The NHL free agent frenzy started at noon today and it didn't take too long for the Washington Capitals to make a mark, signing veteran center, and Potomac, MD native, Jeff Halpern to a one-year deal, reported to be worth $825,000, according to TSN.

Halpern, who started his career with the Caps, will center the fourth line and be used as a faceoff specialist, much in the same role that UFA Boyd Gordon has filled the last several seasons.  Moments after the news of Halpern joining the Capitals, it was reported that Gordon signed a free agent contract with the Phoenix Coyotes.  Gordon was the current longest-tenured Capital until today.

Halpern went 11-15-26, +6 with Montreal last season, and finished the year with a faceoff percentage of 56.9%.

Here's the press release from the Caps:

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have signed free agent center Jeff Halpern 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.

Halpern, 35, played 438 games for the Capitals from 1999-2006 and captained the team during the 2005-06 season. The 5’11”, 198-pound center has recorded 214 points (87 goals, 127 assists) in his career with Washington, including a career-high 46 points (19 goals, 27 assists) during the 2003-04 season. In 17 playoff games with the Capitals, Halpern has tallied four goals and five assists.

The Potomac, Maryland, native collected 26 points (11 goals, 15 assists) in 72 games with the Montreal Canadiens last season. He logged the second-most shorthanded minutes (2:20) per-game amongst Canadiens forwards and helped lead the team’s penalty kill unit which ranked seventh in the NHL. Halpern also finished second on the team in faceoff percentage (56.9%) and registered one goal in four playoff games.

Halpern has collected 342 points (142 goals, 200 assists) in 792 career NHL games with Washington, Dallas, Tampa Bay, Los Angeles and Montreal. In 34 career postseason playoff games, Halpern has recorded seven goals and six assists.

Halpern first joined the Capitals as an undrafted free agent on March 29, 1999, and made the NHL club as a rookie in 1999-2000.. He has represented the United States in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey and five World Championships (2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2008). While in Washington, Halpern was an active member of the community, helping launch Halpern’s Hometown Heroes to benefit local charities.

Halpern played youth hockey for the Little Capitals and former captains Rod Langway and Dale Hunter were among his favorite players. He played junior hockey in Canada and prep school hockey in New Hampshire before enrolling at Princeton University in 1995-96. One of only four players to be named Princeton’s MVP three times, Halpern was the team captain as a senior. He finished his college career ranking first all-time at Princeton in games played (132), third in career points (141) and assists (81) and tied for fifth in career goals (60).

The last week has brought little in the way of hard news, but plenty of rumors, agent talk and innuendo surrounds the Washington Capitals as the Free Agent period is set to start tomorrow.  Let's take a look at what we've heard over the last few days.

--First off, we know Brooks Laich will be back.  He re-signed Tuesday before testing the open waters. Laich's new contract immediately sparked debate about how it would affect the construction of the rest of the roster, and the team's ability to chase after free agents, both their own and any available on the market

--Wednesday we spent all day reading about how oft-injured goalie Semyon Varlamov was eschewing the NHL to go home to his motherland and play for rubles in the KHL.  Of course, his agent and his father spent much of the interview trashing the NHL, the Caps, and American doctors.  Oh, and by the way, there is no hard evidence of a contract yet.  Just sayin'.

--Thursday brought us some actual news and some quality independent reporting.  After hearing that he cleared waivers, the Caps bought out the final year of  D Tyler Sloan's contract, thus reducing his cap hit to a mere $233,333, according to reports.  Sloan will be an unrestricted free agent Friday at noon.

--A little later on Thursday, our friends and fellow independent media folks at Russian Machine broke a story quoting Matt Bradley's agent saying that "there's been no [contract] offer and we're not expecting one."  This comes as bad news for the #needmoreBradley crowd, but with the 33-year old winger's drop in production last season and Matt Hendricks new contract to fill essentially the same role for less, the writing was on the wall for the fan favorite.

--And in other RFA news, Karl Alzner's agent says the sides have "a gap to work on."  I think Caps fans have very little worry that Alzner won't be rockin' the red next season, but his contract certainly will impact the cap space and ability to chase free agents.

--Oh, and in news pertaining to former-Caps, Jaromir Jagr is still missing (link includes gratuitous full-mullet shot).

All in all, a busy week for hockey in the middle of the summer. When the free agent signing period opens Friday, that's when the real fun begins.

The Washington Capitals announced today that they re-signed forward Brooks Laich to a six-year deal, reportedly worth $27 million.  It's a bold move to retain one of the hardest-working players in the game, an integral part of this team and organization.  While the cap hit of $4.5 million per season is steep for a second-line player, he would have been one of the more attractive free agents available on the market had the Capitals allowed him to test the waters.

With the acquisition of forward Troy Brouwer, GM George McPhee signalled that he wants this team to be tougher.  Re-signing Laich, one of the players on staff that does do the dirty work, furthers those goals.

The size of Laich's salary immediately had fans contemplating other moves within the organization to create space under the league's salary cap.  The Capitals have several other restricted free agents, including Karl Alzner, Semyon Varlamov, Mathieu Perrault  and newly acquired winger Troy Brouwer.  The team made qualifying offers to each of those players (and minor leaguer Francois Bouchard), so the Caps retain the rights to the players and the right to match any contract offer made to them after the players officially receive their RFA status at noon Friday, July 1.

"We are very pleased to have Brooks Laich continue his career as a Washington Capital,” said GM George McPhee via team press release. “Brooks has excelled as one of the League’s finer two-way players and is just entering his prime. His combination of size, speed, versatility and leadership makes him a valuable part of our club."

"I’m thrilled to make the commitment to remain a Capital,” said Laich. “It is a wonderful organization with terrific fans and I’m very happy to continue to call Washington home for many years to come.”

The 6’2”, 215-pound center set career-highs in goals (25), assists (34) and points (59) during the 2009-10 season and scored 20 or more goals in three straight seasons from 2007-2010. In 475 career regular-season games, Laich has recorded 237 points (100 goals, 137 assists) and is a plus-14. In 37 career playoff games, he has tallied seven goals and 16 assists for 23 points.

The Wawota, Saskatchewan, native is second among active Capitals players in franchise games played (474), fifth in points (237), third in goals (100) and fifth in assists (137). Laich is 15th amongst his 2001 draft class in points but is one of only three players in the top 15 to be drafted later than the third round.

Both Laich and McPhee will be available to the media later today.

In the days leading up to the NHL's entry draft, Washington Capitals GM George McPhee indicated on several occasions he didn't think much of this draft class.  Friday night, his actions confirmed that his words were not meant as subterfuge, as he traded the Caps first round pick, No. 26 overall, to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for 25-year old right wing Troy Brouwer.

Brouwer is a Restricted Free Agent and arbitration eligible, so the Caps' first priority is to get the player signed.

From the team:

Brouwer, 25, recorded 17 goals and a career-high 19 assists for 36 points in 79 regular-season games in 2010-11. He led the Blackhawks and ranked fifth in the NHL with 262 hits and finished third on the team with five game-winning goals. Brouwer appeared in all seven playoff games with Chicago, collecting 11 penalty minutes and finishing with a plus-two rating.

The 6’3", 215-pound forward helped lead the Blackhawks to win the 2010 Stanley Cup while tallying eight points (four goals, four assists) in 19 playoff contests.

During the 2009-10 campaign, Brouwer registered a career-high 22 goals and 40 points in 69 games with the Blackhawks. In 238 career NHL games with Chicago, Brouwer has recorded 103 points (49 goals, 54 assists).

Brouwer is a physical, tough player, evidenced by his ranking on the NHL Hits leaderboard, and is willing to fight if the situation calls for it, but he can also play with the puck, with 39 goals combined the last two seasons.

The move is somewhat of a departure from the draft and develop mold that Capitals have taken the last several seasons.  But McPhee had already departed with the Caps second and third round picks in trades last season, so there must have been somewhat of an "all-in" mentality, willing to exchange the first round pick for an already developed player.

If McPhee and his scouts didn't see a top-six forward being available to them with the 26th overall pick, then this move benefits the team by acquiring a player that is already that type, especially with the added toughness Brouwer will bring.  The dividends will be immediate to a team that is already a strong contender, instead of having to wait on another draft pick to develop through the system.

It's a tough decision to essentially pass on a draft class (the Caps first pick wasn't until late in the fourth round), but McPhee knows that his team is built to compete right now, and adding pieces to the parent club this season is more important than adding another prospect to the system.  The Capitals have been very protective of their picks and young players in the recent past.  Now is the time to reap the benefits of that patience and hard work of drafting and developing.

This trade was a "win now" move.  It probably will not be the only one before training camp starts.

With the 26th pick in the NHL Draft tonight, it's kind of a forgone conclusion that the Washington Capitals will select Russian center Alexander Khokhlachev if available.  The skilled Russian had a terrific season for OHL Windsor last year, notching 34 goals (12 PPG) and 76 points with a plus-9 rating and in 19 playoff games he went 9-11-20...as a 17-year old. 

Other names that might be available when the Caps pick:  American defenseman Connor Murphy (18-years old, 6'3", 185), Vladislav Namestnikov (C, London OHL), Jamie Oleksiak (6'7", 244 defenseman with soft hands).

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From my vantage, the Philadelphia Flyers self-destructed yesterday.  Over-compensating for their goaltending deficiencies, they gave a 31-year old good-but-not-great goalie a reported nine-year, $51.5 million contract. 

Then, to make room for said contract, they traded away their two best players, captain Mike Richards and All-Star center Jeff Carter -- in the prime of their careers -- for support wingers and draft picks.  Granted, Philly still has lots of young talent, but for my opinion, they sent too much out the door yesterday.  GM Paul Holmgren just put his neck on the table if Ilya Bryzgalov doesn't turn into the reincarnation of Bernie Parent for the Black and Orange.

The Capitals' job in the Eastern Conference just got easier in the 2011-12 season, in my humble opinion.

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I don't get worked up over the NHL schedule like some folks do.  What interests me more in how the NHL plans to realign next season.  News of possible plans to go to two conferences of two divisions, with the top four in each division having to play each other to get out of the division in the playoffs intrigues me. 

If we end up with an NHL "South" Division, it could look like this:  Washington, New Jersey, Philadelphia, one of the New York teams, Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida and maybe Columbus or Nashville.

The Washington Capitals announced their 2011-12 regular season schedule today.  Pre-season schedule was announced earlier in the week.

The Washington Capitals’ 82-game regular-season schedule for 2011-12 begins on Saturday, Oct. 8 at Verizon Center versus the Carolina Hurricanes at 7 p.m., with the first road game of the campaign set for Oct. 13 against the Pittsburgh Penguins at CONSOL Energy Center.

The 2011-12 NHL schedule format, like the last three seasons, has the Capitals facing the other teams in the Southeast Division six times each and the remaining Eastern Conference opponents four times each. Washington plays each team in the Western Conference at least once, with two games each against Detroit, Nashville and San Jose. Nine Western Conference teams will visit Verizon Center.

The Capitals will host the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins at Verizon Center on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 5 at 12:30 p.m. It will mark the third year in a row that the Capitals will play on Super Bowl Sunday.

Washington has six homestands of at least three games on the schedule, the longest being a five-game stretch at Verizon Center from Feb. 28 - Mar. 8. The Capitals have two stretches of at least three straight road games and a season-high five-game road trip from Mar. 13-22. In addition, the Capitals will have 12 sets of back-to-back games.

Nearly half of the Capitals’ 41 home games at Verizon Center fall on weekends, which includes seven games on Friday, six on Saturday and five on Sunday. The schedule features holiday home games on Columbus Day (Oct. 10 vs. Tampa Bay), the day before and the day after Thanksgiving (Nov. 23 vs. Winnipeg; Nov. 25 vs. New York Rangers), Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 5 vs. Boston) and the day before Valentine’s Day (Feb. 13 vs. San Jose).

All but eight of Washington’s home games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m., with five Sunday afternoon games scheduled.

Television broadcast plans will be released at a later date. All Capitals games can be heard on Caps Radio 1500 and 820 AM as well as WashingtonCaps.com.

Let's Go Caps!

Photo © Cheryl Nichols. All Rights Reserved.

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.