Caps Briefing: Staying Centered

One of the best things about covering hockey is that you get the summer off. Just ask USA Today's Gary Graves, TV Analyst Darren Pang or the anonymous Western Canadian hockey experts on this conference call. All of them are really excited to watch what happens when Alexander Ovechkin plays with newly signed free agent center Michael Nylander. But as Ovechkin kindly told these vacationing reporters when they asked him how he felt about it, the answer is obvious: he's not playing with Nylander. He's playing with Viktor Kozlov.

Hockey is a very demanding sport. Players race as fast as they can to get the puck or find open ice and then they get off the ice in groups and let another group have a turn. The groups of forwards that play together are called "lines." Throughout training camp and the preseason, Ovechkin has played on the Capitals' first line with Kozlov, a fellow Russian, while Nylander has played on the second line with fellow Swede and early rookie of the year favorite Niklas Backstrom. Since Ovechkin and Backstrom are both recent immigrants, it's easier to let them work in their native languages.

There's a bigger reason, though, why the Caps have their $2.5 million center on the first line and their $5 million center on the second line. It's the same reason why Nylander was the first line center the last time he played in Washington. Glen Hanlon, who has been the team's coach since before Nylander was traded to Boston, signed as a free agent with the New York Rangers and returned to Washington, believes that that teams that balance their lines are harder to defend against.