Since trading away team leader and expert benchwarmer Brian Sutherby to save money and cure a losing streak, the Caps have chalked up two more uninspired losses to teams from subtropical climatic zones. Last night’s nominal crowd at Verizon Center cheered optimistically when the Caps lobbed soft shots from the blueline into the catching glove of Atlanta’s third-string goalie, Johan Hedberg. They cheered sarcastically when Capitals museum piece Olaf Kolzig stopped easy shots. Some fans…

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 Capitals have assigned Ben Clymer to their farm team. For two years, Clymer has provided the Caps with leadership, toughness and first hand knowledge of what it’s like to win a Stanley Cup. This year and next year, he’ll take that knowledge to the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears. Clymer joins Stanley Cup winner Joe Motzko, whom the Caps signed this summer as a free agent and demoted over the weekend, in giving the…

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…

With one week left until the trade deadline, and the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference, the Capitals are doubtlessly looking to make trades and receive value for players who aren’t planning to return next year. Their biggest commodities are forwards Dainius Zubrus and Richard Zednik. Both players are big, strong veterans who can chip in a fair number of points. Both have also been to the Stanley Cup Finals, which is something teams look…

How unimportant is the Young Stars game? Well, they play it three days after the All-Star game, on a Tuesday. The teams are about half the size of real hockey teams, they skate four on four for the entire game, and the players aren’t allowed to hit each other.

At Tuesday night’s game, Gavin Dunaway of The Alphabetical Order, who was watching the game with Mike “Goodtyme” Garrity of Nitro Tokyo, suggested we write a story about, “how satisfying it is to watch your team completely drubbing another team.” That was pretty much the theme of the evening, as the Washington Capitals took a lead fifteen seconds into play, built it up to 4-0, and easily held on to win 6-2. During breaks in…

Written by DCist contributor Eli Resnick Last year’s Washington Capitals were bad at everything. This year’s team, while still decidedly bad at many things, has some distinctly strong aspects. For instance: they ice-skate very quickly; they have several decent offensive players and a loaded power play; and, oh yeah, they’re insanely tough. We’re not just talking about a team loaded with Hanson Brothers indiscriminately pouring violence on opponents, teammates and fans alike. We’re talking about…

Written by DCist contributor Eli Resnick The Capitals are on a “mostly winning streak.” Why? How? What’s a “mostly winning streak?” Who cares! They’re doing good. But first there’s some bad news: Alexander Semin left the ice late in the third period doubled over with pain. A possible shoulder injury could make it painful for Semin to shoot. We don’t want to see Semin’s shots dribble weakly to the crease, do we? No! We want…

This entry was written by DCist contributor Jesse Rounds Good news has been in short supply for the Washington Capitals lately. They have lost four of the last five, with their only win coming against the up and down Toronto Maple Leafs. In the home game against the Leafs the Capitals looked strong, shutting down the Leafs offense and playing the penalty kill very well. However, back-to-back 5-0 loses to the Tampa Bay Lightning and…