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.

Goalie Brent Johnson signed a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins yesterday. His departure from the Capitals all but ensures that Semyon Varlamov and Jose Theodore will enter camp as the Nos. 1 and 2 goaltenders on the depth chart, with Michael Neuvirth as insurance.

Johnson was 12-6-2 with a .908 save percentage and 2.81 goals against average in 2008-09 before suffering a hip injury.

Capitals Insider talked with Johnson after the deal was announced.

"I talked to [Penguins GM] Ray Shero, and it wasn't guaranteed, but I think I have the upper hand as long as I play the way I can play," Johnson said. "I'm planning on it. They wanted a guy with some NHL experience."

Photo 2008 © Cheryl Nichols. All Rights Reserved.

Pre-season was announced yesterday and you can find here.

The Washington Capitals announced their 2009-10 regular season schedule today and open on the road in Boston on Thursday, Oct. 1.

The Capitals will make their Verizon Center debut on Saturday, Oct. 3, when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second game of the season.

The 2009-10 schedule includes a two-week break for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, which will feature NHL players. The Capitals will be off for 17 days from Feb. 14-March 2.

The 2009-10 NHL schedule format, similar to last season’s, 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 Columbus, Detroit and San Jose. Nine Western Conference teams will visit Verizon Center.

More than half of the Capitals' 41 home games at Verizon Center fall on weekends, including nine Friday games, six Saturday games and six Sunday games. The schedule features holiday home games on the day before Thanksgiving (Nov. 25 vs. Buffalo), the day after Christmas (Dec. 26 vs. New Jersey) and Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 7 vs. Pittsburgh).

All but six of Washington's home games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m., with the exceptions all falling on Sunday afternoons.

Television and radio broadcast plans will be released at a later date. For a complete schedule, please visit http://www.washcaps.com/.

Information on single-game purchases will be sent to full season ticket holders closer to the start of the season and prior to the public onsale. In addition, TicketMaster Ticket Exchange will not be available until individual game tickets are placed on sale to the general public. For Dewar's 12 Club package information, please contact your Capitals Guest Services Representative.

Photo 2009 © Cheryl Nichols. All Rights Reserved.

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.

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.