Former Capitals coach Bruce “Butch” Cassidy (who famously wrote his plays on napkins, and then brought the napkins to practice) has just been fired by the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League after they lost six straight games. The firing from the junior team confirms the suspicions of many Caps fans who remembered the 2003-2004 season and though the coach might have been slightly less than qualified for the NHL. Cassidy joined the Capitals…

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…

In a best of seven playoff series, any team with a 3-1 lead has distinct advantage. This is entirely false when that team is the Washington Capitals, and it holds that slim advantage over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Capitals blew 3-1 leads against the Penguins in 1992 and 1995, and blew a 2-0 lead to the Penguins in 1996. Since this season’s Hershey Bears are one-third composed of players from this season’s Washington Capitals, they…

What’s that, reader? You thought the hockey season had come to a merciful end? You thought that Caps players like Mike Green, Jeff Schultz, Jakub Klepis, Eric Fehr, Alexandre Giroux, Dave Steckel and Frederic Cassivi had shown they belong in the minor leagues, and would now spend the summer playing golf and healing unspecified injuries? Well, smartypants, you got the first part right. All those Caps players do belong in the minor leagues, and…

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…

Written by DCist contributor Eli Resnick Last night, the Washington Capitals lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins. They’ve been doing this for quite a while. In this so-called rivalry, the Penguins have owned the Capitals for decades. Well, okay, there was a night back around 1993 that the Capitals beat the Penguins 8-1, and there was one playoff series where the Capitals actually pulled through, but basically, as the NHL decides whether to build the rivalry…

Written by DCist contributor Jesse Rounds. With just five of their last 18 games coming at home the Caps hoped to take advantage of their final extended homestand to build momentum. With a record of 2-2-1, the Caps failed to realize their hopes and were unable to create a consistent style of play. Wednesday night saw the Caps destroy the Pittsburgh Penguins. In the last game of this season’s series between the two rivals, The…

This entry was written by DCist contributor Jesse Rounds. On Monday night the Caps came home to the newly minted Verizon Center to take on the New York Islanders and attempt to turn around a post-Olympic slide. An impressive display by the Caps gave Olie Kolzig his 250th career win and Alexander Ovechkin his 40th and 41st goal. The teams were evenly matched through the first period but in a second period bookended by goals…

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…

This entry was written by DCist contributor Jesse Rounds For the first time in the last 28 attempts the New York Islanders beat the Washington Capitals in New York, thus keeping the Caps from failing to capitalize on their win against the Tampa Bay Lightning earlier in the week. The 5-3 loss was more a result of a foolish penalty late in the third period than a poorly played game. Prior to the third period…