SB Nation - Mike Knuble

Capital Ups and Downs: Week 11

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

by Chris O'Meara - AP

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

More photos » by Frank Gunn - AP

Browse more photos »

[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:

Capital Ups and Downs: Week 10

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

by Matt Slocum - AP

View full size photo »

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.

Saturday Caps Clips: Caps @ Flyers Game Day

J.P. — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:00:15 -0000

More photos » by Michael Perez - AP

Browse more photos »

Your savory breakfast links:

Previews of Game 1 of the Peter Laviolette era in Philly from Vogs, NHL.com, Peerless, CSN Washington and CSN Philly, and be sure to check out our SB Nation partner Broad Street Hockey for coverage from the other side of tonight's match up.
Taking joy in Philly's turmoil. [OFB]
It continues not to suck to be Alex Ovechkin... [D.C. Sports Bog, NHL Network Online (video)]
... Even if some blowhard thinks it "would be fun to see" him "meet a couple of fourth-line enforcers down the road." [CBC]
Speaking of idiocy, a nice collection of responses to a prime example of it... [D.C. Sports Bog, Ted's Take, FanPost]
... But we should be fair and let the author defend himself. Here's Jim Kelley on The Mike Wise Show... [106.7 The Fan... at least it should be here soon]
... And we'll give Caps Senior Director of Media Relations Nate Ewell the last word on the matter: "All lies. This interview is making him look even more deceitful, dishonest, biased and wrong." Game. Set. Match. [@nateewell]
Several Caps have stepped it up in AO's absence... [Washington Times]
... As the team rallies around it's superstar. [NHL.com]
The sore wrist that sidelined Alexander Semin for seven games "may ultimately require surgery." That's the first I've heard the "s" word used, which likely means it came from the player (or more likely his agent), which seems an odd thing to be putting out there in a contract year. [Globe and Mail]
Speaking of Semin, "He's a great guy in the locker room, a supportive guy to everyone. He's a big part of the team, and I hope he stays here." So says someone whose opinion probably matters. [Washington Post]
Some (inter)national attention for what Brendan Morrison has done for the team so far. [NHL.com]
One for the ladies... and those who appreciate fine photography. [TTT Hockey]
Btw, TTT Hockey photos would make for truly special holiday gifts. [TTT Hockey]
Several Caps talk about their first times... scoring an NHL goal, that is. [CSN Washington]
You thought you'd seen all the "Free Alex" pictures that were out there? Think again. [Peerless]
Mike Knuble goes toy shoppin' for charity. [Hockey Mom]
Elliot in the Morning tells Florida's Mike Duco he's number one. [TwitPic (via @OnFrozenBlog)]
A preview of Junior Seau's day as shooting target/equipment manager for the Caps. [NHL Network Online (video)]
FiOS subscribers will want to read this. [Mike Holden's blog]
"Hall of Famer Olaf Kolzig" has a nice ring to it, even if we're just talking ECHL. [CSN Washington]
In case you missed it, the Penguins waived Chris Bourque yesterday. [@TSNBobMcKenzie]
Sticking with Pittsburgh, Brent Johnson's worst Civic Arena memory? This game. [Empty Netters]
The juxtaposition of an Habs fan reaction to Eric Fehr's late game-tying goal from last weekend and Led Zep's chill "Going to California" is fantastic, but certainly NSFW for language. [YouTube (h/t YNC)]
Finally, per the HHoF, on this date back in 1997 "Jeff Toms scored at 3:32 of OT to give the Capitals a 3-2 win over the Panthers, in the first NHL game played at the MCI Center in Washington D.C."

Wednesday Caps Clips: Two Games for Ovechkin

J.P. — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:45:12 -0000

by Gerry Broome - AP

View full size photo »

Your savory breakfast links:

As you know by now, Alex Ovechkin was handed a two-game suspension for his knee-on-knee hit on Carolina's Tim Gleason on Monday night.
AO, via the team, issued the following statement in response to the suspension: "I regret that this has happened. I'm glad that Tim wasn't injured because I never ever want to see anyone get hurt. I am disappointed to miss these games and I can't wait to get back on the ice next week to help my team." Presumably left on the cutting room floor was a second half of the statement, which no doubt read, "And did I mention that Tim wasn't injured? Like, at all? In fact, he was around to not get an instigator late in the game when he dropped his gloves to fight. So yeah, no injury there. Unrelated: how's David Booth?"
Reaction to the suspension was plentiful, and here's some of it from Puck Daddy, Peerless (as only Peerless could react), OFB (as, uh, only OFB could react) Sporting News, Scott Morrison of CBCSports, Edmonton Sun, Red and Black Hockey, Empty Netters (bringing the Pittsburgh ~~insanity~~ ~~bias~~ point of view), Fight For Old DC.
TSN asked 25 NHLers "whether they viewed Ovechkin as a hard-hitting player, or more often as a reckless and dirty player," and seven responded that he was both reckless and dirty (why no distinction was drawn is beyond me, but I guess it's good to see that Karl Rove has apparently found work). [TSN.ca]
Before the suspension came down, a bunch of Caps shared their thoughts on the hit and reaction to it, including some strong words from Brooks Laich... [Examiner]
... and Bruce Boudreau threw that "R" word out there. [Puck Daddy, Washington Times]
The other part of the AO hit, of course, is the injury, and he is officially "day-to-day" on that front. [Examiner]
In other Caps news (yes, there was some), Mike Knuble is hopeful a December 9 return, both Tom Poti and Alexander Semin participated in full practice (though the latter ruled himself out for Thursday, unbeknownst to his coach), and Shaone Morrisonn is shutting it down for a couple of days (not good). [Examiner]
"Eat It, Haters," Jeff Schultz edition. [From The Rink]
More power rankings are out, with the Caps down one to fourth here at SBNation, down one to fifth at FOX Sports and down one to sixth at SI.
AO isn't the League's most efficient scorer. In related news, they don't ask "how," they ask "how many." [WSJ]
Zach Miskovic is playing well down in Hershey. [John Walton Hockey]
If you want a Michael Dubuc bobblehead, you have to vote for it first. [Stingrays]

Capital Ups and Downs: Week 9

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

by Graham Hughes - AP

View full size photo »

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.

Eric Fehr: Healthy and Scoring

J.P. — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:30:11 -0000

More photos » by Graham Hughes - AP

Browse more photos »

"When Eric [Fehr] is going to the net with reckless abandon, then he's really good.... When he plays on the perimeter and just hopes his shots go in, he's not as effective." - Bruce Boudreau, 11/28

Needless to say, Gabby's right. In fact, not one of the half-dozen goals Fehr has scored this season have come from anywhere near the perimeter. Take a look:

Six goals, the distances for which you could lay end to end and barely make it from the end boards to center ice (and that's even with the spotty NHL measuring system in place); Fehr is showing glimpses of exactly what Caps fans had hoped he could eventually become. And perhaps it's no coincidence that Fehr's development as a get-to-the-net forward overlaps Mike Knuble's time in Washington. After all, back in July, we noted that one of the key attributes that the veteran winger brought with him from Philly was a net presence and that "[i]t's hard to think of a better player for guys like Brooks Laich and Eric Fehr to emulate."

Whether or not Fehr's recent surge is The Knuble Effect in action (alternatively, maybe it's the radio gig), the winger seems to be on track for the best season of his career in a campaign that is most certainly make-or-break for him in the Capitals organization. Once again, Fehr is making the most of his ice time and responding well to increased minutes, firing ten shots on goal in his last three games - one more than he registered in his previous eight games - and lighting the lamp three times. Since returning from his most recent injury (a rib injury that cost him six games), Fehr has five goals and three assists in ten games - a 41-goal/24-assist full season pace.

The question, of course, is can he sustain it? If he continues to go to the net and can stay healthy, the two-time WHL 50-goal scorer's chances are pretty good.

Leveling the Playing Field

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

More photos » by Luis Alvarez - AP

Browse more photos »

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?

Capital Ups and Downs: Week 8

J.P. — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:00:13 -0000

More photos » by Darren Calabrese - AP

Browse more photos »

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

Goalies	Trend	Notes
Michal Neuvirth	-	A home loss and unimpressive numbers in his NHL season debut don't tell the whole story of Neuvy's Friday night, but he'll certainly want to show more in his next recall.
Jose Theodore	?	Difficult week for Theo off the ice, is back with the team now and looking to get back on track.
Semyon Varlamov	▲	A 1.44/.949 week should result in nothing but wins. Alas, Varly will have to settle for a win Tuesday and the knowledge that he's the only reason his team got a point on Saturday night.

Defensemen
John Carlson	-	Led the team in hits in his NHL debut and isn't shy about shooting the puck or skating it into the offensive zone. There's a reason his arrival has been eagerly anticipated.
John Erskine	-	Dropped the gloves with Georges Laraque, but seems to be getting slower (at least by comparison to his fellow rearguards) every game. Correlation?
Mike Green	▲	Five points (all assists) in three games to take the lead among all NHL blueliners in points, but needs to be less generous in distributing the puck to opposing teams.
Milan Jurcina	+	Missed all three games - as many as he didn't play in all of last season.
Shaone Morrisonn	+	Got his bell rung in Wednesday night's game and missed the weekend.
Brian Pothier	▲	Took six shots and blocked nine in three games. Solid.
Tom Poti	+	.Missed much of Friday night's game and all of Saturday's; just three shots on goal in his last eight games.
Jeff Schultz	-	A pair of three-hit games and a plus-one rating for the week - big minutes and few stats to show for 'em.

Swingman
Tyler Sloan	-	Scratched in New York, started on the wing Friday night only to be shifted back to the blueline for most of the game and all of Saturday night. The versatility was nice; the play on the blueline less so.

Forwards		.
Nicklas Backstrom	▼	One assist in his last five games, no goals in his last nine, no shots in his last two... needs to get back on track.
Jay Beagle	-	Got his first NHL point on Tuesday night, but not much else to speak of in limited minutes.
Matt Bradley	▲	No, he didn't do much over the weekend, but Brads did more than enough on Tuesday to earn an up arrow for the week. #needsmoreBradley
Chris Clark	▼	Got a shot at top line RW, but couldn't stick. Saturday night's game was his first in five without a minus-one rating.
Eric Fehr	-	Sniped a nice goal Friday night, but just four shots on goal for a week that included some better-than-usual minutes.
Tomas Fleischmann	-	Nine-game point streak snapped Friday night, has now gone four straight shots on goal without scoring, killing his shooting percentage.
Andrew Gordon	-	Blink and you missed his eight-shift season debut.
Boyd Gordon	+	Gordon's missing a lot of time in an important season for the RFA-to-be.
Mike Knuble	+	Tuesday night's battle in Manhattan was exactly the kind of game for which you want Knuble in the lineup, but there will be plenty of those come spring.
Brooks Laich	▲	Goal, assist, plus-two, 11 shots on goal and can play on any line or in any situation (he's the only Cap forward averaging more than two minutes per game on each of the special teams units). Bless you, Brooksie.
Quintin Laing	♥	A well-deserved purple heart for Q.
Brendan Morrison	-	A nice goal late against Montreal, but penalties in each of the three games, one the ice for both power play goals the Caps surrendered (and four of six goals against overall) and neither of the extra man tallies they scored.
Michael Nylander	●	Zzzz...
Alex Ovechkin	-	For anyone else, two goals in three games would be a great week. But for The Great Eight, the bar's set higher. And he can be better.
Mathieu Perreault	-	Continues to produce in limited ice time (he's between Ilya Kovalchuk and Alex Ovechkin in 5-on-5 points per sixty), and even won 54% of his draws this week.
Alexander Semin	+	Could've used him against the Leafs. And the Habs. And the Rangers.
David Steckel	-	Keeps doing what he does best (winning faceoffs and killing penalties), but no forward in the League has taken more shots without scoring a goal than Stecks.

A Balanced Attack

Becca H — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:00:23 -0000

More photos » by Rich Schultz - AP

Browse more photos »

"Secondary scoring" is one of those phrases that gets thrown around the hockey world a lot - yes, even right here - to determine and define what makes a deep team, offensively. It generally refers to whatever offense is produced by anyone other than the superstar(s), the top line, etc.

Still, secondary scoring is a somewhat blurred notion, hard to define based on the simple fact that what constitutes secondary scoring on one team is what passes for primary on another. For example, Mike Knuble has five goals on the year - the 6th highest total on the Capitals, it would be among the top three for a number of other teams.

Rather than this convoluted idea of secondary scoring, what teams are really looking for is balanced scoring - a balanced attack, with the offense distributed as evenly as possible throughout the lineup.

So how do the Caps stack up with the rest of the league?

For comparison's sake we'll look at the following: the total number of goals scored by each team (GF), the number of goals coming from the top 3 scorers (T3G), the % provided by the top 3 (% of Ttl), the number of multi-goal scorers (MGS) and the number of players contributing at least one goal (GS).**

**Totals through 11/15/09

Team	GF	T3G	% of Ttl	MGS	GS
*Tampa Bay Lightning	44	28	63.64%	8	11
Anaheim Ducks	52	27	51.92%	7	14
*Columbus Blue Jackets	55	27	49.09%	10	14
*San Jose Sharks	73	34	46.58%	13	18
Vancouver Canucks	62	28	45.16%	10	15
*Los Angeles Kings	65	29	44.62%	10	14
Atlanta Thrashers	63	28	44.44%	9	14
*New Jersey Devils	51	22	43.14%	10	14
*Dallas Stars	59	25	42.37%	11	14
Ottawa Senators	48	20	41.67%	9	17
St. Louis Blues	41	17	41.46%	8	17
*Washington Capitals	75	31	41.33%	12	18
Montreal Canadiens	49	20	40.82%	9	16
*New York Rangers	61	24	39.34%	15	18
*New York Islanders	56	22	39.29%	13	17
Florida Panthers	46	18	39.13%	8	16
*Calgary Flames	59	23	38.98%	10	17
Edmonton Oilers	58	22	37.93%	13	16
Toronto Maple Leafs	45	17	37.78%	12	15
*Philadelphia Flyers	59	22	37.29%	12	17
*Colorado Avalanche	60	22	36.67%	12	19
Nashville Predators	39	14	35.90%	10	15
*Detroit Red Wings	62	22	35.48%	13	20
*Pittsburgh Penguins	61	21	34.43%	13	15
*Buffalo Sabres	46	16	33.33%	11	15
*Chicago Blackhawks	57	19	33.33%	11	17
Minnesota Wild	49	16	32.65%	10	6
Boston Bruins	46	15	32.61%	11	17
Phoenix Coyotes	50	16	32.00%	12	16
Carolina Hurricanes	42	11	26.19%	10	15

* - teams currently in playoff contention

A couple of things of note:

The Caps are right around the middle of the pack when it comes to balanced scoring.
However, they also lead the league in goals scored (75), and are tied for third in both the number of multi-goal scorers (12) and the number of goal-scorers in general (18).
The Predators have scored just eight more goals as a team than the number of goals produced by the Caps' top three goal-scorers.
Under the header of "Numbers Can be Deceiving": the Hurricanes would appear to have the most balanced attack in the league...but check out their goal total.
Under the header of "It's Exactly How it Looks": the Lightning are currently getting almost 64% of their offense from their top 3 scorers, providing 28 of the 44 total goals. All but three of those goals have come from just two players - Stamkos and Malone.
The top two teams in the league, San Jose and New Jersey, are in the top ten when it comes to more offense from fewer players.

Of course, any discussion involving the Caps and balanced scoring right now has to take into account the fact that their most primary scorer, Alex Ovechkin, has been out for six of the twenty games so far. The Caps scored twenty-three goals during that stretch, with goals coming from eleven different players.

And that is pretty darn impressive.