Florida defenseman Jay Bouwmeester. (Steve Mitchell/Associated Press) It’s not often in professional sports that the home team has the chance to keep the best player on the visiting team after the game, but that might be the case this afternoon if the Capitals can make the right impression on the Florida Panthers. Panthers defenseman Jay Bouwmeester is an emerging star. He plays defense well, passes the puck well and scores goals. All year, Florida…

Simeon Varlamov’s long trip from Hershey, PA meant he didn’t arrive in time to back up Brent Johnson when the puck dropped Friday against the Ottawa Senators. Instead, the Caps had to rely on team Web Producer and former Division III goalie Brett Leonhardt as their backup goalie for ten minutes of nail-biting NHL action. The Senators took every possible opportunity to try to hurt Johnson and get to Leonhardt, the only Division III goalie…

The Washington Capitals announced last week that they’ve signed Sergei Fedorov to a $4 million contract for the coming season. Citizens State Bank, a Michigan financial institution, announced today that they are suing Fedorov for $2 million in unpaid loans. Fedorov, who won the Hart trophy as the NHL’s MVP in 1994, has made a lot of money in his time. He once earned $12 million dollars for writing his name. He’s widely considered to…

The Capitals have agreed to terms on a one year contract with former MVP Sergei Fedorov. Fedorov has won three Stanley Cups while playing center, wing and defense. He has also been voted the NHL’s best defensive forward. He reportedly had many contract offers from teams throughout the NHL and Russia’s new KHL, but he took a 33 percent paycut from last season to stay with the Caps for $4 million. This could have something…

Jose Theodore signed a two year, $9 million contract to play for the Capitals yesterday. Theodore brings a lot of great accomplishments and a lot of question marks to the Capitals. Last year in Colorado, he took turns losing the starting goalie job with younger disappointment Peter Budaj. Still, Theodore is the answer on paper to many of the Capitals’ questions. NHL free agency started yesterday–the time when veteran players who have finished their…

Mike Green came to terms with the Capitals today on a four-year, $21 million dollar contract to play ice hockey. In my first post on DCist, all the way back in October of 2006, I described a hard-fought match between the Caps and the Avalanche that reached its climax when “Green, the Caps star minor-league defenseman, who is expected to show signs of someday belonging in the NHL by the end of this season,…

It’s over. Last night, the Caps lost game seven in overtime to the Philadelphia Flyers. They will now face the dreaded eighteen hole golf courses of McLean, and their own personal workout regimens. Led by the season-long heroics of Alexander Ovechkin, Mike Green and Olaf Kolzig, the team came back from 14th in the East at New Years to third place in the East with home ice advantage in their first playoff series in five…

After two straight losses knocked the Capitals five points out of a playoff spot at the trade deadline, General Manager George McPhee pulled off four deals to give his team the strength to make the playoffs. Then, last night, with all four new players in other cities making travel arrangements, the Caps put together a great team effort to beat the Minnesota Wild. Alleged puck-bunny favorite Brooks Laich stayed hot and continued scoring with two…