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.

The Caps signed Swedish forward Mattias Sjogren to an entry-level contract today, reportedly for the maximum allowed to a rookie under the CBA.  Swedish papers Expressen and Aftonbladet had it early today, and Japers Rink was the first local outlet with the story.

Sjogren is a big, physical player according to scouting reports with good international experince, and should challenge for a spot on the Caps roster in training camp. The Capitals have several unsigned forwards and Sjogren addresses a need to add physicality to the front line.

The following is the press release from the team this afternoon.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have signed free agent center Mattias Sjogren to a two-year entry-level contract beginning next season, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today. In keeping with club policy, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We are pleased to have Mattias join the Capitals organization,” said McPhee. “He is a big center who has developed very well over the past few seasons and is ready for a new challenge.”

The 6’2”, 214-pound center spent the 2010-11 season with Farjestad of the Swedish Elite League, recording a career-high 24 points (seven goals, 17 assists) and 44 penalty minutes in 51 games. Sjogren helped lead Farjestad to a SEL championship, registering nine points (one goal, eight assists) in 13 postseason games.

Sjogren, 23, represented Sweden at the 2011 IIHF World Championships in Slovakia, winning the silver medal while tallying four points (one goal, three assists) in nine games. He scored the game-winning goal versus USA in the preliminary round.

The native of Landskrona, Sweden has 59 points (24 goals, 35 assists) in 148 career games with Farjestad and Rogle of the SEL.

I read with interest both On Frozen Blog's piece "Renewed Questions of Leadership" and Ed Frankovic's "Caps Off-season Focus Should Be on Leadership".  I know both these guys very well from our time in the press box together, not to mention an episode or two of working out with 12 ounce curls, and have the utmost respect for both.  Please take a moment or two to read their opinions if you haven't already.

They know my way of thought as well, so I think they will understand my position when I say, respectfully, that I disagree with them and think they are both over-simplifying the point and romanticising a notion that is not quantifiable.  And they are doing it, maybe even subconsciously, because the real answer is too tough to take.

They both go to great extents to quote executives and others in the game about the importance of "Leadership".  It's a concept that is as deeply rooted in hockey as the mythical "playoff hockey." (I guess Vancouver didn't play "playoff hockey" last night since they won 7-3.)  Hockey is the only sport that bestows a decoration on the uniform of one of its players signifying he is the captain.  But for the most part, it's just that: a decoration.

Leadership isn't taught.  It isn't acquired. It isn't tangible.  If George McPhee, or any executive, could identify it or train someone to do it, they already would.  Leaders aren't made, they are born.  You can train people to manage others, to teach others, to instruct others, to discipline others. But only Leaders know how to lead.

It has to be self-motivated.

McPhee has gone out the last couple of seasons to acquire several veterans that were supposed to bring "leadership."  Jason Chimera. Mike Knuble. Scott Hannan. Jason Arnott. Dennis Wideman.  He had a pretty good one in the room already in Brooks Laich. All are tremendously hard workers, experienced, talented, sacrificing; honorable.  Knuble and Arnott have rings; Arnott a former captain.  Are these not the requirements that John and Ed spoke about in their posts?  Is the fact that the Caps flamed out in the second round this season evidence these men are not leaders?

Were these players leaders during the regular season, when the Caps came back from an eight-game losing streak in December to capture the Eastern Conference regular season title?  Were they leaders in the first round when the Capitals stymied the New York Rangers in five games? Are we to believe then that they simply forgot to lead in the second round?  I hardly think so.

And how about the captain, the man on this team that wears the decorative "C' on his sweater?  There's not a man in that room that doesn't have the utmost respect for Alex Ovechkin.  There's also not a man in that room that wants to win more than he does.  Isn't that where respect -- leadership -- comes from?

The problem with the Capitals isn't a lack of leadership, on the ice, in the room, or in the organization.  If anything, the problem is with some of the individuals in the room and their lack of clarity of purpose.  There are several on this team that are "happy to be here."  They may be extremely talented players, and at times say the right things, but repeatedly cower when faced with hardship and sacrifice. 

These players are not capable of being led, not at this time anyway. At some point in their careers they may realize that all the money, fame and notoriety is meaningless without achieving the ultimate goal. But for now, they are too self-centered to concentrate, really seriously concentrate, on the matter at hand and sacrifice personal gains for the team's greater pursuit.  No less an expert on leadership than Gen. George S. Patton alluded to this concept in his speech to the Third Army in 1944.

"Each man must not think only of himself, but also of his buddy fighting beside him. We don't want yellow cowards in this Army. They should be killed off like rats. If not, they will go home after this war and breed more cowards. The brave men will breed more brave men. Kill off the... cowards and we will have a nation of brave men."

Now I'm not comparing the game of ice hockey to the rigors of World War II, but the concept of leadership is the same regardless.  No, the problem with this team isn't the lack of leaders, its that it has a lack of followers.  Cull the cowards from the program as Patton suggests and watch how effective the leaders that are already assembled can be.

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Ultimately though, and this is the point that no one wants to address: you have to have the players.  For all the fawning media coverage of this team locally, the real truth is that this team is still significantly flawed in several areas and honestly, just isn't good enough to compete past the level they have achieved the last few seasons.  They aren't advancing because of lack of leadership, it's because they aren't good enough yet.

Again, from Patton:

"The publicity I have been getting, a good deal of which is untrue, and the rest of it ill considered, has done me more harm than good. The only way you get on in this profession is to have the reputation of doing what you are told as thoroughly as possible."

Aynyway, here are the points I consider to be this teams biggest weaknesses.

• This team is weak physically down the middle.  Nicklas Backstrom and Marcus Johansson are both extremely talented players and supreme skaters, but lack the physicality necessary to compete with stronger players. It's no secret that if you put a body on these guys they aren't going to answer the bell, and it's more glaring in the playoffs when the sheet gets shorter. None of the Capitals centers in the playoffs except for Boyd Gordon on the fourth line had a faceoff percentage higher than 50 percent.  That's unacceptable.
• There's not nearly enough toughness on this team.  Matt Hendricks and Matt Bradley were both willing during the regular season to drop the gloves when they had to, but I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about players willing to get into the corners, dig pucks out, stand in the crease and deliver a pounding.  Not take it, but deliver it.  The Capitals lose more one-on-one puck battles than any other team in the league. This team is in need of a couple of rugged wingers (and probably a defenseman as well) willing to get their noses dirty and push people around.  They don't need fighters, they need physically stronger players to give their supremely talented players more room to skate.
• There's no offensive contribution from the third and fourth lines at all.  17-of-21 goals scored by forwards in the playoffs by the Capitals were by just six players.  Look at Tampa Bay, their third line of Bergenheim, Downie and Moore have combined for 13 goals and 19 assists in 13 games.  Boston has 12 players with more than one goal in the playoffs. You don't need a 30-goal scorer on the third line, but you need contribution.  Bergenheim has made himself a LOT of money this post-season as he becomes a UFA.
• I've said this before, but I also think Bruce Boudreau needs to go back to what got him here.  He doesn't like playing the trap.  He's never implemented it before and has never taught it.  His players are ill-fitted for it and don't like it.  The lack of conviction from his players was evident because of the lack of conviction in the system by the coach.  Live by the sword or die by it.  I maintain that Boudreau allowed the Canadian media to alter his judgment on the heels of the loss to Montreal last year and the pain of the eight-game losing streak. Another thing Patton said in his address to the Third Army in 1944 applies here (forgive the rough language):

"I don't want to get any messages saying, "I am holding my position." We are not holding a thing... We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy."

• Lastly, Alex Ovechkin needs to elevate his game.  The league has "figured him out." If he wants to lead this team and become one of the greats of all-time, he's going to have to elevate his game past what it is now.  He's going to have to learn when to try to carry the puck and when to give it up.  He's going to have to dump to the opposite corner and crash the goal.  He's going to have to reign in his emotion and channel it rather than let it get the best of him.  And he needs to be in supreme shape at the beginning, middle and end of the season.

Lastly, and I know this is the hardest part of all, but I implore all Caps fans to continue exercising patience. 

There are a lot of Caps fans that have no idea how it was back in the dark days, when this team was a laughingstock or worse, an afterthought.  The Washington Capitals franchise is enjoying an unprecedented run of success and with the two best players signed long-term, there's little reason to think that run won't be continued.  This team is young, talented and managed by dedicated and knowledgeable executives. They just have some issues that still need to be addressed.

There is no reason to blow this thing up and start over.  Bringing in new coaches or executives would only delay the process, not speed it up.  At least in my opinion.

The window isn't closing, as some folks would lead you to believe, it's barely been opened.  They just have to fix the cracks.