SB Nation - Matt Bradley

Capital Ups and Downs: Week 10

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

by Matt Slocum - AP

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.

Monday Caps Clips: Caps @ Lightning Game Day

J.P. — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:41:34 -0000

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Your savory breakfast links:

Previews of tonight's Southeast Division match-up featuring Alex Ovechkin's return to the lineup (and to the scene of the "hot stick") from Vogs, Peerless and NHL.com, and be sure to check out our SB Nation partner Raw Charge for coverage from the other side of tonight's match up.
In case you missed it in the overnight, Alexander Semin speaks. [Japers' Rink]
Caps have done just fine, thank you, without their biggest gun. [NHL.com]
David Steckel's long national nightmare is over. [Washington Times]
Matt Bradley speaks (briefly) about Saturday night. [Capitals Insider]
Gabby lives up to his nickname, dishing on Dan Carcillo, Mike Milbury and Allan Muir. [In The Room]
He might want to add Dave Reid to his list. [Washington Examiner]
A preview of next June's NHL Awards Ceremony. [Bloge Salming (language NSFW)]
Not to be out-done by their parent club, the Bears hung nine on Hartford Sunday night... in the first two periods. [Patriot-News]
Round two. Go vote. [NHL Arena]
Finally, per the HHoF, on this date back in 1977, the Caps "ended a 20-game winless streak, as Bob Sirois scored twice to beat the Cleveland Barons, 5-3." This year's Caps club already has more wins (18) than that one had for the season (17).

Adventures in Media Bias

Becca H — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:57:58 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

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It's not unusual to have a game portrayed in two different ways by each team's respective media corps. A lopsided score will be reported in the winning city as a tremendous team game, highlighting the accomplishments of the victor; for the losers, it's often a point by point breakdown of how their team wasn't ready to play or failed to follow the system. Usually neither one is completely wrong, either.

Inherent but not blatant bias - such is the world of journalism.

It's when it becomes blatant that we have an issue, and somehow the Philadelphia media has decided to cross that line and unite in the cause of, believe it or not, making Daniel Carcillo look like less of a moron. As the play stands, it comes across as a cheap-shot, an unprovoked sucker punch that comes before his opponent has even dropped his gloves or stick. Hard to defend, really, and hard to see why Carcillo would have taken exception to Matt Bradley, right?

Enter the phantom high stick.

The story being spread by our neighbors up a snowy I-95 today is that Matt Bradley high-sticked Carcillo - an infraction that was so obvious that it was missed by both referees (and the camera operators and commentators for both CSN Washington and CSN Philly). And it was so heinous that it set off Carcillo and rendered him unable to think clearly.

Here's how the hit is portrayed here in Washington, from the Washington Post:

With the score tied 1-1, Bradley finished his check on Carcillo along the sideboards. Carcillo took exception to the clean hit and delivered a cross-check to Bradley's back. By the time Bradley realized he was being engaged, Carcillo had dropped his gloves, cocked his fist and delivered a right jab to Bradley's jaw, dropping the winger to the ice.

And the Washington Times:

It was a 1-1 contest after goals from Fleischmann and Philadelphia's Mika Pyorala, but everything changed when Bradley hit Carcillo along the left boards near the Washington blue line. Carcillo took offense and cross-checked Bradley twice, trying to get him to fight. Carcillo threw off his gloves and, just as Bradley turned to engage him, the Flyers pugilist drilled Bradley with a right cross that sent him to the ice. Bradley had to be helped off the ice and did not return [...]

But here's how the Philadelphia media viewed it - first, the Philadelphia Inquirer (emphasis added):

About 2½ minutes after Mika Pyorala tied the game, 1-1, by knocking in a fat first-period rebound - a goal that ended the Flyers' eight-period scoreless drought - Carcillo was hit by Matt Bradley's high stick near the sideboards.

Carcillo retaliated with a cross-check and dropped his gloves. Just as Bradley dropped his gloves, Carcillo decked the Caps' right winger with a right to his face.

As Carcillo threw the punch, Bradley appeared to throw off his right glove as if he wanted to fight.

Auger gave Carcillo two minutes for cross-checking, two minutes for instigation, five minutes for fighting, a 10-minute misconduct, and a game misconduct.

Bradley got zero minutes.

Comcast's Philadelphia affiliate took it one step further in their recap:

Bradley got a high stick on Carcillo at the boards and that triggered the fight. Except referee Stephane Auger never saw it. Carcillo cross-checked Bradley and that led to shoves. Carcillo dropped his gloves, but grabbed onto Bradley, who dropped his right glove with his left glove still on.

Bradley swung his right hand around as Carcillo unloaded his right hand that caught Bradley flush in the face. Bradley’s left glove was still on his hand when he began to throw his right hand.

For what it's worth, the high stick gets no mention by Peter Laviolette. Or Scott Hartnell. Or Chris Pronger.

Or Carcillo himself (although he had plenty of other things to say).

And it gets no attention from Dan Rosen, playing the role of neutral observer with his recap of the game on NHL.com:

[T]he story of Saturday's game centers on Carcillo, who lost his cool 14:33 into the first period after getting hit cleanly by Matt Bradley near the penalty boxes.

Carcillo first cross-checked Bradley while he was on the ice, earning a two-minute minor penalty. He then instigated a fight with Bradley, good for another two minutes. Finally, before Bradley could get both gloves off, Carcillo cold-cocked him with a right hook to the face. That was good for a five-minute fighting major -- and on top of that he was issued a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct.

So was it a high stick? It's hard to find any justification for what Carcillo does next, but here's the video (from the CSN Philly feed, no less)...you be the judge:

Sunday Caps Clips: Five In a Row

J.P. — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:46:20 -0000

More photos » by Matt Slocum - AP

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Your savory breakfast links:

Recaps and other assorted musings on last night's cakewalk (déjà vu) from Corey (blog, article), Tarik (blog, article), Vogs, Joe B., Ed Frankovic, Peerless, Puck Daddy (where five points isn't star-worthy), OFB and Fight For Old DC.
The Top Ten reasons Dan Carcillo sucker-punched Matt Bradley last night. [Peerless]
"The Caps and [Alexander Semin's] agent, Mark Gandler, haven't held talks since the eve of the season, when it's believed an offer from the team was rejected. The RFA-to-be is also generating much interest in his native Russia, but the Caps will give this another go before the season is out." [ESPN]
Speaking of contract negotiations, George McPhee is Puck Daddy's eighth-best general manager of the decade. A strong argument could be made that he he should be higher (of course, then there's Michael Nylander). [Puck Daddy]
Great Varly shot. [TTT Hockey]
Welcome back to the organization (and the Caps' AAAA affiliate), Chris Bourque. [Patriot-News]
A look at the Caps' ECHL prospects. [Hockey's Future]
And speaking of kids, a look at the Caps' World Juniors participants. [OFB]
Per the HHoF, on this date back in 1987, "Washington's Scott Stevens set a club record with five assists as the Capitals won 10-3 over the visiting Los Angeles Kings."
Finally, happy 48th birthday to Chris Valentine.

Are You Sure About That, Mr. Carcillo?

J.P. — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:11:07 -0000

via a.espncdn.com

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When explaining why he sucker-punched Matt Bradley late in the first period of tonight's 8-2 Caps win, Dan Carcillo offered up the following:

“He kind of came at me the shift before. He was talking to me before. I thought we were going to fight."

Huh. That explains it, then - Bradley came at him the shift before. But if Bradley did indeed come at him, it must've been pretty quick, since the two had only been on the ice together for one second prior to the shift on which Carcillo clocked Brads (and that one second wasn't at a stoppage in play, either). Take a look:

(Click to enlarge)

Carcillo also said of the incident:

“Everything happened pretty quick, I saw him drop his gloves, so I started punching him." (Emphasis added.)

The facts beg to differ:

So the question is, as Corey Masisak asks it: "If Carcillo is that unrepentant and inaccurate/lying during his review, is the NHL going to be more willing to suspend him/add games to it?" I guess we'll see.

(H/t Ovechwin on the second screen grab and renhoak for the hi-res video of the incident)

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.

Thursday Caps Clips: Giving Thanks for a Shutout

J.P. — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 13:40:50 -0000

More photos » by Nick Wass - AP

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Your savory breakfast links:

Recaps and other assorted musings on last night's big win from Corey (blog, article), Tarik (blog, article), Vogs, Ed Frankovic, Examiner (gamer, notes), Puck Daddy, CBC and Hockey Mom.
Odds that there's some idiot out there who will criticize Alex Ovechkin for saluting the crowd during the Three Stars announcements after being ejected from the game? 3:1.
More on the implications of Abe Pollin's passing to Ted Leonsis's business interests. [Washington Times, Washington Post]
Stick with this one - it's worth it. I promise. [Tackfilm (h/t Ice Warrior)]
If last week was Matt Bradley's, this one must be Brooks Laich's. [NHL.com, NHL.com (video), NHLPA.com]
Michael Nylander non-news: "the KHL remains the target solution, but it's a delicate and difficult process." And, apparently, lengthy. [ESPN]
The Caps have the most points in the NHL since Brian Burke took over in Toronto. Huh. [CBC]
Semyon Varlamov is FOX Sports' fifth-best rookie so far this season. Obviously this list was created prior to last night. [FOX Sports]
Upper Deck has some new "Biography of a Season" cards out, including one detailing a feat not yet two months old. Hot. [Upper Deck]
Dmitri Orlov lists Kirill Koltsov and Bobby Orr as two defensemen after whom he models his game, giving the Internet the chance to see Koltsov and Orr in the same sentence for the first time ever. [RussianHockeyFans.com (h/t Ice Warrior)]
It wouldn't be Jersey Fouls without at least one local entry. [Puck Daddy]
Finally, on this day of giving thanks, we'd like to thank everyone who has made our first year at SB Nation (yes, it was one year ago today we came over) such an incredible success. Enjoy the day, people.

Scorned Lovers: The Ballad of Former Sharks

Mr. Plank — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:12:48 -0000

"All the old knives that have rusted in my back, I drive in yours"

- Phaedrus

A common belief held amongst Sharks fans (and sports fans in general) is that a player will haunt his former team in every game he plays against them after leaving. A crucial goal, a crucial play-- all of these are pointed to and obsessed over, taken to be the norm and not the exception.

For example, look no further than Marcel Goc. Twenty goals to his name in four seasons with San Jose, and yet in his first game back to The Tank he managed to notch a goal against Thomas Greiss that tied the game in the second period. Game, set, match. The curse is among us; it is sleeping in our living room.

But is this the entire story? Do ex-Sharks truly flourish when playing against San Jose, or is it a mere matter of selective retention on our part? With the following set of criteria, that is what I set out to find.

1) Goals, assists, and points were the metrics used to determine how well they have fared. When we think of Sharks killers (Modano, Iginla), we immediately think of goals and assists. This list is no different.

2) Players must be a forward, and have forty games played with the Sharks before facing them in an opponent's jersey. Defensemen were not included due to their small point totals, but I plan on taking a look at them later in the year. Forty games played is an arbitrary cutoff point, but manages to weed out rental players and those who did not sufficiently impact the team-- essentially, what we're looking at are players who would be considered true San Jose Sharks.

3) Players need to have played their final game with San Jose no earlier than the 1999-2000 season. I wish I could have done this for the Sharks entire history, but the seasonal splits from Yahoo! and ESPN only go back to 2000-2001. Yahoo! contains total splits since 1989, but these do not reflect the basis of this study-- how players fare after leaving the Sharks. For example, Teemu Selanne played against the Sharks both before and after he wore teal. We only want to see how he has fared afterwards.

4) Players need to have played at least one game against the Sharks after leaving. Self-explanatory.

With all of these fulfilled, we come to a grand total of sixteen forwards. These players are Niklas Sundstrom, Jeff Friesen, Todd Harvey, Dave Lowry, Owen Nolan, Mike Ricci, Marco Sturm, Matt Bradley, Teemu Selanne, Mark Smith, Scott Thornton, Alyn McCauley, Wayne Primeau, Nils Ekman, Steve Bernier, and Marcel Goc.

What follows is the raw totals of these sixteen players-- their regular season point totals with the Sharks, after leaving the Sharks, and against the Sharks.