Press Release:

All Capitals Games to be Televised During 2009-10 SeasonComcast SportsNet to broadcast 75 games, 49 games in high definition

Thursday, 09.10.2009 / 10:54 AM / News ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals will have all of their 82 regular-season games televised during the 2009-10 season, the team announced today in conjunction with its broadcast partner, Comcast SportsNet. Comcast SportsNet will televise 75 games, with 49 games available in high definition.

Coverage plans include 62 games on Comcast SportsNet and 12 games on CSN+. Comcast SportsNet will open its coverage with Washington’s first home game of the year on Saturday, Oct. 3 against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Verizon Center at 7 p.m. The game will be complimented by extensive pre- and postgame coverage on the network.

Joe Beninati and former Capital Craig Laughlin return to provide play-by-play and color commentary, respectively, on the local broadcasts, with Al Koken reporting rinkside. Lisa Hillary will also join the broadcast as a reporter.

CSN+ is widely carried by cable and satellite carriers throughout the Comcast SportsNet viewing area. The channel position for CSN+ varies by provider, but all channels are listed on www.csnwashington.com. One game will be carried on The Comcast Network, which is also available to cable and satellite providers in the area.

Versus will broadcast seven games nationally, including Washington’s season opening game on Thursday, Oct. 1 against the Boston Bruins. Versus will also broadcast on Oct. 6 and Oct. 27 vs. Philadelphia, Nov. 17 at N.Y. Rangers, March 8 vs. Dallas and April 5 vs. Boston. On April 6 when Washington plays at Pittsburgh, Versus will broadcast nationally, while CSN will broadcast locally.


October
Thurs., Oct. 1 at Boston 7 p.m. VERSUS
Sat., Oct. 3 Toronto 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Tues., Oct. 6 at Philadelphia 7 p.m. VERSUS
Thurs., Oct. 8 N.Y. Rangers 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Oct. 10 at Detroit 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Mon., Oct. 12 New Jersey 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Thurs., Oct. 15 San Jose 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Oct. 17 Nashville 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Thurs., Oct. 22 at Atlanta 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Oct. 24 at N.Y. Islanders 7 p.m. CSN
Tues., Oct. 27 Philadelphia 7 p.m. VERSUS
Thurs., Oct. 29 at Atlanta 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Fri., Oct. 30 N.Y. Islanders 7 p.m. CSN+

November
Sun., Nov. 1 Columbus 5 p.m. CSN (HD)
Wed., Nov. 4 at New Jersey 7 p.m. CSN
Fri., Nov. 6 at Florida 7:30 p.m. CSN+
Sat., Nov. 7 Florida 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Wed., Nov. 11 N.Y. Islanders 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Fri., Nov. 13 Minnesota 7 p.m. CSN+
Sat., Nov. 14 at New Jersey 7 p.m. CSN+
Tues., Nov. 17 at N.Y. Rangers 7 p.m. VERSUS
Fri., Nov. 20 Montreal 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Nov. 21 at Toronto 7 p.m. CSN+
Mon., Nov. 23 at Ottawa 7:30 p.m. CSN
Wed., Nov. 25 Buffalo 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Nov. 28 at Montreal 7 p.m. CSN+
Mon., Nov. 30 at Carolina 7 p.m. CSN (HD)

December
Thurs., Dec. 3 Florida 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Dec. 5 at Philadelphia 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Mon., Dec. 7 at Tampa Bay 7:30 p.m. CSN
Wed., Dec. 9 at Buffalo 7 p.m. CSN
Fri., Dec. 11 Carolina 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Dec. 12 at Toronto 7 p.m. CSN+
Tues., Dec. 15 at Colorado 9:30 p.m. CSN
Fri., Dec. 18 at Vancouver 10 p.m. CSN
Sat., Dec. 19 at Edmonton 10 p.m. CSN+
Wed., Dec. 23 Buffalo 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Dec. 26 New Jersey 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Mon., Dec. 28 Carolina 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Wed., Dec. 30 at San Jose 10 p.m. CSN (HD)

January
Sat., Jan. 2 at Los Angeles 4 p.m. CSN (HD)
Tues., Jan. 5 Montreal 7 p.m. CSN+
Thurs., Jan. 7 Ottawa 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Jan. 9 at Atlanta 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Tues., Jan. 12 at Tampa Bay 7:30 p.m. CSN+
Wed., Jan. 13 at Florida 7:30 p.m. CSN (HD)
Fri., Jan. 15 Toronto 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sun., Jan. 17 Philadelphia 3 p.m. CSN (HD)
Tues., Jan. 19 Detroit 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Thurs., Jan. 21 at Pittsburgh 7:30 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Jan. 23 Phoenix 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Tues., Jan. 26 at N.Y. Islanders 7 p.m. CSN+
Wed., Jan. 27 Anaheim 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Fri., Jan. 29 Florida 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sun., Jan. 31 Tampa Bay 3 p.m. CSN (HD)

February
Tues., Feb. 2 at Boston 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Thurs., Feb. 4 at N.Y. Rangers 7 p.m. CSN
Fri., Feb. 5 Atlanta 7 p.m. CSN+
Sun., Feb. 7 Pittsburgh TBD NBC
Wed., Feb. 10 at Montreal 7:30 p.m. CSN
Thurs., Feb. 11 at Ottawa 7 p.m. CSN
Sat., Feb. 13 at St. Louis 8 p.m. CSN (HD)
Olympic Break
March
Wed., March 3 at Buffalo 7 p.m. CSN
Thurs., March 4 Tampa Bay 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., March 6 N.Y. Rangers 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Mon., March 8 Dallas 7 p.m. VERSUS
Wed., March 10 Carolina 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Fri., March 12 Tampa Bay 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sun., March 14 at Chicago TBD CSN
Tues., March 16 at Florida 7:30 p.m. CSN
Thurs., March 18 at Carolina 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., March 20 at Tampa Bay 7:30 p.m. CSN (HD)
Wed., March 24 Pittsburgh 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Thurs., March 25 at Carolina 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sun., March 28 Calgary 3 p.m. CSN (HD)
Tues., March 30 Ottawa 7 p.m. CSN (HD)

April
Thurs., April 1 Atlanta 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., April 3 at Columbus 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Mon., April 5 Boston 7 p.m. VERSUS
Tues., April 6 at Pittsburgh 7 p.m. CSN/VS
Fri., April 9 Atlanta 7 p.m. TCN
Sun., April 11 Boston 3 p.m. CSN (HD)

All Times Eastern

From the team's release:

Rookie camp will begin Monday, Sept. 7, and will conclude with a road game against the Philadelphia Flyers rookies at 3 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 11, at Virtua Center Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, N.J. The game is open to the public and free of charge. This is the third straight year that Washington rookies will play Philadelphia rookies prior to training camp.

Veterans will report to training camp on Saturday, Sept. 12, and will be available for interviews and photographs at Kettler Capitals Iceplex that day. On-ice training camp activities will begin on Monday, Sept. 13.

Also, a little late on this, but here are the Caps' national NHL TV schedule, again, via the team's press release:

VERSUS will broadcast seven Washington Capitals games to a national television audience in 2009-10, the network announced today. NBC, which will operate under a flexible schedule for eight of the network’s regular-season dates, has five potential Washington games to pick from.

VERSUS, which will broadcast 54 regular-season NHL games, will feature the Capitals seven times this season starting with Washington’ season-opening visit to Boston on Oct. 1. The network will also broadcast the following games: Oct. 6 at Philadelphia, Oct. 27 vs. Philadelphia, Nov. 17 at the New York Rangers, March 8 vs. Dallas, April 5 vs. Boston and April 6 at Pittsburgh.

In addition to the national broadcasts in the United States, 17 Capitals games will be televised nationally in Canada. CBC will televise five Capitals games: Oct. 3 vs. Toronto, Nov. 21 at Toronto, Nov. 28 at Montreal, Dec. 12 at Toronto and Dec. 19 at Edmonton. TSN will televise eight Washington games: Oct. 27 vs. Philadelphia, Nov. 20 vs. Montreal, Dec. 18 at Vancouver, Jan. 7 vs. Ottawa, Jan. 15 vs. Toronto, Feb. 10 at Montreal, Feb. 11 at Ottawa and April 5 vs. Boston. TSN2 will televise four games: Oct. 6 at Philadelphia, Nov. 17 at New York Rangers, March 8 vs. Dallas and April 6 at Pittsburgh.

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.

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.