Simple question, not so simple answer.

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Ladies, Gents, the Rest,

With the last month of non-hockey-hell upon us and the 2009-2010 season right around the corner, the list of questions regarding our Caps has grown long this offseason.  Lately, I got to thinking about the Southeast Division and the teams we will be up against the majority of the year.  Simple question:  who do you think will be the most challenging team within the division for the Capitals this year?

Its finally here.  Game Day.  Who would have thought April 15th would be a GOOD day.

Will Ovechkin continue his goal scoring dominance?

Will Semin play another MVP caliber series as he did against the Flyers last year?

Will the underappreciated (at least league wise) Backstrom take the next step to becoming an elite center?

Will Green add more votes for the Norris with post season play?

Excited to see what the Caps have in store for us.  Poll is up.  Check it.

Vote!

We are coming up on the last leg of the season, and thought it would be fun to take a look at a previous JR post where we made our great, and horrible, predictions. 

Here is the link: http://japersrink.blogspot.com/2008/09/thursday-open-thread.html

Got a kick out of seeing mine.  Here they are with a few comments:

Semin will dangle, hop, fall, and score. his best season yet under the mentoring of Fedorov. ~35 goals.

yessss

Fedorov's name will be misspelled consistently all season as Federov. Not sure what to expect from him as no one knows what level of ice-time he will receive. He is still the man.

Laich will not show much improvement over his late season performance (which isn't all that bad, as he played his role well). ~19 goals.

has not disappointed.  crash the mother-f'in net.  Captain to be, i hope.

Backstrom will play with a confident low-key swagger this year, on whatever line he is placed, and put up at least 80pts. he will shoot more...i can feel it.

already at 74 pts.  will surpass 80pts!  added swagger?  why yes.

Kozlov will continue to madden anyone that watches him play on a consistent basis, and then gawk at the stats that show him to be a valuable resource.

his on ice play has now surpassed his stats.  i know he is VERY important to line #1.

Fleischman will still suck and will be pushed out by a hungrier player.

whoops...

Alzner will not win the Calder, since he is not flashy, but will be seen as a franchise player. ~30 points.

Alzer, say hello to my little friend, the Salary Cap.  Sorry buddy.

Fehr will become trade bait.

still a possibility for off season

Clark...~20 goals at most??

Verizon Ice will break you, my friend

Carolina will come back with a vengeance, and have us pegged as public enemy #1.

Tampa Bay...no idea. Lecavalier is a beast, though, and scares me every time he is on the ice with sneaky St. Louis.

Montrealwill have a disappointing season, barely making the playoffs.

ahahahahahahaha (although Habbies are my #2)

Rangers will be a force.

Rangers will be a force will continue to acquire half-hearted players and drown in their own lofty expectations  suck.  (fixed)

Ovie...do we really need to bother?

superman.

group hug time:

via www4.pictures.gi.zimbio.com

So, Mr. J.Staal has been awarded a 4yr/$16mil contract, per TSN, by the slumping Penguins (had to get that in there). 

How do you think this affects Backstrom's target salary and length, as he is the next big signing of our team's core?

I'm thinking it will be very close to Mike Green's terms...

- check out zee poll -

General cap figures for your reference:

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/cap-central/team.php?team=WAS

I stumbled upon this (surprising) stat while checking the Caps' leading scorers.  So, through 26 games, Ovi has accumulated 32 PIMs, second to only Brashear who has 45 PIMs.  His totals are less that our regular boneheads, i.e.  Jurcina, Erskine, Morrisonn.  Check it:

What really surprised me is when I compared Ovi's PIMs to last year:

Quite a difference, no?  Through 26 games of the 2008-09 campaign, Ovi is averaging ~1.23 PIMs/game, compared to ~0.488 in 2007-08, and is only 8 PIMs away from his entire total from last year.

I realize Ovi seems a tremendous amount of ice time and plays a very physical game, but does this trouble/surprise/baffle anyone?

If I didn't check the stats I would never have guessed this to be true.  Odd.

Ideas?  Thoughts?