SB Nation - John Erskine

Wednesday Caps Clips: Rocky Mountain Rout

J.P. — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:42:25 -0000

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Your savory breakfast links:

Recaps and other assorted musings on last night's win from Corey (blog, article), Tarik (blog, article), Vogs, Joe B., CSN Washington, WashEx, Ed Frankovic, Fight for Old DC, Denver Post (gamer and blog) and Mile High Hockey (rather succinct).
On the David Koci hit. [FanHouse]
Seems a good time to revisit this post on team toughness from a few weeks back.
At some point you start to wonder whether sheer ignorance will cost Semyon Varlamov Calder votes. [FanHouse]
Some more new power rankings are out, with the Caps up one to third at CBC.
Another interesting look at the crapshoot that is drafting goalies. [TSN]
Stephen Peat vs. P.J. Stock: your NHL fight of the decade. [Puck Daddy]
A rare Michael Nylander AHL rookie card unearthed. [FanPost]
These third jersey mock-ups look awful to me. I mean, an "A" on the #28 sweater? Ewww. [Rock The Red.net]
John Erskine has a new nickname (and no, it's not Fourskine). [Fight For Old DC]
Maybe no one will win the Cup this year. [Orland Kurtenblog]
If Cody Eakin ends up not making Team Canada this winter, there's still a chance (gasp!) that he might become a decent hockey player. [CBC]
Another "Gabby" review. [Sky Sports]
Speaking of Gabby, per the HHoF, on this date back in 1977, "Bruce Boudreau scored the only hat trick of his NHL career, and Borje Salming added five assists as the Toronto Maple Leafs won 8-5 against the North Stars, at Minnesota."
Finally, again per the HHoF, on this date back in 2003, "Washington rookie Maxim Ouellet, playiing in his first NHL game in three seasons, made 37 saves to record his first career shutout, and Robert Lang scored twice and added two assists as the Capitals won 5-0 against the Thrashers at Atlanta." And by "first," they mean "only."

Recap: Caps 6, Avalanche 1

Becca H — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 06:01:39 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

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[AP Recap - GameCenter - Game Summary - Event Summary]

Tonight's game featured two of the best teams in the League right now - and yet there was little to no hype leading up to it, few (if any) mentions of it being a Cup Final preview, and more than a couple of empty seats scattered throughout the Pepsi Center.

Still, the Capitals and their fans didn't need any of that to understand the importance of this game. The first of three games against the Western Conference, on the road, facing a team with more familiar faces behind the bench than on it...this was a test.

And the Caps passed with flying colors.

Ten more notes on tonight's game:

Making his NHL debut probably would have been enough of a birthday present for Kyle Wilson, who turned 25 today. Two hard-working assists, the game's third star and a Caps win? Icing on the birthday cake - and enough to likely give him a slew of new fans among the Caps' faithful. Welcome to DC, kid.
Of course, on the end of those two assists was some good net-crashing work by Tomas Fleischmann, who picked up goal #12 and 13 on the year tonight. Coming into this season, Flash had just two career two-goal games; he's got four already this season.
When this team is clicking, everyone's involved. It was, and they were, as four of the six goals came from the third and fourth lines.
Jose Theodore made a triumphant return to Denver and came oh so close to blanking his former team, turning aside 27 of 28 shots and keeping his composure while being run more than once. Just the kind of game he needs to get back on track.
At the other end of the rink, however...yikes. Craig Anderson has gotten a lot of credit this year for leading the Avs back to respectability, and rightfully so, but he was less than sharp tonight. To put it nicely. Very nicely.
Going into this game, the Caps had nine - nine - defensemen on the roster. By the end of the night only four of the six who dressed remained in the game, with Green getting taken out late in the second (more on that in a minute) and Morrisonn mysteriously absent. And let's not forget the fact that Erskine spent a good chunk of time in the sin bin.
The shortage of able-bodied men on the blue line led to Brooks Laich stepping in as a defenseman for the third period - and did a nice job of it, too.
The Avalanche did a pretty good job of doing the impossible - making Alex Ovechkin seem invisible. Of course, they forgot about his two talented linemates, who each picked up a goal. And the other three lines. Six different guys had multi-point performances tonight, and not one of them wore #8.
It's hard to say that the Caps weren't working hard, because they were, or that they didn't win the little battles, because they did. So it's a little puzzling that they only managed to draw one minor penalty. Less puzzling? They took five of their own. It happens.
The David Koci / Mike Green / John Erskine incident has riled up the debate once again that the Caps need an enforcer so other teams will stop running our players. I'm of the (somewhat unpopular) opinion that it's not necessary, nor is it a deterrent - guys like Carcillo and Koci aren't going to be deterred by "threat of punishment" because this is the way they play. Furthermore, few if any enforcers kicking around the league today can be had for cheap, and few if any know where the line is between defending teammates and becoming a liability by acting stupid.

Of course, GMGM gets the final word. Discuss.

Controversy and debate aside, this was nothing short of a statement game.

The Caps rolled four lines, allowed just one goal in a stunning display of solid defense and goaltending, and threw six goals at the home team. They did all of that despite Alex Ovechkin being neutralized and despite losing a third of their defense. They did it with the help of secondary scoring and a few more reinforcements from Hershey.

It was the epitome of a team game. They finally showed a killer instinct, and they did it all in a dominant, explosive way that serves as a reminder of just how good this team can be - when they want to be.

Game highlights:

A Look at The Capitals' Blueline

J.P. — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:00:30 -0000

More photos » by Pablo Martinez Monsivais - AP

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When Karl Alzner was recalled yesterday, he brought the total number of defensemen on the Caps' NHL roster to a whopping nine. Even with Brian Pothier out of the lineup with a rib injury and Tyler Sloan getting a lot of his minutes up front (when he gets a sweater, that is), there's a logjam on the blueline which must be resolved, especially if the Caps are going to eventually spend some of those sweet, sweet Nylander bucks on a new (to them) rearguard.

As this unit is viewed generally as the team's Achilles heel, the decision of who stays and who goes is all the more important, so let's take a look at some of the numbers through 33 games. First, stats at five-on-five, ranked by plus-minus per sixty minutes (GP - games played; QC - Quality of Competition; QT - Quality of Teammates; Pts/60 - Points per sixty minutes; GFON/60 - team goals for per sixty minutes; GAON/60 - team goals against per sixty minutes; +/-ON/60 - GFON/60 minus GAON/60; Corsi - Corsi rating; Pen+/- - Penalty plus minus per sixty minutes):

	GP	QC	QT	Pts/60	GFON/60	GAON/60	+/-ON/60	Corsi	Pen+/-
Jeff Schultz	26	.040	.402	1.05	3.44	1.35	2.09	10.4	-0.1
John Erskine	21	-.078	.157	0.39	3.11	1.17	1.94	-5.0	-0.6
Brian Pothier	28	-.079	.273	0.98	3.23	1.41	1.83	-2.2	-0.5
Mike Green	32	-.013	.180	1.69	4.06	2.48	1.58	8.1	-0.2
Tom Poti	27	.139	-.200	0.56	2.93	2.37	0.56	0.3	0.0
Milan Jurcina	25	.106	-.178	0.66	2.47	2.64	-0.16	-4.8	-1.0
Tyler Sloan*	20	.009	-.310	0.77	2.06	2.32	-0.26	-13.2	-0.7
Shaone Morrisonn	24	-.017	.372	0.34	2.71	3.22	-0.51	-8.2	-0.5
Karl Alzner	5	-.028	-.380	1.68	1.68	3.35	-1.68	-23.3	-1.7

Some of these numbers are surprising - first and foremost the fact that John Erskine has the lowest GAON/60 of the group and how bad Alzner's numbers are (albeit in an extremely small sample). Some aren't as surprising - Mike Green has the highest GFON/60 and Jeff Schultz is leading the way in plus-minus, even though he's playing tough competition. In fact, Schultz has the best five-on-five plus-minus per sixty in the entire NHL among blueliners who have played at least ten games... and Erskine and Pothier round out the top three, respectively, with Green not far behind.

As for Erskine's numbers (and Pothier's, for that matter), you can see that he has been somewhat hidden (more or less tied for the weakest competition) and his Corsi shows he's been somewhat lucky to be on the right side of the plus-minus ledger. Anyway, there's plenty there for discussion in the comments, but let's move on.

Next up - just a couple of four-on-five numbers, ranked by goals against per sixty minutes (TOI/60 - time on ice per sixty minutes):

	TOI/60	GAON/60
Brian Pothier	0.56	3.81
Karl Alzner	2.51	4.77
Milan Jurcina	2.40	4.99
Mike Green	2.09	5.39
Jeff Schultz	2.44	5.68
Shaone Morrisonn	1.87	6.69
Tom Poti	3.51	9.49
John Erskine	1.38	12.44
Tyler Sloan*	0.64	23.62

It's no secret that the Caps' penalty kill has struggled, and part of the reason is that a couple of their supposed defensive stalwarts - Shaone Morrisonn and Tom Poti - haven't been getting the job done. Erskine has become nearly unplayable down a man (and his minutes reflect that - only two defensemen in the League have a worse GAON/60), and no one with a decent sample size is really distinguishing himself here, save perhaps Milan Jurcina. Granted, a few saves here and there could help these numbers out, but the blueliners have to help out their netminders as well.

Finally, some general numbers, ranked by games played (TOI - time on ice per game; Hits - hits; BkS - blocked shots; TkA - takeaways; GvA - giveaways; GvA/60 - giveaways per sixty minutes of ice time T-G/60 - takeaways minus giveaways per sixty minutes of ice time):

	GP	TOI	Hits	BkS	TkA	GvA	GvA/60	T-A/60
Mike Green	32	25:05	47	50	14	30	2.24	-1.20
Brian Pothier	28	17:47	34	40	11	14	1.45	-0.31
Tom Poti	27	21:31	10	39	16	14	1.69	0.24
Jeff Schultz	26	18:47	24	47	4	16	1.96	-1.47
Milan Jurcina	25	17:32	43	37	3	12	1.64	-1.23
Shaone Morrisonn	24	17:14	50	39	4	11	1.59	-1.01
John Erskine	21	16:44	44	22	4	19	3.24	-2.56
Tyler Sloan*	20	12:32	26	16	2	11	2.63	-2.15
Karl Alzner	5	18:12	3	6	0	1	0.66	-0.66

A few more interesting numbers here, especially those last two, which measure puck possession and protection. Sure, Green turns the puck over with maddening frequency, but not nearly as often per minute as Erskine. Add in Green's takeaways, and he looks even ~~less bad~~ better.

Again, there's a lot of data in these tables, but, taken together, they paint a pretty good picture of where the Caps' blueline is at the moment, and who are the likely - and deserving - candidates to go when room needs to be made.

* Sloan's statistics include time spent at forward. Simple stats via NHL.com, advanced stats via Behind the Net.

Capital Ups and Downs: Week 11

J.P. — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:00:16 -0000

by Chris O'Meara - AP

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Our weekly look at individual Washington Capitals' ups and downs:

Goalies	Trend	Notes
Michal Neuvirth		Didn't get much help Saturday night... and needed an awful lot the way he played. Now an ugly 0-2-0/4.56/.845 on the (NHL) season.
Jose Theodore		He'll need to be better than 1-1-0/2.97/.872 in Varly's absences, whenever they are.
Semyon Varlamov		Followed up a 26-save shutout - his second whitewashing in four starts - with a trip to the IR. On the plus side, the Caps have the luxury of being extra cautious with him... for now.

Defensemen
John Erskine		The wear and tear is wearing and tearing Erskine down to the point where he seems nearly worn and torn out.
Mike Green		The return of "Game Over" Green Friday night couldn't save a week full of turnovers and blown assignments... with Team Canada no doubt watching.
Milan Jurcina		After a minus-eight stretch in his previous six games, an even week (with a scratch thrown in) may qualify as a "good week," but the Caps need more out of Juice.
Shaone Morrisonn		Returned from injury with a zero-point, one shot on goal, minus-one week in which he averaged under 18 minutes of ice time. Sounds about right.
Brian Pothier		On injured reserve with a rib injury. It's a shame, as he was coming off a three-goal, four-assist, plus-11 November.
Tom Poti		Minus-three for the week (and that includes a plus-one in Tampa), and on the ice for six of the 12 goals the team allowed for the week.
Jeff Schultz		A plus-two week has him fourth in the League in plus/minus, and three four-block games speak further to the blueliner he's becoming.

Swingman
Tyler Sloan		Scratched twice, Sloan's NHL time is running out with Laing's pending return and perhaps a recall of Karl Alzner for the blueline.

Forwards
Keith Aucoin		His most recent recall was short and relatively unproductive, which, fittingly, makes it the Keith Aucoin of recalls.
Nicklas Backstrom		Two goals, two assists, plus-four and an epic OT shift against Carolina, the "wow" moments are coming with greater frequency with each passing week.
Matt Bradley		A happy and healthy new baby gets an up arrow, especially when supplemented with a great interview.
Chris Clark		If the captain isn't contributing on the scoreboard, he's gotta be doing other things... like not letting his team put up three poor efforts in a row (including a pair against the League's two worst teams).
Eric Fehr		A goal in Tampa followed by three point-less games, Fehr will look to go from scorching hot to cold to just plain consistent.
Tomas Fleischmann		Another Cap forward looking for consistency, Flash posted a goal and three helpers this week and now has seven points in his last six games (after picking up just one in his previous six).
Alexandre Giroux		If it wasn't for Nylander's departure, Giroux being returned to Chocolatetown would qualify as great news. As it is, it's merely very good news.
Boyd Gordon		In the past two months, Gordo has played 5:55 of hockey. Sigh.
Mike Knuble		Off to a slow start since returning from the IR with a minus-three rating in two games. No doubt it takes some time to get back to game speed, but a finger injury shouldn't inhibit one's ability to crash the net.
Brooks Laich		Like his new-found mentor Knuble, Laich had no points and was minus-three for the week... but he played all four games.
Quintin Laing		Q's getting closer to returning, but when he comes back, who sits?
Brendan Morrison		No points, three shots on goal and a celebration on a puck he shot wide... ouch.
Michael Nylander		Hasta la vista, baby.
Alex Ovechkin		Returned from suspension with three multi-point games (seven points overall) and 23 shots on goal in four games.
Mathieu Perreault		Food poisoning sidelined him in Buffalo and one point in his last ten games might sideline him a little more frequently going forward. Update: Perreault has been returned to Hershey.
Alexander Semin		Two goals, three assists, plus-four and 20 shots on goal in three games, a "passenger" in the fourth. That's our Sasha!
David Steckel		Followed up his first goal of the season with no points, a minus-two rating, two shots on goal and diminishing ice time (less than ten minutes per game for the week) in four games. The face offs are still there, though (67.4% for the week).

Recap: Maple Leafs 6, Caps 3

J.P. — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 03:51:26 -0000

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[AP Recap - GameCenter - Game Summary - Event Summary]

As well as the Caps played over the first twenty minutes of Saturday night's 6-3 loss to Toronto, they only held a 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission, having failed to convert on at least a trio of other prime scoring opportunities (chances for Brendan Morrison, Alexander Semin and Alex Ovechkin immediately come to mind). Cash in on any of those, and maybe the Leafs go away. Convert on two or three and the rout would've been on.

That's not what happened, of course, and by the start of the second period the team's fatigue began to show (this was the Caps' third game in four nights and the second of back-to-backs that included some travel headaches in between games). Before the period was six minutes old the game was tied, and only a soft Nicklas Backstrom goal nearly halfway through the period broke up a string of a half dozen consecutive Leafs goals that concluded with a tally that you'd hope Michal Neuvirth can somehow forget.

Ten more notes on the game:

The last time a Caps goalie gave up six goals in a game was the last game of last season, and Neuvirth probably had the worst sixty-minute performance by a Caps netminder since then. Yes, he had his moments, but on a night when his teammates needed him to steal a game for them - or at least keep them in it - he wasn't up to the task.
That said, he didn't get much help, as the team in front of him allowed 36 Toronto shots on goal, gave the Leafs a lengthy 5-on-3 power play (of which they only needed 17 seconds to score), and repeatedly failed to tie up opponents in front of the net.
On a positive note, the Caps' top line dominated the first half of the game, combining for all three goals, a trio of helpers and a plus-six rating. They fell off a bit after that (and Backstrom's failure to win a key draw in his own zone - or at very least to tie up Matt Stajan - led to the game-winning tally), but the Ovechkin-Backstrom duo was as good as it gets early.
It's tough to stand out amongst a group of blueliners who collectively had an awful night, but that's exactly what John Erskine did. Ersky was credited with four giveaways and a penalty, but the scoresheet doesn't even begin to tell the story of how bad he was. Dishonorable mention here goes to Mike Green, who didn't impress any Team Canada reps tonight.
Over their last three games, the Caps power play has scored once and been scored upon twice. That's not good, but neither is this: the power play is now 18.6% successful in the games AO has played and 40.6% in the eight games he's missed.
Mike Knuble and Brooks Laich were each minus-two tonight, following up a minus-one apiece Friday night. Given that Laich has one goal in his last 11 games and Knuble has only lit the lamp in one of his past eight games (which includes his time on IR, of course) and that the Caps have looked more like a one-line team over this past week, perhaps it's time to put Knuble back up on the top unit and push Alex Semin to the second line.
Backstrom's goal made him the Caps' fifth double-digit goal scorer on the season. Morrison's in the on-deck circle with nine and Eric Fehr's in the hole with eight.
No Cap played less tonight than David Steckel, who got only 9:14 of ice time (but did manage to be on the ice for three goals against... ouch).
Not to keep harping on Erskine, but given the recent schedule and the back-to-backs, why not dress Tyler Sloan in his place? At least he's got legs. Oh, Toronto's truculent. Nevermind.
No one in the game had more hits than Chris Clark's three. Really?

Over the past two nights, the Caps have played the two worst teams in the entire NHL (point-wise, at least), and they needed overtime to beat one at home and got beaten handily by the other on the road. And yet there they still sit atop the League standings. Funny what can happen on any given weekend in the NHL...

Game highlights:

Recap: Caps 3, Lightning 0

Becca H — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:59:06 -0000

More photos » by Chris O'Meara - AP

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[AP Recap - GameCenter - Game Summary - Event Summary]

With Alex Ovechkin on the sidelines the last two games, the Capitals put together back-to-back dominant performances - picking up four points and a hell of a lot of goals. And while getting someone like Ovechkin back in the lineup is never a bad thing, there was some question as to whether the team would continue to step up or revert back to relying on #8.

There were certainly some shaky moments, but by the end of the night there was no longer a question. The Caps were able to welcome back the best player in the world and still put together a fine team road win - with everyone doing their part, Ovechkin doing his thing and a certain Russian in net doing everything and more.

Ten more notes on the game:

The story before the game was Ovechkin's return; after, however, it was all about Semyon Varlamov - and rightfully so. Tampa always seems to have some firepower, but Varly stood tall and made all the routine stops, all the tough stops, and all the stops that made you wonder just why this kid still isn't getting Calder talk outside of CapsNation. Tremendous effort by Varlamov en route to a 26-save shutout.
On the other end of the rink, Tampa got a pretty decent showing from their own netminder, Mike Smith. He made a lot of saves that had guys searching the rafters for guidance, and one especially dazzling glove save on Alexander Semin that seemed to surprise even him.
Brooks Laich, Tomas Fleischmann and Alexander Semin couldn't buy goals tonight despite many golden opportunities. Some of that was Smith. Some of that was over-passing. And some of it was just pure bad luck.
There was a time when Vincent Lecavalier was a pretty prolific Caps-killer. There was also a time when he scored goals period, and neither one was happening tonight. With all due respect to Vinny, I'm sure we were all happy to let his little slump continue at least one night more.
Overall it was a good road win, but the Caps certainly played with fire in the opening twenty minutes. Too many passes, too many squandered opportunities and too much flash without any finish. The puck possession, particularly on the first power play, was certainly dazzling - but if no one's going to shoot, no one's going to score. And that's why the period ended 0-0.
Not sure if you heard, but Alex Ovechkin was suspended for two games. Oh, and he came back tonight. And scored two goals, one of the gorgeous kind and one we'll just nickname "Brooks Laich". For those of you keeping track at home, that's 22 goals and 20 assists for Ovechkin in 31 games against the Lightning. Yawn.
If you had to pick someone to play Mike Duco / Daniel Carcillo in tonight's little drama, Steve Downie would probably have been a good pick. He did rack up quite a few penalty minutes, but the fact that they were all spread out and stuff clearly stymied the Caps, and they failed to cash in. They did finally get one with big Lecavalier in the box, though - and killed off all four penalties whistled against them, too.
Eric Fehr is simply on fire. Either that or he's simply just starting to achieve the potential he's had hovering over him since he was drafted back in 2003. Whatever it is, we're not complaining - another shift crashing the crease, another goal, and just like that Fehr's up to 15 points in 20 games.
Mike Green had no shots on goal and got knocked down in what was probably an ill-advised check attempt late in the game. He also finished +1, with two hits, two blocked shots and a takeaway in just over 26:00 of ice time - and no goals were scored. We'll take it.
In fact, the entire blue line earns some special praise tonight. There were some little mistakes here and there, but all in all a solid defensive outing (if you can call zero goals against merely "solid"). And good on John Erskine for coming to the defense of a fallen Brian Pothier late in the third.

This is a Tampa Bay Lightning team that has clearly made some strides and is a much more formidable opponent than they were just a year ago.

Still, it would have been easy for the Caps, with Ovechkin back in the lineup and riding a 5-game winning streak, to attempt to coast through this game. It would have been easy to assume that offense only needed to come from the top line. But while Ovechkin did have two goals, it wasn't just because of him that they take away another two points - and maintain their pristine record against both the Lightning and the Southeast.

Tonight the individuals shone, but it was the team that earned the win.

Game highlights:

Capital Ups and Downs: Week 10

J.P. — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:00:16 -0000

by Matt Slocum - AP

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Our weekly look at individual Washington Capitals' ups and downs (and yeah, we've used this picture before, but it's so nice it deserved to be used twice):

Goalies	Trend	Notes
Jose Theodore		After having not played in more than two weeks, Theo came back strong with a pair of road wins, a 2.00 GAA and a .947 save percentage for the week. The better he is this winter, the fresher Varly will be in the spring.
Semyon Varlamov		Seemed to lose his concentration a bit late against Florida, but 1-0-0/2.01/.929 keeps the train rollin'.

Defensemen
Karl Alzner		Was on the ice for four of the six goals the Caps allowed last week. With the blueline getting healthier, Alzner once again finds himself the odd-man out - and on his way back to Hershey.
John Erskine		A plus-four rating for the week and not on the ice for a single goal against in 51:38 of ice time, which included 5:37 shorthanded.
Mike Green		Five points and a plus-four rating in three games, including four power play points on a unit that has scored seven times in the last two games.
Milan Jurcina		How do you end up with a minus-two rating for a week in which your team outscored its opponents 17-6? By being on the ice for five of those six goals against.
Shaone Morrisonn		On the trip to Tampa, so perhaps his return to the lineup is near.
Brian Pothier		Plus-two against Carolina, scratched against Philly. Huh.
Tom Poti		Returned to the lineup against the Flyers with twenty minutes of ice time and a pair of assists.
Jeff Schultz		Plus-three for the week, Jeff Cincocinco has only had two minus games since October 17 and is now in the top ten in the League in plus-minus (and is 12th among NHL blueliners in the stat since the start of the 2007-08 season).

Swingman
Tyler Sloan		A penalty in each of this week's three games, two of which were coincidental minors and one of which occurred with the Caps on the power play.

Forwards
Nicklas Backstrom		Four goals, five assists and a plus-four rating in three games including a five-point game in Philly.
Matt Bradley		Scored his fifth goal of the season against Florida, equaling his goal total from a season ago, and took one for the team in a big way on Saturday night.
Chris Clark		A goal and an assist on the week, The Captain now has half as many goals and is one helper short of his production over the previous two seasons combined. Of course, that's not saying much... other than that Clark is finally healthy.
Eric Fehr		Five points in three games, a six-game scoring streak (multi-point games in three of four), and 13 points in 13 games since returning from injury.
Tomas Fleischmann		Three goals in his last two games, he now has eight tallies in games which AO has been out of the lineup and just two when the Great Eight has dressed. Solution? Scratch him when AO's a go. Just kidding. Sorta.
Alexandre Giroux		Ten shots on goal in the last two games, a plus-three rating and a helper in Carolina... but really, we've seen more than enough.
Boyd Gordon		Looking more and more like a lost season for Gordo.
Mike Knuble		Targeting a Wednesday return, but the way the team's playing, no need to rush.
Brooks Laich		Three points, including a couple on the power play as Laich became the fourth Cap to hit double-digits in goals on the season (no other team has more than three, and several teams don't have a single 10-goal guy yet).
Quintin Laing		Getting closer, which might spell the end of Tyler Sloan's time in D.C.
Brendan Morrison		Four points on the week and more points on the campaign than he had in 62 games for the Ducks a season ago.
Michael Nylander		If Nylander was a classic SNL skit, I'm pretty sure he'd be this one.
Alex Ovechkin		Just one goal in the three games the Caps played last week- anyone hear anything to explain why his production was so limited?
Mathieu Perreault		Seven games without a point (granted, his linemates haven't been the type with which skill pivots normally succeed), but he's still doing some things... little things.
Alexander Semin		Has returned to the lineup with six points in two games, including four on the red-hot power play. Key stat: the power play is 30.3% successful in Semin's twenty games played and at just 9.1% in the nine he's missed.
David Steckel		The monkey's off his back... now let's see some more.

Capital Ups and Downs: Week 9

J.P. — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 16:00:12 -0000

by Graham Hughes - AP

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Our weekly look at individual Washington Capitals' ups and downs (with special thanks to winterion for the icon set):

Goalies	Trend	Notes
Jose Theodore		Hasn't played a second since November 14 in Jersey; Gabby's got to get him back out there soon.
Semyon Varlamov		Varly went 2-0-1/2.27/.919 with a shutout this week but was probably even better than those impressive numbers would indicate.

Defensemen
Karl Alzner		The up arrow might be a little generous, but think of it more as "Alzner's an upgrade over some of the Caps' regulars on the blueline" rather than a direct comment on his two-game performance (which has been solid if unspectacular).
John Carlson		Held his own in his first NHL tour of duty.
John Erskine		Averaged 18:44 of ice time per game this week, which is too much time for a marginal NHL defenseman and may be why he's been looking so slow of late. Or maybe it's just that he's so slow.
Mike Green		Had the shift from hell in overtime on Monday night, but had nice assists on Monday and Wednesday. In other words, his offense isn't the problem... and never has been.
Milan Jurcina		Getting big minutes on a struggling penalty kill; six blocks and four hits in two games.
Shaone Morrisonn		Perhaps his absence is impacting his usual partner Green's play.
Brian Pothier		Adding a bit of physicality to a game that's really coming around nicely.
Tom Poti		Missed on the penalty kill.
Jeff Schultz		Assist, plus-two rating for the week. Ho hum.

Swingman
Tyler Sloan		Plus-two as a defenseman against the Sens, nothing as a forward against the Sabres.

Forwards
Nicklas Backstrom		As Ovechkin returns to form, so to does Backstrom (even if the numbers don't show it... yet). The big face-off win with 15.5 seconds left in Montreal and the shootout-deciding tally earn an up arrow.
Jay Beagle		Scored his first NHL goal in Ottawa, but took a bad penalty in Montreal. Decent short-term fill-in.
Matt Bradley		Not much to report - he must be in the "taking names" portion of "kicking ass and taking names."
Chris Clark		Scored in Ottawa, but is struggling a bit out there.
Eric Fehr		Three goals and an assist, a plus-three rating and ten shots on goal. Most importantly? His three goals totaled 63 feet from stick-to-goal line (and I'll take the under). Keep up the Knuble, Laich impression, Fehrsie.
Tomas Fleischmann		It's been a half-dozen games since Flash scored, and he's actually losing ice time (gasp!) to Fehr, among others.
Alexandre Giroux		Look at the Corsi. Look at the rate at which he's taking penalties. Tell me he's not the worst player to don the red, white and blue so far this season.
Andrew Gordon		A quick cup o' coffee and see ya later.
Boyd Gordon		No news ain't good news.
Mike Knuble		Skating again, which is a good sign (even if it is a finger injury).
Brooks Laich		An assist in Montreal, but only one shot on goal in three games for the week. Looking good, though, on a line with Morrison and Fehr.
Quintin Laing		Did an in-game interview on Comcast Sportsnet despite having his jaw wired shut. Seriously.
Brendan Morrison		Goal, assist, plus-three and 53.8% in the dot. In 50:02 of ice time for the week, he was on the ice for three goals for and none against.
Michael Nylander		Yawn.
Alex Ovechkin		A pair of goals, a pair of assists and a pair of penalized hits; AO's really got to be careful regarding that last number.
Mathieu Perreault		Pointless in five and only two shots on goal and a 38.7 win percentage in the dot for the week.
Alexander Semin		Caps offense scoring .74 fewer goals per game without Semin this season (but also giving up .68 fewer goals per game), and power play efficiency drops from 28.2% with Sasha to 10.7% without.
David Steckel		A 14/15 face-off performance against Buffalo saves the week for the snake-bitten Steckel, who is one of a half-dozen NHL forwards who have played 25 games this season without scoring a goal.

Recap: Caps 2, Sabres 0

David M. Getz — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:12:14 -0000

More photos » by Nick Wass - AP

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[AP Recap - GameCenter - Game Summary - Event Summary]

Earlier today I wrote, "There are a lot of ways to be a productive hockey player". By the same token, there are a lot of different ways to win a hockey game. Some nights it takes dazzling offense. Some nights it takes a team gritting their teeth and willing themselves to victory. Some nights it takes one guy putting the team on his back and carrying them to a win. And some nights - like tonight - it takes a team filling out its roster with AHL call-ups rallying behind a bad call (more on that in a bit) and playing smart, aggressive, defensively-sound hockey, including killing off a five minute major by drawing a penalty of their own and not letting the opponent register a single shot.

While the Caps' forechecking was solid and their offense pressure was consistent, the bulk of the praise for this game has to go to the defense corps, all of whom played well. Mike Green was all over the ice creating chances in the offensive zone, Brian Pothier played with controlled aggression and was a constant disruption to Buffalo's offense, John Erskine was quietly efficient, Karl Alzner looked like an old vet, and Milan Jurcina played his size. It's hard to ask for anything more from the group.

Finally, Semyon Varlamov was simply outstanding, something that had as much to do with his mental game as his physical one. After the Alex Ovechkin penalty, the ensuing powerplay, and the raucous atmosphere it would have been understandable for even the most veteran of netminders to get a little anxious. But Varlamov stayed calm and collected the entire time, which was exactly what the team needed. The effect that has on a team can't under underestimated, and Varly's quiet confidence played a bigger role in tonight's win than it'll get credit for.

Ten additional notes on tonight's game:

Not only should the boarding call on Alex Ovechkin not have been a been a major - I'm not even sure it have even been a penalty. Patrick Kaleta may have gone into the boards face first, but Ovechkin hit him shoulder-to-shoulder.
I've been accused of being a referee apologist in the past, and constant complaining about the officiating is one of my pet peeves, but Paul Devorski and Kelly Sutherland were awful tonight, committing a number of officiating cardinal sins. Letting the game be played like it's 2003 and hooking's not in the rule book: check. Making a call based on a result (Kaleta's injury) rather than the play: check. A questionable make-up call soon after: check. The only way they could have made it worse would have been to get perturbed at one of the teams and start making calls out of spite.
Karl Alzner went from the AHL to playing 20:15, second-most among Capitals defensemen. If you think he's been in Hershey for reasons that have anything to do with anything other than the salary cap, your argument just got substantially weaker.
Brian Pothier's second period hip check on Clark McArthur was pretty sweet. Of course, it would have been even better if it didn't look like he gave himself whiplash on the play.
It might be beating a dead horse, but it's simply unacceptable to watch a guy crash the net as hard as Steve Montador did to end the second and have the other team instigate the scrum after the whistle.
Coming in to tonight's action Paul Gaustad was first in the NHL in faceoff percentage at 63.3 and David Steckel was second at 61.4. Steckel won four of five head-to-head draws, but Guastad can always look on the bright side: he was one of five against Stecks; the rest of his team was oh-for-nine.
He's been cold recently, but Nicklas Backstrom really turned it on after Ovechkin was shown the gate. He may not have gotten on the scoresheet for his trouble, but that's the kind of play that can help bust a slump.
Since his last goal, which came on the 14th when the Caps played the Devils in Newark, Tomas Fleischmann's played five games and has just one assist and seven shots. C'mon Flash, where's the guy who was making things happen every shift?
If I were Bruce Boudreau I'd implement a rule barring Semyon Varlamov form handling the puck more than three feet away from the blue paint, effective immediately.
Only one Capitals - Eric Fehr - had an average shift length of over sixty seconds. Jeez, the guy scores one big goal and he thinks he's one of the young guns...

Just two days after "a total collapse by 20 guys" the Capitals came out and simply got the job done on a night they could have used injuries, Ovechkin's ejection, or their recently grueling schedule as an excuse and simply did what they needed to do to get the two points. That doesn't make the leads they've blown or the games the coasted through any more acceptable - but it sure does feel good, doesn't it?

Game highlights:

Leveling the Playing Field

David M. Getz — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:15:08 -0000

More photos » by Luis Alvarez - AP

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It's in the nature of just about every sports fan to analyze their favorite team. The problem is that the data to do so is oftentimes incomplete, unreliable, or just not there. Defense in hockey, for example, is notoriously difficult to measure. Point production is at least in part a factor of who a player plays with and against. Save percentage is a decent measure of goaltender performance - but a goalie playing behind a bad team's going to have a hard time putting up the same kind of numbers as a goalie playing behind a defensive juggernaut.

One way to try and compare data is to normalize it - to do whatever you can to make it so the players on a level playing field, so you can compare apples to apples. That's the logic behind a lot of what Gabriel Desjardins at Behind the Net does: sure Nicklas Backstrom has more goals than Eric Fehr, but given the disparity in playing time, power play time, and strength of teammates, is that disparity as big as the raw numbers make it seem? Does it exist at all? By turning ice time and goals in to goals per minute, you can get a little bit closer to the answer.

The problem is that when you do that, the numbers lose some of their relate-ability. When you say Alexander Ovechkin's 56 goals were an incredible achievement, people are right there with you. When you tell them he scored 1.57 goals per sixty minutes of five-on-five play they might assume it's impressive since it's Alexander Ovechkin, but they don't relate to it in the same way.

With that in mind, we've decided to normalize individual player scoring data and convert it in to run-of-the-mill statistics by assigning everyone on the team the same amount of "ice time". We decided to go ahead with 18 minutes a night, since that's more or less what a player who gets regular ice time but isn't a top line or top pairing guy gets. Each player is assumed to play 14:12 of even strength ice time and 1:57 of power play ice time per game i"in order to roughly correspond with how much time the player would get based on the amount of time the Capitals have spent in each situation so far this season. We also assume each player get 1:51 of penalty kill time, although this doesn't factor in to point totals since the team doesn't have any shorthanded goals. The method isn't perfect - it doesn't account for quality of competition or teammates, and obviously some players are hurt by the fact that in reality they play so rarely on the the power play. Still, it's an interesting exercise to see the effect of. standardizing ice time does on total production

Or, in other words, if everyone got the same ice time and scored at their current rates, what would their stats look like?

	G	A	P	ESG	ESA	ESP	PPG	PPA	PPP
Nicklas Backstrom	3	14	17	2	11	13	1	3	4
Matt Bradley	5	6	11	5	6	11	0	0	0
Chris Clark	2	10	12	2	5	7	0	5	5
Eric Fehr	7	8	15	7	5	12	0	3	3
Tomas Fleischmann	12	6	18	8	2	10	4	4	8
Boyd Gordon	0	7	7	0	7	7	0	0	0
Mike Knuble	7	13	20	6	11	17	1	2	3
Brooks Laich	7	11	18	4	9	13	3	2	5
Quintin Laing	4	0	4	4	0	4	0	0	0
Brendan Morrison	7	9	16	6	8	14	1	1	2
Alex Ovechkin	16	8	24	14	6	20	2	2	4
Mathieu Perreault	6	12	18	6	12	18	0	0	0
Alexander Semin	7	15	22	5	5	12	2	3	5
David Steckel	0	3	3	0	3	3	0	0	0

	G	A	P	ESG	ESA	ESP	PPG	PPA	PPP
John Erskine	0	2	2	0	2	2	0	0	0
Mike Green	2	13	15	2	10	12	0	3	3
Milan Jurcina	0	3	3	0	3	3	0	0	0
Shaone Morrisonn	0	3	3	0	3	3	0	0	0
Brian Pothier	4	5	9	2	5	7	2	0	2
Tom Poti	0	0	4	0	3	3	0	1	1
Jeff Schultz	1	5	6	1	5	6	0	0	0

So what've we got?

Mike Knuble was in large part brought in to help the team's power play, but he's tied for seventh in power play points among forwards and doing most of his damage at even strength.
Shaone Morrisonn makes $1.975 million, is tied for the worst GAON/60 on the team, and has done nothing offensively despite playing most shift with Mike Green. If the Capitals want to free up cap space and are tired of waiting on Michael Nylander, I have a suggestion for them...
David Steckel...oof.
Matt Bradley's more productive at even strength than Tomas Fleischmann. Take it for what it's worth (hint: not much).
At even strength Mathieu Perreault is outproducing Nicklas Backstrom, and Brendan Morrison and has been equal to Tomas Fleichmann and Brooks Laich. Très bien. Now how 'bout some power play time for the kid?
Jeff Schultz has been the team's third most productive defenseman. As much as I like Sarge, that's not good. Maybe instead of pining for that "big, crease-clearing" defenseman we should be hoping that Caps find away to get another puck mover on their roster. Or that Tom Poti starts bringing the kind of offense he's capable of. Either/or.
Eric Fehr is third in even strength goals and twelfth in even strength ice time per game.
Chris Clark has as many or more power play points per minute as Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, Nicklas, Backstrom, Mike Green, Brendan Morrison, Mike Knuble, or Brooks Laich, raise your hand. Maybe we can cut him a little slack in terms of raw numbers?

What jumps out at you? Who might deserve a few more minutes each night to showcase what they can do? Just as importantly, whose numbers do you really think are indicative of their talent, and whose numbers aren't telling the whole story?