, your comments and debate are welcome in the comments section.  Which of the new Caps do you think is under the most pressure to succeed this season?

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On the surface, it might not look like Tomas Vokoun has anything to prove. A ninth round pick in the 1994 entry draft, Vokoun, 35, has been proving himself his entire career. He has posted 262 wins in parts of 13 seasons in his NHL career with a robust .917 save percentage and 2.56 goals against average in 632 career games. Last season, playing for one of the worst teams in the league, he finished sixth in shutouts and tenth in save percentage, facing the 11th most shots of any goaltender. Not bad for the 226th overall selection in 1994 -- it must have been a deep draft.

Vokoun has been the best player on some pretty bad teams his entire NHL career, toiling in Nashville from 1998 to 2007, then backstopping the mostly woeful Florida Panthers for the last four seasons. His 11 career playoff games can attest to the lousiness of the teams he's had to play for. He's tasted glory representing his homeland of the Czech Republic, guiding them in World Cup play and two Olympics, but he's never had the chance to play for a championship on any level. Presumably, the plan is to rectify that this season.

The microscope will not only be on Vokoun the player, but also the very idea that the Caps (finally, in some eyes) went out and acquired a "No. 1 goalie". Since Olie Kolzig left the organization as a player following the 2007-08 season, the Caps relied first on Jose Theodore, but quickly turned to their pair of homegrown baby goalies, Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth. When GM George McPhee traded Varlamov to Colorado in July, McPhee announced they were perfectly happy going into the season with Neuvirth -- who carried this team much of last season -- and Braden Holtby, another raw, but extremely talented, home-schooled netminder. But then, Vokoun fell into McPhee's lap during the free agency period, accepting a much-below market one-year deal to join the perennially contending Caps.

Vokoun automatically becomes the No. 1 goalie in D.C. His experience, reputation and success in the league on poor clubs dictates that he'll be "the man" between the pipes this season, with Neuvirth garnering 20-25 starts and Holtby learning to control his emotions and honing his craft in Hershey, under the tutelage of the former player he most resembles -- Kolzig -- back in the fold at Kettler as the newly appointed Associate Goaltender Coach. But playing time is not assumed. Vokoun must keep Neuvirth and Holtby at bey while being a mentor and leading the team, all at the same time.

The Capitals are past the expectation phase of their development with the fan base and around the league. McPhee made significant changes to the lineup, adding grit and strength -- especially on the wings -- and this team now has the label of "Stanley Cup or bust" tattooed on their foreheads. Vokoun not only is under pressure to perform and succeed for his current employer, but at 35 years of age, Vokoun will be auditioning for what will most likely be his last good contract next off-season. A Stanley Cup would certainly be the crowning achievement on his resume and whether he is to stay in D.C. or take his services elsewhere, a long playoff run could add a zero to the end of the salary portion of his contract.

The Washington Capitals today announced that Olaf Kolzig, known as Olie the Goalie and Godzilla to legions of Caps fans, has joined the team as Associate Goaltender Coach, joining his longtime coach Dave Prior, who was announced as Director of Goaltending and NHL Goaltender Coach.

These moves were made in response to Arturs Irbe resigning for personal reasons two weeks ago.

“We are excited to add a familiar face to our staff in Olie Kolzig,” said Caps GM George McPhee via press release. “Olie had a tremendous impact on this franchise as a goaltender as well as an individual, and we are looking forward to him having the same impact as a coach.”

Both Kolzig and Prior will attend the Captials' Rookie Development Camp in July.

Kolzig, perhaps the most favored former-Capital due to his long service with the team and tremendous amount of public relation and philanthropic work in the community, appeared at the Capitals Convention before last season and lamented to fans in a Q&A session how his tenure ended in D.C., expressing a strong desire to be more active in the Capitals community in his retirement.

As far as this space is concerned, Olie never should have been allowed to leave in the first place, and we're more than happy that he's back where he belongs -- and his No. 37 is one step closer to joining Yvon Labre, Rod Langway, Dale Hunter and Mike Gartner hanging from the rafters of Verizon Center.

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From the Caps:

Kolzig, 41, played in 711 games as a Capital from 1989-90 through 2007-08. He currently owns nearly every all-time Capitals goaltending record, including games played, wins (301), shutouts (35) and minutes (41,259) and ranks fourth (minimum 3,000 minutes played) in goals-against average (2.70) and third in save percentage (.906). In terms of single-season records, Kolzig leads in games (73), minutes (4,371), wins (41) and is second (minimum 1,200 minutes) in goals-against average (2.20), save percentage (.920) and shutouts (6).

The Johannesburg, South Africa, native was awarded the 2000 Vezina Trophy, awarded to the league’s top goalie, and was named the 2005-06 King Clancy Memorial Trophy winner (awarded to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution to his community). He was also named to two NHL All-Star teams (1998 and 2000) as a member of the Capitals.

A former Caps first-round draft pick (19th overall) in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, Kolzig helped guide Washington to its only Stanley Cup Final in 1998. During his final season with the Caps in 2007-08, Kolzig was teammates with several current Capitals, including captain Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and Mike Green. The three-time German Olympian (1998, 2002 – sat out due to injury and 2006) appeared in 719 career NHL games with Washington and Tampa Bay before retiring in September 2009.

Prior spent 12 seasons as the Capitals goaltending coach from 1996-97 through the 2008-09 season, including 11 seasons coaching KolzigVezina-winning season (1999-2000) and the Caps 1998 Stanley Cup appearance. The Capitals won four divisional championships and made six playoff appearances during Prior’s tenure.

Before joining the Capitals’ coaching staff, Prior worked as a goaltending coach for the Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks and Winnipeg Jets. In addition, the native of Guelph, Ontario, gained international experience mentoring goalies on the German National Team and spent seven years working with the NHL Central Scouting Bureau.

So over on Twitter today there's been raging debate on who folks think Bruce Boudreau should go with in goal for the Washington Capitals for Game One in the playoffs.  Essentially, who is this team's playoff goalie?

Japers' Rink asked the question today too, and provided the stats for an analytical approach to evaluating the decision.

Does Boudreau go with Michal Neuvirth, who the Caps have ridden to 27 of their 48 wins this season and won two Calder Cups?  Or should he go with the goalie with better statistics this season (in many fewer games) and that he's trusted more in the playoffs the last two seasons, Semyon Varlamov?

It's an interesting debate, because both goalies are immensely talented.  And as 50 Mission Caps points out, because of the motivational factor and psyche of the team, you can really only switch goalies once in a series, because as they put it:

"...the whole point of changing your starter in the playoffs is that it gives your team an excuse for games they've already lost. It's not actually about goaltending, it's about giving your team amnesia, or some sort of get-out-of-adverse-momentum free card. Under no circumstances is this to become a rotation by whimsy, or gut feel, or coin flip. Give your 'tender and your team a fighting chance. The minute you start to flip-flop back and forth, it stops being about a fresh start and starts being about your lousy goaltending. And no one wins in the playoffs with lousy goaltending."

Should this decision be made on statistics?  Should it be made on tenure?  Should it be made on gut instinct?

Or is it a matter of style preference?

Neuvirth is a technical goaltender, cut from the cloth of classic goalies like Ken Dryden, Bernie Parent and Olaf Kolzig.  Varlamov is an extremely gifted athletic goalie a la Dominic Hasek.  Heck, the Caps even have their crazy psycho goalie in Braden Holtby along the lines of Billy Smith and Ron Hextall ::shudder::.

Personally, I prefer the technical goalie.  I think they are more dependable and night after night give a more balanced performance.  Athletic goalies are spectacular to watch when they are on, but hold on to your hats if they aren't "feeling right" that night.  Again, it's a matter of preference.

All three goalies are ridiculously talented at such a young age and gives the Caps a stable of goalies that every team in the league should be envious of.  But we're not debating the long-term solution of Caps goalie for the next ten years.  We're talking about the next ten weeks or so.

So, who you got?

There are five elements of goaltending: 

1. Agility.

2. Glove.

3. Technique.

4. Head.

5. Health.

Michal Neuvirth used all of these elements to his advantage Friday night, shutting out the red-hot New Jersey Devils 3-0, giving them their second consecutive loss and just about killing any remaining hope for the team from the swamps to complete their dramatic comeback attempt for a playoff spot.

Neuvirth, who turned away all 33 shots faced last night, did most of the heavy lifting on defense himself, as the Devils were constantly in scoring position.  But it seemed like for every shot New Jersey got on net, they had an equal number that went wide, were deflected harmlessly away, simply misfired, or flat swung on and missed.

On the other end, the Capitals made good on three of 12 shooting; not great numbers if you're a three-point shooter in the NCAA tournament or a Washington National down at spring training, but tremendous for a hockey team.

Though I'm sure coach Bruce Boudreau would have preferred his team made things more difficult on Martin Brodeur (nine saves on 12 shots) overall,  it's hard to argue with the result.

Neuvirth, who looked a little rusty in Wednesday night's loss to Detroit, was anything but tonight.  From the very first shift of the game the Devils peppered him with shots, and he rose to each occasion. 

He made several remarkable catches with his glove hand, including Russian sniper Ilya Kovachuk on a breakaway with just under three minutes remaining, prompting the Devils most prolific scorer to slam his stick into the boards after the whistle in frustration.

As he's generally been all season long for the Caps, Neuvirth was their best player on the ice.

The young Czech netminder is solidifying his case to be the workhorse for Boudreau once the playoffs start in a matter of weeks.  I'm sure Semyon Varlamov is going to have a chance to play down the stretch, but Neuvirth has done everything asked of him and more.  His four shutouts are most for an individual for the Caps since the days of Godzilla and set a team rookie record.

As for the four elements above, Varly may have Neuvy beat on the first element when healthy, but Neuvirth tops all three of the Caps goalies on the depth chart on points two, three and four.  Someday Braden Holtby might enter the argument, but until he's channeled his quirkiness and led an AHL team to a championship, he'll have to be satisfied with being the third man in this trio of young, talented goaltenders.

It's time for Boudreau to hitch his wagon to his horse.

CAPS NOTES:  Mike Knuble had two goals and an assist, finishing a great fake-shot-slap-pass from John Carlson and making a beautiful wrist shot through an impressive clear and screen by Marcus Johansson. 

After the play, lip-readers were treated to Knuble patting the 20-year old rookie in the chest and saying "Good work kid."  The cross-ice pass from Ovechkin to Knuble was lovely, as was the defensive play Carlson (plus-2) made in his own end to shut the Devils' winger down, gather the puck, and spring Ovechkin up the boards.

Johansson was pointless, but finished the night plus-3, and really appears to be stepping up his game each night out.  Though he was only 3-of-11 in the dot.  I think we know what his point of emphasis is going to be over the off-season.

Jeff Schultz (plus-2) opened the scoring with a shot from the point through a screen that avoided Brodeur's glove.  It was his first goal of the season and first overall since Feb 11, 2010, a span of 81 games.

The penalty kill was again outstanding, going 3-for-3.  Particularly noteworthy was the four minute kill of a Matt Hendricks high stick that ended the second period and started the third in a 2-0 game.

Nicklas Backstrom returned from the hand injury that's sidelined him since March 7.  He centered Alexander Semin and Marco Sturm on the second line and went 13-for17 in the faceoff circle.

The Caps drew even with the Philadelphia Flyers, their next opponent next Tuesday, in points for the top seed in the Eastern Conference with 94, though the Flyers have three games in hand, including Saturday's game in Dallas against the Stars.

The Washington Capitals announced today they signed goalie Michal Neuvirth to a two-year contract extension.  Terms of the deal were not announced.

Neuvirth, 22, is expected to compete with Semyon Varlamov for the goaltending duties with the Capitals this year.  He was 9-4-0 with a 2.75 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage in 17 games with the Capitals last season. He went 7-1-0 with a 1.75 goals-against average and a.914 save percentage at Verizon Center in 2009-10.

Neuvirth was 17-3-1 with a shutout, a 2.24 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage in 22 regular-season games with the Hershey Bears in the American Hockey League (AHL). During the playoffs Neuvirth was 14-4 with a shutout, a 2.07 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage in 18 Calder Cup playoff games en route to his second Calder Cup championship.

The team also signed goalie Brandon Anderson to a three-year entry-level contract.  He took part in Capitals rookie camp and played in the 4-3 win over the Flyers rookies on Sept. 16.