This weekend the Capitals decided not to add a great goalie to pull them up from the dregs of the standings. After losing seven of eight games, the Caps were in last place. This gave them the first chance to pick up Ilya Bryzgalov, a goalie placed on waivers because he didn’t enjoy playing backup on the Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks. Two years ago, Bryzgalov posted one of the greatest playoff shutout streaks in…

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…

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…

In an interview yesterday, discussing the state of goalie development in Russian hockey, Caps superstar Alexander Ovechkin optimistically announced that Caps goaltending prospect Semen Varlamov will remain in Russia this year, playing with Yaroslavl Lokomotiv. This contradicted Ovechkin’s earlier optimistic prediction that Varlamov would challenge Olaf Kolzig for the starting job in Washington, which in turn contradicted Varlamov’s earlier announcement that he planned to play for Lokomotiv this year. Goalies take longer to develop than…

With the NHL draft beginning this Friday evening, the Capitals must be excited to possess the fifth overall pick. That high pick gives them a chance to add one more skilled young prospect to a corps of young talent that includes First Team All Star Alexander Ovechkin, hard-shooting winger Alexander Semin and enough other good young players to get their top minor league affiliate to the last two AHL finals. One player likely to slip…

So some Penguins walk out of arena negotiations… The Pittsburgh Penguins are staying in Pittsburgh. After years of debate, the Pennsylvania government agreed to open up a bunch of casinos and use the revenue to keep the best young collection of hockey players anywhere on Earth right squarely in the Iron City. While this is great news for the Penguins and all of their fans, it is terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad news for the…

Frederic Cassivi looked extremely confident in goal last night as he helped the Capitals maintain dignity through a three to zero loss at Toronto that could have been much worse. Cassivi preserved a scoreless tie with solid, calm, positional goaltending through twenty-three minutes of play in spite of receiving a dirty slash to the back of his helmet from notorious goon Darcy Tucker, who was immediately knocked to the ice by stalwart Caps defenseman John…

With the NHL Trade Deadline approaching, the Capitals had better make up their minds pretty quickly whether they’ll be buying or selling. With starting goaltender, team leader and future saint Olaf Kolzig on injured reserve for three weeks with a torn ligament in his knee, the team is undoubtedly thinking “sell”, if not thinking about reaching for the cellar of the league standings and getting into the lottery to draft Angelo Esposito. However, the…

This entry was written by DCist contributor Jesse Rounds The Washington Capitals are done for the season. The team finished the last week of play by going 3-1 with wins against Florida, Tampa Bay, and Atlanta. The Capitals were expected to finish at the bottom of the NHL this season, and by finishing with the third worst record in the league, the team certainly lived up to those expectations. On the other hand the Caps…

This entry was written by DCist contributor Jesse Rounds. Last Friday the Capitals had a chance to win their “playoff” series with the Carolina Hurricanes. Once again their offense proved up to the task with three goals. However, they let the Hurricanes score three short-handed goals on their own powerplay opportunities to tie the game. That would be the story of the game for the Hurricanes. As Coach Glen Hanlon noted “We’ve said all along…