Three of the Capitals’ best five offensive players are still out with minor injuries. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, after being absolutely destroyed by the Carolina Hurricanes last night, the Caps are tied with the Atlanta Thrashers for the worst record in the East at 5-9-0. Last night’s loss would have been easier to explain if the Caps were missing ten, or maybe twenty of their best players. Two Hurricanes scored…

It’s getting hard to keep track of what to think about the Capitals this year. At the beginning of the year, they won three straight games, and even spent an hour as the league’s first place team. Then they lost a few, won one, and tried losing again. Last night, in what should have been a hopeless battle against a hot team, they put together a seven to one victory over the grammatically challenged…

The skies are partly cloudy overhead with a high of 84 degrees and the winds are blowing a blustery four miles per hour. This can only mean one thing. Hockey is back in the Nation’s Capital. Of course the Capitals would hardly know it tonight as they start their season in cold, rainy Atlanta, Georgia. At least they’ll be home tomorrow to play Carolina. For the third year of probably only three years, the NHL…

With one week left until the start of the regular season, the hockey world has been divided into two camps along the question of whether the Capitals will make the playoffs this year. The first camp consists of every Caps fan with a blog, up to and including team owner Ted Leonsis. All agree that the team can do it. The second camp contains every other fan and writer in the hockey universe, who agree…

Last week we reported that the Capitals signed unrestricted free agent center Michael Nylander to a four year contract worth $19.5 million (U.S.). One day earlier, an Alberta radio station reported that the Edmonton Oilers signed unrestricted free agent center Michael Nylander to a four year contract worth $22 million (U.S.). Reportedly Nylander’s agent had emailed acceptance to Edmonton, but Nylander’s wife then exercised veto power over the prospect of life in the Canadian prairie….

When your alumni game features less than one former player for each year your franchise has played, and none of them play goalie, something might be wrong. The 2006-2007 season was a chance for the Washington Capitals to take a long, sometimes painful look at the prospects it has drafted and traded for in recent years. Over the season, the team discovered that these young players were generally young, inexperienced and insecure. With the right…

This post was written by DCist contributor Jesse Rounds The Washington Capitals successfully started the final third of the season last night with a 5-3 win over Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. A solid game by second string goalie Brent Johnson and the first career two goal game by Matt Pettinger gave Washington the 20th win of their season. The Caps took advantage of the fact that many of the…