ARLINGTON, Va. – Twenty-four Washington Capitals prospects will participate in the team’s annual development camp from July 13-18 at Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Va. The camp, which features recent Capitals draft picks, select rookie players and other prospects, includes on- and off-ice workouts led by head coach Bruce Boudreau and his staff.

Among the confirmed participants are Capitals first-round draft picks Anton Gustafsson (2008), John Carlson (2008) and Joe Finley (2005). Four participants – Francois Bouchard, John Carlson, Braden Holtby and Mathieu Perreault – played for the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears during their run to the 2009 Calder Cup. Six participants were Capitals draft picks in the 2009 Entry Draft.

Click Here to read the rest of the press release, schedule and full roster.

The Washington Capitals, on the first day of free agency, inked veteran winger Mike Knuble to a two-year, $5.6 million contract. Knuble, 37 on Saturday and late of the Philadelphia Flyers, has scored 21 goals or more each of his last six seasons and has two 30-goal seasons to his credit.

Captials General Manager George McPhee already envisions the gritty winger occupying the spot vacated when Viktor Kozlov departed for his homeland in the off-season.

"We just felt we needed someone else, a player on [the top] line in particular with [Alex] Ovechkin and [Nicklas] Backstrom that will go to the net," McPhee said. "Mike's made his living there. He was the right guy for us and we got what we felt what was the right deal for him. We replaced a 13-goal scorer [Kozlov] with 27-goal scorer, and the team is better as a result."

In addition to his willingness to sit in the crease, Knuble has been praised for his two-way play, comfortable on the power play and the penalty kill.

Now that the Caps addressed their primary need via free agency, McPhee doesn't see too much more involvement adding players in that method. "I said that we're probably not going to do a lot in free agency unless there was something there that made sense. We did it. It was unanimous amongst our pro staff that this was the right guy."

Washington still has a glaring need for a second line center, and if McPhee will probably look to move the untenable contracts of Michael Nylander or Jose Theodore in that search. Barring that, the Caps have very little room under this season's salary cap to make another free agent splash.

"We'll spend the next couple of months talking to clubs and seeing what other things can be done out there," McPhee said. "If there are other things to do, we'll do them."

Fan favorite Donald Brashear accepted a two-year deal from the New York Rangers for $1.4 million per season, a significant raise from his D.C. salary.

"We are happy for Brash," McPhee said. "But we couldn't pay that number."

The latest statement from Ted Leonsis proving that he really understands new media, where it is now and where it might be going, comes from an interview after the NHL awards show with Mouthpiece Sports.com's Sarah Spain.

In the short interview, she asks the Capitals owner about the awards show itself, about Ovechkin's presence there, the Capitals' off-season plans, and finally, about allowing bloggers and independent internet writers into the Capitals press box and locker room.

Sergei Fedorov has signed a two-year deal with Metallurg Magnitogorsk, according to the Russian club.

At Metallurg, Fedorov will be reunited with his younger brother Fedor Fedorov, who signed a two-year deal with the club this year.

Fedorov's agent, Pat Brisson, told the team that Fedorov wished to fulfill his father's dream of seeing his sons play on the same team.

The deal is reportedly for two years at $3.8 million per season, according to Capitals Insider, quoting other sources.

The 39-year old center played a season and a quarter with the Caps, coming over in a February 2008 trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The certain Hall-of-Famer will probably be remembered with the Capitals most for his goal in Game Seven of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs this season, beating N.Y. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist and snapping a 1-1 tie, allowing the Capitals to advance to the second round.

The six-time all-star won three Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings and won the Hart Trophy in 1994.

The Washington Capitals announced today they have hired Bob Woods, who lead the AHL Hershey Bears to the Calder Cup this past season, as an assistant to head coach Bruce Boudreau.

Woods, a former defenseman, replaces Jay Leach and will work with the defense.

Here's the press release:

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have hired Bob Woods from the American Hockey League’s (AHL) Hershey Bears as an assistant coach, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today.

Woods, 41, served as Hershey’s head coach last season and guided the Bears to a Calder Cup championship in six games against the Manitoba Moose. He was an assistant coach with the Bears and helped current Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau lead the Bears to a Calder Cup title in 2006. Woods was appointed head coach of the Bears when Boudreau was hired by the Capitals on Nov. 22, 2007.

Also, the Caps picked up the contracts of defensemen Tyler Sloan and Sean Collins. Both players spend most of the 2008-09 season with AHL Hershey, but both did see some time with the parent club.

Sloan played in 26 games with the Capitals, registering one goal and four assists for five points and a plus-four rating. He also accumulated 14 penalty minutes. He appeared in two playoff games, with one assist and a plus-one rating.

Collins made 15 appearances for Washington, with one goal and one assist for a plus-one rating with 12 penalty minutes.

Collins, scheduled to be a restricted free agent, signed for two years. Sloan signed a one-year extension.

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin, who led the league in goals with 56, won the NHL's most valuable player award, and the player's vote for player of the year, for the second year in a row.

It's the first time for a back-to-back winner since goalie Dominic Hasek won in 1997-98, and first forward to win consecutive Hart Trophies since Wayne Gretzky won seven in a row in the 1980's.

Ovechkin was also named to the NHL's First Team All-Stars, where he was joined by teammate and Norris Trophy candidate Mike Green. It's the first time ion Capitals history that two Capitals were named to the first team.

Green was beaten out by Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins for the Norris Trophy.

CONGRATS TO OVIE AND GREEN!!!

From the Caps:

The Washington Capitals have re-signed left wing Quintin Laing to a one-year contract, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today. In keeping with club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Laing, 30, played one game for Washington last season. He was recalled by the Caps from the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League on March 19 and played the entire game (10:19) at Tampa Bay despite suffering a torn spleen on his second shift in the first period. Laing ended the game with a +1 rating.

The 6'2", 210-pound native of Rosetown, Saskatchewan, spent most of the season with the Calder Cup champion Bears. He tallied 25 points (9g-16a) in 55 regular-season games before his recall. Laing missed more than two months with his spleen injury, but he returned to the Bears during the Calder Cup playoffs and had two goals and two assists in nine games.

Laing is a hard working guy, but if he's going to have a role on the big club, it's as a penalty killer and providing minutes on an "energy" line, as coach Bruce Boudreau likes to call it. He's very much in the Boyd Gordon mold, and if the Caps fail to bring Gordon back, Laing is an insurance policy there.