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.

Longtime NHL veteran goalie Artus Irbe, one of the first European goalies to earn a starting job in the NHL, was named as goalie coach by the Washington Capitals.

According to Capitals Insider,

Although Irbe will oversee all of the organization's goalies, including veteran Jose Theodore, his biggest responsibility will be polishing touted youngsters Semyon Varlamov, a Russian, and Michal Neuvirth, a Czech, into top NHLers.

At times last season, Varlamov's limited English made communication with the coaching staff difficult. That, however, will no longer be a problem since Irbe speaks English, Russian and some German.

"I should be able to communicate with him in any language, whichever he prefers," said Irbe, a native of Latvia. "I hope it will be an asset to make it easier, the transition [to the NHL]."

GM George McPhee added: "The fact that he speaks different languages made us really think he would be a good fit for us. That helps a lot. There are some nuances to goaltenders that are difficult explain or decipher if there's a language barrier."

Irbe, in 13 NHL seasons, was 218-236-79 with a 2.83 GAA and .899 save percentage. He led the Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup finals in 2002.

Irbe replaces Dave Prior, who stepped down from the position for family reasons. Prior coached Washington's goalies for 12 seasons.

Nowhere on this team will the battle for playing time be more obvious than goal this season. Coach Bruce Boudreau has stated that Theodore comes into camp at the No. 1, but one needs to look no further than last season's playoffs to know that the title is in name only.

"Right now Jose is the No. 1 guy and the other two young men have got to come in and play the way they did last year and try to push him out," Boudreau said this morning at KCI. "Jose won 33 games for us last year, and like the year before when Cristobal Huet got hot down the stretch, Varly came in and did a great job where we just couldn't take him out."

As for Theodore, he insists that he is ready for the starting spot.

"I don't see myself as a backup. My frame of mind was to enter the summer, my off-ice training and the season as the No. 1 guy. [Whether] or not that was the case, that was going to be my approach. We all know in hockey, No. 1 is only a title. It's still on the ice that you have to earn your points."

Should be a very interesting training camp between the pipes. Irbe has his hands full in his first coaching gig at any level.

All quotes in this article courtesy of Capitals Insider.

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.