Caps Briefing: The New Guys Helped

Who would have thought that adding former MVP and three time Stanley Cup winner Sergei Fedorov would help a Caps team on the playoff bubble? Who could have predicted that picking up Christobal Huet, last year's NHL leader in save percentage, would make the team noticeably better? If you could have told us that adding these two preeminent veterans without giving up any professional players in return would make a big difference, then we'd like you to reach up and pat yourself on the back. You were so right.

In the three games before they picked up the trade deadline's two most affordable superstars, the Capitals lost. Sure, they played pretty well, even getting to overtime twice, but they didn't win. In four games since adding talent, leadership and especially confidence to this great young team, the Caps have won three times, outscoring their opponents by a total of twenty to six. Last night, for instance, the Caps faced a red-hot Boston Bruins team, and crushed them 10-2.

To top it off, Ovechkin notched his second hat trick of the year last night in his second five point game of the season (3 goals, 2 assists--the previous was a four goal affair, in which he scored all four after getting his nose broken). With his first goal of the hat trick, after two weeks of anticipation, he finally broke fifty. His current total of fifty-two goals is ten higher than the NHL's second place scorer, Ilya Kovalchuk, and is tied with last season's best total of 52 by Vincent Lecavalier. To put that in proper perspective, the Caps still have 15 games left. While he's not on pace for the best goal total of all time, he could reasonably make the top ten.