Prospects & Tryouts watch the action on the ice at the Capitals 2011 Development Camp (Photo Credit: Alena Rani)

Rumor has it that NHL teams are planning to cancel Rookie Camps (and associated events) due to the pending CBA expiration in September (source Allan Walsh, of Octagon).  While the teams involved haven’t been named, it’s safe to say that even those who haven’t made the decision to cancel must be considering the option.

With no guaranteed timeframe for the resolution of negotiations, even if all sides seem to agree that a lockout is undesirable, it makes sense from a practical POV to hedge bets.  This is not the first such action by the league – remember that the exhibition games in Europe were cancelled back in March.

To be fair, both Development Camp and Rookie Camp are of more interest to those who follow the minor leagues.  Players invited for either event are unlikely to land a regular roster spot with the hosting NHL club, though often a few will see time as call-ups over the course of the season.  In Washington, it’s a great chance for local fans to see and get to know incoming players without needing to make the trek to Hershey or Charleston.

While they’re often lumped together, the two one-week events have some distinctive differences.  D-Camp features a younger and broader range of attendees – college kids, recent draft picks, and CHLers are the mainstay of the mid-summer festivities (called “conditioning camp” by some organizations).  The good news is that D-Camp is scheduled well in advance of any potential CBA-related drama, and its primary focus on non-contracted players (or those whose contracts have the ability to “slide”, such as CHL players for whom the first year of their contract doesn’t go into effect until they play their tenth NHL game).  As a result, it’s likely to remain on the books as previously planned.

Often, one or two players out of D-Camp will spend time with the Caps at some point in the year.  This past year, both Dmitry Orlov and Cody Eakin were summertime guests of the big club.  Mattias Sjogren was also in town, but he’s still in the dog house over that whole heading back to Sweden after 19 AHL games fiasco.

Rookie Camp is a smaller crowd, primarily because attendance makes players ineligible for NCAA competition.  CHL players, minor league veterans, and recent signees mean that the age range skews a bit higher.  Rookie Camp is where the declared professionals new to the organization – or hoping to land a contract with the larger organization – have a chance to impress the front office before the established roster players have their say.

But the basic question, for the fans, is why worry about rookie camp?  As long as the season pulls itself together before October, does any of this really matter?  The answer is yes – and not just for the minor league aficionados like me.

Rookie Camp is an important learning opportunity for players who are one and two years away from joining the big club – in Washington, or elsewhere.  This spring, a half-dozen college signees got an invaluable glimpse at the professional game while Hershey was running on roster fumes, but that situation was the exception instead of the norm.  Rookie camp serves the same purpose, but in a controlled environment that allows both players and coaches to get a feel for each other.  It’s a stepping stone, and even with big names like Evgeny Kuznetsov opting out there are still strong players who would likely be on next fall’s roster – Stanislav Galiev being the biggest name at the moment, with his Saint John Sea Dogs currently vying for the CHL’s Memorial Cup, but the 11th overall pick in this year’s draft would surely make the list as well.

There are still four months until the Capitals traditionally host their Rookie Camp, and there’s a chance that the CBA negotiations could conclude in time to allow at least some of the regular festivities.  If not, expect next year’s call-ups to be a bit less familiar and a bit more hesitant in whatever systems the new Caps coach puts into place.

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If you put yourself in his shoes, you can see why the transition from coaching in the Ontario Hockey League to coaching in the NHL would be difficult: In the junior leagues, you are coaching malleable teenagers, eager to do anything Coach says to have a shot at making the NHL.  In the NHL, you are coaching grown men set in their ways, who may be less than enthusiastic when, for example, a new coach comes in and tells a offense-only superstar that he has to learn to backcheck if he wants to play a lot of minutes. I think it’s time to put the past behind us, thank Hunter for his services, and look towards next season and beyond. There aren’t a huge number of veteran coaches available, but there is one great coach who is currently unemployed: Ron Wilson.

Wilson has 1401 games under his belt, with a 648-561-101-91 career record. He ranks 4th for most games coached and 6th for most career wins; he is also the only man who has coached the Caps to a Stanley Cup final, as he did in 1998 during his debut season in Washington. As a coach, I would consider him to be on a level with Pat Quinn and Mike Keenan.  He may not have won a Cup yet, but he certainly has the proven track record and the experience to get us over the hump.

Many people will undoubtedly look at Wilson’s more recent work as the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs and say that he is a coaching has-been, but such an assessment would be unfounded and unfair. Scotty Bowman himself could not have coached the teams the Leafs have iced in the past five years to anything other than mediocrity. They say that if you have “the goalie,” it’s 75 percent of your team, but if you don’t, it’s 100 percent; Wilson never had anything close to passable goaltending in Toronto, which is why the Leafs sucked and general manager Brian Burke was left with no choice but to fire him before this past season even ended. In DC, on the other hand, we do have “the goalie,” and his name is Braden Holtby.

Wilson was criticized this past season for “ruining” Dion Phaneuf with his conservative, “keep it simple, stupid” coaching style, but I think his style will serve us well. His style is sort of a happy medium between the “run and gun” Bruce Boudreau style and the “best offense is good defense” Hunter style. Wilson will be willing to give Ovechkin big minutes, but will also ensure that the team is responsible in their own end. He places a premium on speed, and I think he will be able to get more out of younger players like Marcus Johansson.

The last time that Wilson coached in Washington, he had a .540 coaching record, and the team made the playoffs 3 out of 5 seasons. He was fired following the 2001-2002 season, in which the Caps missed the postseason by just 2 points. Under his tenure, the Caps averaged 17.724% on the power play, 85.232% on the penalty kill, 221.4 goals for, and 213 goals against; all of those stats (except for goals for) are better than the stats for the 2011-2012 Caps. Overall, the current incarnation of  the Caps roster is stronger than the roster was when Wilson last coached here, because we have more depth at forward and a great young defensive pairing in John Carlson and Karl Alzner. If Wilson was given the opportunity to coach them now, I think the Caps would win the Southeast Division in a walk, and definitely finish near the top of the Eastern Conference.

The Capitals have all the pieces to be a legitimate Cup contender. The only thing missing is the glue to put those pieces together, and I believe that glue is Ron Wilson.

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Photo Credit- Capitals Outsider

Shortly after Dale Hunter announced his decision not to return as head coach of the Washington Capitals, Yahoo’s Trending Now box showed one of its ten topics as “Dale Hunter fired.” I’m not entirely sure how that box is filled out. Is it what people are searching for, word-for-word? Is an editor filling it out based on analysis of searches? It doesn’t matter. Folks who saw it may have wrongly believed that Dale Hunter was fired.

Certainly, a bit of research would have yielded the correct result, but who has time to look up more information when a headline says it all?

On his blog, team owner Ted Leonsis has been vocal about misleading information being published on the web, because it then becomes ingrained in search engines and may fool people. To put it in perspective how serious Mr. Leonsis is about this, he criticized an April Fools joke about the Wizards, and last summer he criticized an article about the pros and cons of the Capitals pursuing Jaromir Jagr (though the article at no point said that the Caps were interested in Jagr).

But there is more to this ‘Dale Hunter Fired’ nonsense, and that is the actual search results of those words. I found a couple of sites, one with the title, “Dale Hunter: Fired, Or Resigned From Washington Capitals? Rumors circulate around the web about the hockey coach.”

The article not only wrongly says that George McPhee is the owner of the Capitals, but uses Twitter to show the “rumors” about Hunter being fired. Twitter. We’ve all seen that anyone can write anything on Twitter, no matter how incorrect it may be, so there’s absolutely no credibility in using random Tweeters to show that “rumors” are circulating around the web. These people more likely misunderstood what happened with Hunter or foolishly read Yahoo’s Trending Now box. This is the same software that gave people a platform to talk about the death of singer Lil’ Kim when it was actually North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Il.

Here’s another: Dale Hunter Fired? Washington Capitals’ Head Coach Steps Down After Playoff Exit. But this one doesn’t even offer foolish Tweets as proof, and instead says, “While some fans questioned if Hunter, 51, was fired from the team…” Which fans questioned whether he was fired?

And lastly, from a site called Today News Gazette (News, Information, Insight): Dale Hunter Fired: Capitals Coach. Not only is the headline inaccurate, it doesn’t even make sense! Peerless weighed in:

@CapsOutsider I think there was missing copy; should have said, “Dale Hunter fired up to return to London (looks forward to seeing Big Ben)

— ThePeerless (@ThePeerless) May 15, 2012

Later on Monday, Yahoo’s Trending Now box changed to “Dale Hunter quits.” Thanks for clearing that up, Yahoo.

The Internet is a big place, easy to update and un-policed, so this sort of thing is bound to happen. While smart people know better than to trust certain sources, or know to do further research, wrong information and baseless claims will only continue to create confusion in this information-consuming society.

Bad Bloggers: Dale Hunter WAS NOT Fired - Capitals Outsider - Capitals Outsider - A Washington Capitals blog

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Today during the final media availability of the season, the Washington Capitals announced that head coach Dale Hunter will not return next season. The reason that was given were “family reasons”- which really meant that Hunter wanted to return to the London Knights; the Ontario Hockey League team he co-owns with his brother Mark, with the possibility of returning behind their bench for the 2012-2013 season. The news comes as not a surprise, given that he only signed a contract to be the coach for the remainder of this season after the team fired Bruce Boudreau.

At first glance, it seemed like hiring Hunter was a bad decision. Not all of the players were buying into the system and the team was not getting any better. Granted, trying to implement a new system in the middle of the season is no easy task, but Hunter forced the players to believe in him and to believe in what he was doing. There were a lot of bumps along the way, but the real evidence of his work came during the playoffs. The Caps became a solid defensive team by being able to block shots and aggressively backcheck. The Caps were able to knock off the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins and came within one game of knocking off the number one seed New York Rangers. Hunter brought the best out of his players and also helped guys like Jay Beagle and Matt Hendricks find their niche on the team. And hey, anyone to gets Alex Semin to play some sort of defense should get a thumbs up as well! The lessons he instilled in the players hopefully remain in place next season and the hope is to build on top of it.

So, from everyone in Caps Nation, we wish Dale the best of luck in London with the Knights and thanks for everything you’ve done in your short tenure as coach of the Washington Captials.

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Photo by Alena Schwarz

From his initial signing for a measly $1.5 million contract this past summer, it’s been pretty clear that Tomas Vokoun wouldn’t be playing for the Washington Capitals beyond this season. While he made the majority of the team’s starts, injuries cut his year short, forcing him to miss the Captials’ run to the second round of the playoffs.

Out of his 46 starts, 48 appearances, he posted a 25-17-2 record with four shutouts, including one against his former team, the Florida Panthers. He was second on the Caps behind Braden Holtby with .917% save percentage and a 2.51 GAA. He was the starting goalie while the team transitioned between the two coaching regimes and played solidly while the Caps adjusted to the changes in the system. Here are some of his notable moments in a Caps sweater:

Let’s also not forget his contributions to raising awareness about violence in video games:

Though he was only here for a season, Vokoun’s tenure shouldn’t be considered a failure. Coming out of Florida, he was a solid goaltender and asked for far less money than he could’ve earned elsewhere. Did the Caps really need him, particularly with Holtby in the system? Likely not, but that’s not Vokoun’s fault. He believed in the Capitals and few should point the finger at his play for the problems during the year. While Vokoun’s name and number won’t be hanging from the rafters of Verizon Center, Caps fans will at least still have this on their mantle through the summer:

Or, do what this reader did.

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George McPhee was hired as General Manager of the Washington Capitals in June 1997. That will be fifteen years ago this coming June. That’s also the last time the Capitals made it beyond the seventh game of the second round.  It’s hard to appreciate how long fifteen years is until you see that the kids of guys from that team are now playing hockey as adults. David Bondra just committed to Michigan State. He’ll play there with Brock Krygier. Jarred Tinordi will play for the Memorial Cup with London.

McPhee has presided over a complete teardown of one group of players, and the subsequent rebuild. And now there’s going to be a rebuild of the rebuild, so to speak, because next year’s Capitals are going to look pretty different from this year’s brand. Some poor sucker is going to throw James Wisniewski money at Dennis Wideman. The KHL has just announced that returning Russian players from the NHL will not count against the salary cap, so that could mean Alex Semin is gone. Mike Knuble has probably played his last game in the NHL, as has Jeff Halpern, and more than likely Tomas Vokoun has as well, depending on the severity of his groin injury. Dale Hunter could very well decide to go back to London, so they might even have to hire a new coach.

Please note: I am not “demanding” McPhee be fired. It’s not my place or my job to write that kind of column. But one of the things I saw constantly stressed by fans in the end of the Bruce Boudreau era was the perceived lack of accountability for mistakes and errors perpetrated by the coaching staff. Where then, is the same accountability in the front office? And “accountability” doesn’t even necessarily mean “someone has to be fired.” What is this organization going to do in the next few years to push this group over the top? Is it even close to competing for Stanley Cups? There’s still no second line center (and it doesn’t look like there’s a good crop of free agents on the horizon), there’s probably going to be a pretty significant hole to be filled at wing on the second line, and Wideman’s minutes have to be replaced. And hell, there’s not even an affiliate agreement for next year in Hershey yet.

So by default, this almost has to be the most important summer of GMGM’s tenure.

Does time mean anything at all if nothing ever changes?

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This sink is likely similar to hundreds of others across the DC metropolitan area today. For both fans and players alike, shaving the playoff beard is one of the saddest moments of a hockey season. We can only hope that next year we’ll have twice as much hair in our sink when we put down the clippers.

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Credit: Geoff Burke-US Presswire

Last night, I drove home from a sports bar in Clarendon, feeling a mixture of confusion and disappointment (“How could that power play have been so awful?”). When an obnoxious song began playing, I turned my dial to another radio station, and  Gloria Gaynor’s 1978 classic “I Will Survive” came on. I rolled down my windows and cruised down Wilson Boulevard, singing along and offering a smile and thumbs up to the many Caps fans I passed. How could I be happy after that horrible loss, you may ask? Well, I found the Caps’ post-season play to be revelatory, and I think they finally found their identity: a great attack balanced with fearless defense and fantastic goaltending. You guys came within a single goal of reaching the Eastern Conference Finals, and for that, 2011-2012 Washington Capitals, I thank you.

We Will Survive: A Tribute to the 2011-2012 Caps - Capitals Outsider - Capitals Outsider - A Washington Capitals blog

Credit: US Presswire

Once again, the Capitals failed to advance beyond the second round of the playoffs, a feat they haven’t accomplished since 1998. After Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Rangers, the Capitals have nobody to blame but themselves for another early playoff exit, something that was evident after a heartbreaking loss in Games 5. Washington came out lackadaisical in Game 7, and the Rangers looked like they wanted it more. The score may have been 2-1 but it was evident that the Rangers were the better team, something that wasn’t necessarily obvious after the triple overtime (a game the Caps lost by an inch), and a pointless high-sticking penalty that led to a Game 5 meltdown.

At some point, the early playoffs exits need to be addressed by the front office. Guys who make millions a year have high expectations, but they didn’t deliver when it counted most. Just as the players and the personnel in the organization are starting to get restless watching the team get knocked out before the dream of winning the Stanley Cup is being realized, fans are getting restless as well. Throughout the course of this postseason we have learned that there are guys on the team who have the ability to step up and take considerable roles when called upon. When next season comes around, guys like Jay Beagle, Matt Hendricks, and Braden Holtby will be given a lot more responsibility because they’ve proven themselves capable.

However, we must give some credit Dale Hunter who helped draw up a system to let these role players succeed. He came in under unfavorable conditions and was badmouthed by fans, bloggers (myself included), and even members of the mainstream media. The world was waiting to see what “Hunter Hockey” was all about and once the playoffs started people tuned in to watch a solid defensive effort. It will be interesting to see if he returns next season. The players have finally bought into his system and it may prove to be disastrous if another coach comes in, which will force the players to learn yet another system.

While next season hangs in the balance due to an impending battle in regards to the collective bargaining agreement, the Capitals will be honing their skills to be better than they were this year. While fans are still reeling from the elimination, it’s important to never give up hope. A new season brings on new hopes and aspirations for everyone involved. Keep the faith fans, because without you there is no chance at all, and when the Caps bring home the Stanley Cup next year, all of the pain, suffering, and heartbreak you have endured will be well worth it.

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The REAL Alex Semin (Photo by Alena Schwarz)

Today’s a big day, so to lighten the mood, I thought I would share my recent interview with @alexsemin.

For those who are just joining us, in one of my creepier moments I asked @alexsemin to go out with me if he scored a goal in game 3 or 4 of the Caps-Rangers series. We tweeted using the hashtag #mydatewithsemin. Ultimately, Semin didn’t score, but I still got an interview.

Q: So, I’d like to start with the elephants in the room – and there are a few. I can’t help noticing that neither of you is Alex Semin.

A: We get that all the time.

Q: Also, there are two of you, which makes me kind of wonder who I’ve been flirting with on the internet for a week. It also makes me glad the whole date thing didn’t work out. This could have gotten weird. More weird.

A: You know how there’s a Good Sasha and a Bad Sasha?  And both are somehow mercurial?  We’re a Jewish Sasha and an Asian Sasha, and both handsome.

Q: Well, it’s relatively nice to meet both of you. So what are you doing managing a parody account for Alex Semin? Why Sasha, and how did you get started?

A: We’re both longtime Caps fans, and we’re fascinated with Sasha because he’s an amazing player but lacks the swagger most need to get idiots like Mike Milbury to like them. And more than even most Russian players, he’s blindly labeled an “enigma.” But go read some of his interviews (see the recent one on RMNB for a case in point). He’s extremely smart and thoughtful, but he’s not a blustering personality like Ovi, and he doesn’t go on Lavar’s radio show to give sound bytes like Brooks Laich. Sasha’s a shy dude — a stranger in a strange land. And we thought he needed a voice. So we gave him one.

Q: @alexsemin has come a long way. What’s different now, as opposed to when you started? And what’s next?

A: When @alexsemin started tweeting, he struggled with English — an easy joke. Another easy one: since he’s kind of an introvert, we made him an overexcited guy who used a lot of exclamation points. Now we use him to give voice to many of our own feelings and to provide some solidarity and confidence to his many followers, and his subject matter is much broader than it used to be. He’s still the #filthiest sniper in the league, but he has his eye on everything, in hockey, current events, and pop culture. We and our followers like to pretend that Sasha’s one of us and knows what we’re going through as fans of this damn team. Actually, we’re sure he does. It works for Sasha because unlike for the other Caps, no one knows what he’s thinking, so we get to fill it in. What’s next? Probably Detroit or the KHL.

Q: You have over 13,000 followers. Aside from the moment a stranger asked you out over Twitter, which I realize must have been a thrill, how did you know when you had made it? Did you pick up a particular follower, or have a particularly successful Twitter campaign that made you realize how popular @alexsemin had become?

A: Our first big break was getting mentioned in one of Greg Wyshynski’s Puck Daddy articles. Our last big bump was when a bunch of news outlets quoted our tweet expressing outrage at racism toward Joel Ward, attributing it to Sasha himself. This was amazing because anyone who knows anything about Sasha knows that Sasha doesn’t issue statements even in Russian, let alone English. Recently, we almost fainted when Alan May retweeted us for #AlanMayDay, an idea we’re proud to say we came up with, and were happy to promote. So many Caps took part and toasted and roasted Alan on his special, Sasha-decreed day. For a while this season, we were giving it to Ovi for his lackluster defensive play, and #OccupyOvi sparked some fun tweets. When former teammate Matt Bradley claimed Sasha didn’t care, we set the record straight with #SashaCares. And with #TigerSemin, we followed up crudely on the Charlie Sheen phenomenon, and fans ran with it. Some fans even created a #TigerSemin T-shirt! Our next big goal is to get retweeted by @RGIII. Oh, and to win a Stanley Cup.

Q: I laugh out loud at your tweets at least once a day. Your #writeinsemin campaign included some of my favorites, but your guest tweets are also pretty great. Do you guys have a favorite @alexseminism? What about an all-time favorite tweet, or one that was especially popular among your followers?

A: Why would you make us choose among our babies like that? Every one is our favorite. So we’ll turn that one around – if you have a favorite, tweet us about it @alexsemin.

Q: In my mind, you’re one of the best examples of how the fan experience can be enhanced by social media. What difference do you think social media has made, to the Caps community and to sports fans in general?

A: Like any fans, Caps fans are a varied group, and they have a decent geographical spread. There’s @CapsAcrossPond, for example, in England, and Asian Sasha lives in California, while Jewish Sasha lives in Massachusetts, and obviously, many of the fans we’ve connected with are in D.C. We’ve gotten to interact with many of them, online and in person. Community makes the heartbreak a little easier to handle.

Q: I have a question for Sasha. You had a number of great shifts, and even a couple scoring opportunities, during the two games we ran #mydatewithsemin. I really thought it was going to happen for awhile there. So did my mom. So did my boss. No, really. And folks had a lot of ideas of what we would do on our date. What would a date with you actually have consisted of?

A: We talked with Sasha about this. He says his ideal date is an academic talk followed by a reception, then a poetry reading, then a Smiths concert (Morrissey and Marr would set aside their differences for one night if they knew one of their biggest fans would be in attendance), a political rally, a baseball card show, and finally, some pull-your-own frozen yogurt before retiring to watch Alexander Mogilny highlights with a nightcap of Pavel Bure’s Top 10 Goals while giggling over Patrick Kane’s latest indiscretions via Deadspin. But no kissing on the first date.

Q: Clearly. I think the question on everyone’s mind is what you guys plan to do if he doesn’t re-sign with the Caps. Do you have a game plan in case of that unfortunate eventuality?

A: We get scared every year, but Sasha is the longest-serving Capital, and so we prefer not to think about these things. But in the event that the unthinkable happens, is Kuznetsov on Twitter? He’s so enigmatic that he makes Sasha look as crystal clear as a Siberian mountain lake.

Q: This is my last question. I want to thank you guys for being such good sports (worst pun ever not intended) – it’s been exciting getting to know one (two?) of the more colorful personalities in the Caps community. Now, not that I’m the woman to do it, and not that I’m encouraging anyone to take on what you’ve done so beautifully, but who else on the team now do you think would make for a good parody Twitter account? What would it look like?

A: We’re lucky to have Sasha, because he’s an empty vessel. For others, we’d have to be more formulaic. Brooks Laich would run a AAA tow truck and tweet about it. Mike Knuble would tweet out Bingo numbers for his buds at the nursing home. Every tweet would be something like, “G37… BINGO!” Bingo ain’t #filthy. Sasha is.

Oh, and we love Alexander Semin.

@alexsemin Talks Ideal Dates, Alan May and #SashaCares - Capitals Outsider - Capitals Outsider - A Washington Capitals blog