Here's the press release.

It's a big deal when a team deals its captain mid-season, especially when that team currently holds the best record in the league and is playing at the top of its game. But that's exactly what the Washington Capitals did today, sending four-year captain Chris Clark and defenseman Milan Jurcina to Columbus in exchange for speedy winger Jason Chimera.

Clark, 33, a one-time 30-goal scorer, never regained that touch after injuries ravaged the better part of two seasons for him.  Clark had four goals and 11 assists this season with 27 penalty minutes.

Chimera, 30, has eight goals and nine assists with 47 penalty minutes with Columbus this season.  He brings size and speed and -- what can't be ignored -- a bit of toughness to the 2nd/3rd line mix.  In addition, Washington saves considerable space (over two million) under the salary cap with the move.

Speculation is rampant as to who should succeed Clark as captain.  On a team that should be making a serious run at going deep into the playoffs, it would be tough for the Caps to go without naming a captain. 

This season has seen four players -- Alex Ovechkin, Mike Knuble, Tom Poti and Brendan Morrison -- wearing the alternate captain's A at times, and Brooks Laich has always been a fan favorite to assume the mantel if'when the position became available.

For now, we wait and see on that question.

But one question that has been answered is this:  Will GM George McPhee be willing to make a trade to increase the Caps chances at chasing the Cup.  The answer is a resounding "yes".

From 2008.11.25 Chris Clark at ESPN Zone

Photo 2008 © Cheryl Nichols. All Rights Reserved.

AHL SCORING CHAMP RE-SIGNS WITH HERSHEY BEARS ON TWO-WAY CONTRACT

Alexandre Giroux, the Hershey winger who tallied 60 goals in the AHL regular season and 15 more in the Bears' run to the Calder Cup, has re-signed with the organization, the Bears announced Wednesday.

Giroux, 28, was an unrestricted free agent and signed a one-year, two-way deal, meaning he can be recalled by the Capitals. His NHL salary will be $500,000.

Last season for Hershey, the big winger scored 60 goals in 69 games -- and added 37 assists -- to capture the AHL scoring title. During one stretch, he scored a goal in 15 consecutive contests, surpassing Brett Hull's league record for goal scoring in consecutive games.

He played in 12 games for the Washington Capitals in 2008-09, with one goal and one assist.

"Alexandre Giroux was so important to our team’s success last year both on and off the ice," said Bears President/GM Doug Yingst. "For our organization, for our fans and for this region, we could not be happier that he chose to return next season."

JURICA RE-SIGNS WITH CAPS

Last week, the Capitals announced the re-signing of defenseman Milan Jurcina to a one-year contract. In keeping with club policy, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to Capitals Insider, Jurcina's 2009-10 salary is $1.375 million.

Jurcina, 26, appeared in a career-high 79 games for the Capitals in 2008-09 and led defensemen in games played. He had three goals and set career highs in assists (11) and points (14), and the team was 10-3-0 when he recorded a point.

Jurcina was first on the club with 131 blocked shots and second with 157 hits. He added two goals in 14 playoff games and was third on the team at +6.

Jurcina was invited to Slovakia's pre-Olympic camp, which runs this week.

After a complete meltdown--offense, defense, special teams, goalie--in a 5-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins last night, the Washington Capitals must turn right around and find a way to bounce back for Game Five tonight at 7:00 p.m. at Verizon Center, where they won Games One and Two. The series is tied at two games apiece.

The Caps 21-year old netminder, Semyon Varlamov, finally had an off night in this playoffs, allowing five goals, four of which his coach described as "soft". And he looked shaky on several of the saves he did make.

"He struggled," Coach Bruce Boudreau said. "He hasn't a bad game. Arguably, there were four soft goals out of the five. But he'll bounce back."

Asked if he would put Varlamov back out there for Game Five, Boudreau replied, "As far as I'm concerned, yes."

Washington was again out shot, 28-22, and took more penalties, 6-4, than their opponent. The Caps were 0-for-4 on the power play.

Alex Ovechkin only managed two shots on goal, and his biggest influence on last night's game was his hit on countryman Sergei Gonchar, which resulted with a knee-on-knee hit that sent Gonchar to the locker room.

Ovechkin was issued a tripping penalty, and it was obvious that Ovechkin was trying to hit Gonchar high, but as the defenseman tried to slip the hit, his upper body got out of the way, leaving his lower body to bear the brunt of the impact.

Pittsburgh players, however, did not like the hit.

"Everyone likes to play hard, and play physical," Orpik added. "But there's a line you can't cross, and a lot of guys in our room felt like the last couple games he was taking shots where he was trying to hurt guys."

Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said Gonchar was not ruled out for tonight's game yet, but the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said while Gonchar travelled with the team, he was wearing a large knee brace in the team's hotel this morning.

Washington got goals from Nicklas Backstrom, Chris Clark, and a short-handed marker from Milan Jurcina.

Pittsburgh's goals came from Bill Guerin, Maxime Talbot, Ruslan Fedotenko, Sidney Crosby and Gonchar.

Mike Green had one great move that led to Clark's goal, and registered three shots and three hits, but played poorly defensively and was ineffective for most of the night and was minus-2 in the game. Alexander Semin took four shots and had three hits, but missed four shots and was minus-3.

With less than eleven seconds remaining in overtime, Alex Ovechkin decided enough was enough. He had watched his team fritter away a 4-2 third period lead and he simply took the game over. After hitting the post just seconds before, Ovechkin made no mistake on his second attempt.

His linemate, Niklas Backstrom, kept a bouncing puck in the zone and shot the pass to Ovechkin, who had been forechecking, slicing through the high slot. A slight hesitation and a rocket wrist shot later, the Washington Capitals (19-10-3-41, first in Southeast) walked out of Nassau Coliseum with a 5-4 win over the New York Islanders (10-18-3-23, fifth in Atlantic).

The Capitals have won four straight games and eight of their last ten to open a ten point lead in the Southeast Division. The loss was New York's seventh straight and have dropped nine of their last ten.

Washington got out of the gate quickly. Boyd Gordon and Brooks Laich both scored "soft" goals against Islanders netminder Joey MacDonald in the first period to open a 2-0 lead. It was Gordon's first goal in 27 games.

Veteran center Doug Weight cut the lead in half just under two minutes later, beating Caps goalie Brent Johnson with a slap shot on a power play.

The second period would see two more goals from Washington sandwiched around another power play goal from New York, this time from Richard Park (6). Defenseman Milan Jurcina (3) banked a long wrist shot off an Islanders defender and Ovechkin took a beautiful no-look backward pass from Semin, who had drawn the defense--and MacDonald--away from the sniper, who buried the puck in a wide open net.

But the Islanders would not roll over despite facing a two-goal deficit. The Isles came out blazing in the third, outshooting the Caps 17-5 in the period, and scored twice on Any Sutton's snap shot and a tip-in from Jon Sim on a blast from the point from Mark Streit, just seconds after a power play had expired, with 2:13 left in regulation.

The teams traded opportunities in the four-on-four overtime until late in the frame when the Capitals got a sustained flurry as time wound down. That's when Backstrom did the grunt work and Ovechkin played Superman.
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SCORESHEET

WAS: Gordon (2) from Brashear and Steckel (1-2:54); Laich (7) from Green and Johnson (1-14:18); Jurcina (3) from Alzner and Kozlov (2-6:07); Ovechkin (18) from Semin and Backstrom (2-16:35); Ovechkin (19) from Backstrom (OT-4:49)

NYI: Weight (7) from Park and Streit (1-16:14-PP); Park (6) from Guerin and Streit (2-14:32-PP); Sutton (2) from Hunter and Park (3-11:19); Sim (6) from Streit and Guerin (3-17:47)
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THREE STARS

1. A. Ovechkin - WAS (Goals: 2, Assists: 0)
2. R. Park - NYI (Goals: 1, Assists: 2)
3. K. Alzner - WAS (Goals: 0, Assists: 1)
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NOTES

Washington had killed their last 18 penalties until Weight and Park's goals.

Ovechkin has five goals in his last three games.

Announced attendance was just 11,655 at Nassau Coliseum, but actual attendance was significantly less.

Matt Bradley dropped the gloves with Tim Jackman in the first period, both drawing five-minute majors.

The Washington Capitals (14-9-3-31, first in Southeast) got goals from five different players and goalie Brent Johnson made 27 saves as the Caps rebounded from a poor display Tuesday to defeat a similarly undermanned New York Islanders (10-13-2-22, fifth in Atlantic) team 5-3 before 18,130 fans at Verizon Center.

The Caps were 3-for-5 on the power play, getting goals from Alex Ovechkin (14), Viktor Kozlov (5) and Eric Fehr (3) with the man advantage. Donald Brashear scored his first goal since last March to break a 2-2 tie in the third period, and Nicklas Backstrom put the exclamation point on the win with an empty net goal with 50 seconds remaining.

Ovechkin finished with a goal and two assists.

Coach Bruce Boudreau preached the necessity of receiving "secondary" scoring after losing to Florida Tuesday night, and he got just what he was looking for from Brashear, who knocked in a rebound of a Karl Alzner shot into the back boards, and from Eric Fehr, who lifted a backhanded rebound past Islanders goalie Joey MacDonald.

The Fehr goal was made possible from Brooks Laich, doing the heavy lifting in front of the net on the power play, another long-time point of emphasis from Boudreau.

The game was full of penalties and both teams had their chances, but Washington held New York to 1-for 8 on the power play. The Caps out shot the Islanders 47-29.

Washington faces-off against the Toronto Maple Leafs (9-10-6) Saturday, December 6 at 7:00 p.m. ET from Air Canada Centre.

Photo courtesy of WahingtonPost.com.

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SCORESHEET

WAS: Ovechkin (14) from Jurcina and Laich (1-11:31-PP); Kozlov (5) from Helmer and Lepisto (1-13:15-PP); Brashear (1) from Alzner and Jurcina (3-6:50); Fehr (3) from Laich and Ovechkin (3-16:14-PP); Backstrom (7) from Ovechkin (3-19:10-EN)

NYI: Streit (6) from Weight and Guerin (1-19:24-PP); Hunter (11) from Sutton (2-13:38)
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THREE STARS

1. V. Kozlov - WAS (Goals: 1, Assists: 0)

2. K. Alzner - WAS (Goals: 0, Assists: 1)

3. D. Brashear - WAS (Goals: 1, Assists: 0)
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NOTES

The Islanders were the last Eastern Conference team coach Bruce Boudreau had not earned a victory against.

Ovechkin has 14 goals and 20 assists in 24 games.

Milan Jurcina had a multi-point night, assisting on the Ovechkin and Brashear goals.