Alex Semin: Misty Watercolored Memories

All stats and facts aside, Sasha is best remembered as eye candy, goofy antics and awkward faces. Thank goodness I have a huge stockpile of pics to remember him by.
Misty watercolored memories:

Sneaky Sasha

This face...oh, this face

Who's Your Daddy?

Epotime of Eye Candy

Annual Valentines Card just wouldn't be the same without Sasha

Sasha was always good for "Awkard Practice Pics"

Will I Ever Get the Soul Searching Look from Sasha Again???

Sneaky Sasha: Semin vs Backstrom - A Different Kind of Battle

Although "tragedy" struck at Caps practice today, there were also lots of smiles, shoulder punches, goofy guys and practice battles on the ice. Here's one that caught my attention:

The rest of the pictures from practice are here. And no, I didn't catch a picture of Ovi and Knuble's ka-boom, got there a few minutes late and didn't have my camera in my hands yet.

You Gotta Have Heart

Recently, I have seen tweets that accuse Alex Semin of being lazy and selfish. I have also seen tweets that call Mike Green a wuss for not playing with his injury. Geesh, I even saw one that said Alex Ovechkin is statistically on pace for only 41 goals and 82 points this season, "what a bum". (Yes, I recognize sarcasm.) And then there are the tweets that Vokoun lost the game for "us". Seen them all. There are a lot of stats floating around that could back some of these things up, but one thing stats do not convey is the heart and soul of a player and a team when times are tough.

I know every fan of a team is disappointed when they lose. I feel your pain. But let's get real here, folks. Pro athletes are human. Shit happens. I will admit, like so many others, I joke when Semin causes a penalty. Do I think he does it on purpose? Not usually. Do I think he is selfish or lazy. Nope. Do I think Mike Green is a wuss for not playing injured. No way. Yes, I get frustrated when I see Ovechkin standing on the ice waiting for a pass and I'll yell "Move Ovi, get in there". Do I know why he's doing this at this particular time? Not a clue. And nobody else except Ovi does either. (Well, maybe the other players on the ice do too - I hope).

Lest we forget, hockey players have a lot demanded of them, not only in the aspect of the game itself, but outside forces brought on by fan expectations and physical limitations. Football players get at least 5 days between games, sometimes 12-14 days if they have a by week. Even baseball pitchers are on a 5 game rotation. Their league recognizes the need for them to rest between outings to stay healthy. Hockey often requires back to back games, with travel in between; very constant physical activity while playing and many situations of possibly extreme exertion.

So, all statistics aside, let's examine the human factor. The heart. How can anyone know for sure if a player's heart is in the game? You can look at so many examples and draw conclusions, but would you be right? Does anyone really know what goes on in a player's head at any given moment?

Remember back when Ovi got a two game suspension in December of 2009? He was quoted to say afterwards that he would not let the suspension effect the way he plays. But when he returned, I thought the opposite. Watching him play, he seemed to be more cautious when it came to hitting players. All sports psychology aside, he seemed to take the suspension and criticism to heart and; to me; he adjusted his playing style accordingly. The key word in that thought was "heart". This man is one of the "Faces of the Franchise". Don't think that affects him? You gotta believe he would be the last person who would want to be known as a dirty player and human instinct is going to kick in.

So, what do you think Alex Semin is thinking when he sits in the penalty box for a stupid mistake? Well, what would you think if it were you? Of course, you'd be muttering "shit, shit, shit" (or whatever the Russian equivalent is), who wouldn't? Thinking that all of Semin's penalties are because he is lazy or selfish only shows that you have left out the human factor of "heart". What you "see" can be diametrically opposed to what you actually "know". Just watch his face break out into a beaming grin after he scores or assists on a goal, and you know his heart is in it. Maybe his lack of interaction with the media in the past has given people the impression that he is aloof and uncaring. If so, I'm glad he's finally breaking that boundary and beginning to speak up. It might help fans see his human side. It could go a long way to correcting some bad impressions people have of him.

And what about Mike Green being a wuss for not playing while injured? When your personal stats rely on games played, shots blocked, protecting your goalie and the net, goals scored and minutes on the ice; sitting out due to injury only makes your numbers look worse. But what does that do to a player's heart? Do you seriously believe Green enjoys sitting out games? Of course he wants to be out there. But do you; or your team for that matter; jeopardize a player's health or a team's win by letting an injured player actually play? Maybe in the playoffs, but not now. Hopefully, once he gets back into a game, his heart will be more into it than before because, not only is it his job, it's who he is, it defines him.


How about people calling Vokoun out for letting in goals and losing the game for "us"? Think back to his reaction to his first loss as a Capital. The guy was truly regretful about letting the game get to that point, he spoke from the heart. Would you want to be thought of as the reason your team lost the game? Seriously? Vokoun's heart as a player was fully evidenced after that game. Why would it suddenly change? It's going to take time for him to get used to playing with a team he is still learning about. Yes, we all hope he's got it figured out by now, but if you got a new job, how long do you think it would take for you to figure out all the nuances of your co-workers? Shit is gonna spring up to throw you for a loop long after your first day on the job. Still doesn't mean your heart isn't into it, just that shit happens. You learn from your mistakes and move on.


As you can tell, this post is a total opinion piece. Am I going to stop yelling at Ovi on my TV? Nope. Am I going to stop cussing at Schultz for "letting a goal get by"? Nope. Do I expect them to give 100%? You betcha. I'm just speaking from the heart, hopefully getting to the heart of the matter, and now I'm going to go play "Heart and Soul" on the piano.

Oh Hai Boyz!

First chance I've had to hit up Kettler and check in on the boys at training camp. More on Flickr:

1st Semin-ester Report Card

Oh Sasha, you constantly surprise me. It’s as if you are making sure you will get the best contract offer possible. On second thought, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised after all.

 

We all know that the Capitals have to wait until January to begin negotiations with Alex Semin. At the beginning of the season, Semin signed a one year $6M contract, so he will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2010-2011 season. On a side note, other players that will also be unrestricted free agents at the end of the 2010-2011 season are Mike Knuble, Tomas Fleischmann, Brooks Laich, Matt Bradley, Boyd Gordon, Matt Hendricks, and John Erskine. If you’ve been counting, that’s 8 players on our current roster that could potentially not be Washington Capitals next season. Please note, I said COULD. Oh, and one last player who we will not have to worry about anymore- Michael Nylander will finally, finally, finally be an unrestricted free agent in July of 2011. Sorry Circles, your time is up.

Obviously, Alexander Semin is HOT, HOT, HOT right now. This bodes extremely well for a chance at being offered a lucrative contract from the Caps in January. That is if Semin wants to stay on the team and the Caps have the cap space. The formerly fairly inconsistent Semin has tallied 3 hat tricks, with 17 goals and 12 assists in 24 games. Pretty awesome stats. However, for penalty minutes for offensive players, Sasha is second only to Matt Hendricks, with 22 minutes in the sin bin. But, with 85 shots on goal and a +8 rating, it looks like (so far), Alex could write his own ticket if he keeps this up. It’s all up to him. In a little over 30 days, our tweet stream and the blogosphere will be filled with contract negotiation rumors and reports. What do you think will happen?

Regarding the 7 other players who will be UFA at the end of this season; I think we won’t have any clear indications until maybe even July when it comes to re-signing any of them except Brooks* and Brads*. I’d wager they get decent offers that they will accept. I know there are going to be readers who will vehemently disagree with me on a few of these, but I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Knoobs*, Flash*, and Gordo* don’t get the nod. I may be alone in this, but with Boudreau constantly changing which line Knoobs plays on this season, I think his time may be coming to an end. As for Gordo, as much as I like him, I’m going to say his health issues will be a stumbling block when contract time comes up, I hope I’m wrong. And Flash…well, I think it’s just time*. The only other players I have any re-signing expectations for are Matt Hendricks* and John Erskine*.

Having played for Gabby before, and seemingly fitting very well into the Caps system, I could see another Washington Capitals contract for Hendy by July 1. I really appreciate how he stands up for his teammates and shows team spirit. I’ll admit it; I like him and hope he gets to stay a little longer, no matter how many penalty minutes he racks up.

As for Erskine, frankly I don’t know why I think he might get another contract*. Something about how he plays a type of enforcer role for us, and you gotta admit, he throws a pretty good punch when needed. Call it gut instinct, if you will, but I get the feeling that Bruce just likes the guy, no matter how frustrating he can be at times to us fans.

There are a couple players who will be restricted free agents at the end of the season: Karl Alzner and Semyon Varlamov*. Don’t think we’ll have any worries about those two.

Finally, with the December 1 deadline fast approaching, of all the players we let go from last year; it looks like only Scott Walker may be the only former Caps player without a contract for the 2010-2011 season. Other than stating that fact, I got nothing else to say on that except I’m glad everyone else found a place to play.

I know I’m really jumping the gun on all of these predictions, but for now, let’s just call them my woman’s intuition. At the risk of looking totally stupid, I just wanted to get these out there now. Come July, I’ll revisit this post and see how right or wrong I was. And you can totally rib me if I am way off base, but if I’m right, I’m reserving gloating privileges.

*Editors Note: 11/30/2010 Caps trade Tomas Fleischmann for Colorado Avalanche defenseman Scott Hannan.  I'm gonna call this is a win in my prediction column.
12/17/2010 Boom! Caps sign Erksine to a 2 year extension. That's 2 correct so far!
1/27/2011 Caps sign Semin to a 1 year (reported 6.7 million ) extension. That counts for 3 right, doesn't it?
2/23/2011 Caps sign Matt Hendricks to a 2 year extension. That's 4 correct, damn, I did pretty good so far, eh?
4/11/2011 Caps sign Mike Knuble to a 1 year extension. Happy to be wrong about this prediction!
6/28/2011 Caps sign Brooks Laich to a 6 year contract. Cougar Bait re-signing makes 5 correct in the prediction column.
7/1/2011 Gordon signs with Phoenix, Varly traded to Colorado for a 1st & 2nd round draft pic. 1 right and 1 wrong
7/2/2011 Bradley signs with the Florida Panthers. Another one wrong. But only 3 wrong ain't that bad, right? Only player left from this post is Alzner. Fingers crossed!

What’s in a Name?

So, another hockey season is upon us. In anticipation of lots of tweeting about our guys, I felt it was time for an updated primer on who we all refer to when we use our own special nicknames for players on Twitter. I’d also like to thank The Hockey Chronicles and Japers’ Rink, who also posted similar lists in the past which contributed to my “research”. (Yes, I actually did research for this post…kinda-sorta). Think of this as a PSA for new Tweeps and Caps fans, cuz you need to know who we're talking about when you read our snark!

So without further ado and in alphabetical order, so no one thinks I’m playing favorites (kinda convenient that Ovi comes first alphabetically, isn’t it?), here we go:

Da Playas:

Alex Ovechkin: AO8, Ovi (Note: NOT Ovie –get it right, people!), Russian Machine, The Great 8, Alexander the Great

Alex Semin: Sasha, ummm and another one I don’t quite understand ;), Sam (Added by RussianMachine)

Brian Willsie: I don't remember any nicknames for Willsie, somebody remind me!

Boyd Gordon: Gordo, Gordicris, G-Unit (Added by WashCapsRock), Muffin (added by tons of people!)

Brooks Laich: BL21, Brooksie, Cougar Bait, HHBL21, AAA of the NHL, Ironman (Added by CamaroWRX)

David Steckel: Stecks

DJ King: King Kong, (are there any others we should know?)

Eric Fehr: Fehrsie, F-16/Falcon (Added by The PaulW), Uno Seis (Added because ngreenberg apparently uses it, not that I would know)

Jason Chimera: Chimmers, Chewie (Added by PKLords76), Chimmy (Added by YoCalleJ, RinkRebel, Scandalizi)

Jeff Schultz: Mr Nasty, Double Nickel, Schultzy, Sarge

John Carlson: J-Car, Real American Hero (RAHJC74), Captain America

Karl Alzner: King Karl, Alz (Added by RinkRebel), The Lumber Jack (Added by Green52fan)

Marcus Johansson: MoJo, JoJo

Matt Bradley: MB10, Brads, The Proffessor (misspelling is intentional)

Michal Neuvirth: Neuvi/Neuvy

Mike Green: MG52, Greenie, Greener, Game Over, Lamborgreenie

Mike Knuble: Knoobs, Grandpa Slippers, Papa or Pops Knoob (Added by AmazinglyMorgan & RinkRebel)

Nicklas Backstrom: NB19, Backy, Nicky-Lars, Super Swede, Backis (Added by YoCalleJo)

Semyon Varlamov: Varly, The Iron Curtain, Click on Me (Added by dorcaskd)

Tomas Fleischmann: Flash

Tyler Sloan: Sloaner, TyTy


Da Front Office:

Brett Leonhardt: Stretch

Bruce Boudreau: Gabby, BB

George McPhee: GMGM

Ted Leonsis: Uncle Ted

Mike Vogel: Vogs (Added by WashCapsRock)


Da Bears and Prospies:

Andrew Gordon: Gordo (not to be confused with Boyd Gordon-[“no relation”-Joe B.]!)

Anton Gustafsson: Baby Gus, AnGus (Added by maamfo)

Braden Holtby: Hot Stuff (Added for WashCapsRock), Holts (Added by maamfo)

Cody Eakin: Squeaks

Francois Bouchard: Bouch (Added by OSquirt26)

Grant McNeill: G-Mac (Added by YoCalleJo)

Jay Beagle: Beags

Joe Finley: Big Joe, Lawnmower Joe

Keith Aucoin: Coiner

Mathieu Perreault: Matty P, Perry, Pocket Ovi

Patrick McNeill: P-Mac, Patty Mac

Steve Pinizzotto: Pinner (Added by OSquirt26)

Trevor Bruess: Bruiser (Added by maamfo)

Zach Miskovic: Misky

Ok, I know I forgot some, so remind me in the comments, kthxbai!