Alexander Ovechkin

[Fatty P For The Pulitzer]

So uh... from watching Sportscenter who else is on the team besides Ovechkin, Halpern and Kolzig? It seems like the Caps will have an awesome first line, and then blah behind that.

Their 2nd line shouldn't be too bad. Friesen and Sykora (former Czech league star) should get their share of goals, and Cassels at C is a good setup man.

Is Nikolishin still on the team? Does Craig Laghlin still announce games on formerly HTS?

No, Niko was traded to Chicago, and then on to Colorado where I think he still is, 2 seasons before the lockout. He was traded along with Chris Simon because I think they were having contract issues with one or both of them, and I can't remember what we got back. And yes, Laughlin is still the color man. Him and Joe B are as good as it gets in hockey play-by-play, imo. Better than anything ESPN had, though I did like Thorne and Clement/Pang a lot.

[BayouBrave86]

Ovechkin-plain and simple, will be the best rookie this year. As for the long haul, maybe Sidney will turn out to be better than Alexander, but not by much. Ovechkin is going to be one of the top 5 players in the league in about 4-5 years. He has it all, speed, skill, grit, willingness to play both ends of the ice (which is rare for a goal scoring forward), and not to mention, the goal scoring touch of a Greek God.

Halpern-did anyone see this man's assists last night? Wow. His vision and hockey sense seemed to have improved a good amount over the lockout. He might be dynamite this year with Zubrus and Ovechkin. The team has moved him over to the right wing position and have given the C duties to Zubrus in hopes of him finally finding his niche within the NHL.

Zubrus- has a ton of potential but has yet to fully harness it even though he has been in the league for quite a while now, he is still quite young and who is to say he won't harness the brilliance he shows flashes of here and there. I can defiantely see Zubrus being a 20-25 goal man though with 40-45 assists if he puts it together. Not that impressive for a first line center, but it would be a great start at a position that is not his natural one.

Friesen-Cassels-Sykora

Friesen-great pick-up for the young team, will definately show some of the youngins the ropes and tricks of the trade. With increased ice time this year, 25-30 goals is not out of the question for him. I figure that, depending on how bad or mediocre we are at the deadline, Friesen will be shipped out to a contender. I see us keeping him though if we are more along the lines of being a somewhat formidable NHL team.

Cassels-getting up there in age and has been passed around the NHL like Robert Horry has been passed around the NBA. Cassels has the playmaking skills and won't net you more than 15-20 goals this season due to his age and slowly diminishing skills, but will definately put up 35-45 assists (think a poor man's Adam Oates), which will do this team just fine for the short term.

Sykora-no, not that Petr Sykora who has already established himself in the NHL as a pretty nifty goal-scorer, but the Petr Sykora from overseas. Has a booming slap shot that hopefully will net some goals for the Caps this year. Had a fantastic year overseas last year in what was a pretty competitive league. I can see him netting 20-25 goals with the Caps this year at best, and returning next year to score 30+ after getting acclimated to the NHL. At worst, Sykora flops here, is on a one year contract, and isn't re-signed.

Boyd Gordon-super PK specialist so far, as proven last night, will probably develop into a solid 2nd line winger or a great 3rd liner checking wing, who knows, in the long run he might turn out to be better than Sutherby

Brian Sutherby-same as above, great on the PK, so far..as it is only one NHL game, Sutherby is looking more and more like the player McPhee hoped he had drafted a few years back, a gritty and defensive center who can score the occasional goals. Well, the first two hopes have been fufilled so far it seems, as for the goal scoring..maybe it will come later on down the road, the kid is still young. I personally think he could turn out to be a Michael Peca type player, which would be awesome for this club.

Alexander Semin-unbelievably pissed off at this kid for being such a little douchebag for not coming over to play this season for the Caps. He cites the problem being the Russian Government making him serve for the Russian Army which is pretty bogus. You and I have a better chance of serving for the Russian Army than this kid. Unbelievable talent, if paired with a gifted center, could become a 40-50 goal scorer in the new open NHL in a few years. Definately needs to bulk up quite a bit so he isn't pushed all over the ice, but with this recent occurence with him refusing to come over to North America, I don't know if we will ever see him in a Caps uniform again, which is a damn shame. Him and Ovechkin anchoring our top 2 lines LW positions would be huge in a few years.

Eric Fehr-straight up, once this kid gets some more weight added on to his frame, he is going to be one nasty mother of a power forward in this league. I could see him reaching the 40-45 goal plateau in about 5 years when he has had enough time to get acclimated with the NHL and gain some weight.

You then have-Aulin, Klepis, Fleischmann, Chris Bourque, and Jonas Johannson(sp) all waiting for their shot to make the parent club. Im hoping at least 3 of these 5 will turn out to be legit NHL'ers. My guess is 2, with Aulin and Bourque making a name for themselves in the NHL.

All in all, this Caps team is looking very promising for 3-4 years down the road, with all the talent they have stockpiled at the forward position.

Defense-looks promising with Eminger, Green (who was outstanding during the preseason), and Morrison, I am hoping that all 3 of these guys are anchors for the defense for years to come, as for the other 3 spots...George McPhee is going to have to find some talent out there in Free Agency or via the draft which would have to come in the form of an impact Dman. Witt is as good as gone by the deadline, voicing his obvious dissatisfaction with the direction the team is going.

Goaltending

Kolzig-probably as good as gone by the trade deadline as well, but will definately steal some games for this young team before he is dealt. Good to have him around to mentor Maxime Ouelett

Ouelett-who should and probably will be an excellent goaltender in this league for years to come(although he had a very very poor preseason)

Brent Johnson-recently aquired him off waivers, the same Brent Johnson that took the Blues pretty deep in the playoffs in the 01-02 season if I remember correctly. Personally won't be shocked if Kolzig is traded somewhat soon and the goaltending duties are given to Johnson, with Maxime playing 20-30 games this season.

All in all, I give this team a good 3-4 years before they make the playoffs, that is..unless this team performs better than expected and skips a few chapters in the learning process and McPhee decides to help further along the process by aquiring some legit players through Free Agency..but all of that remains to be seen.

Personally, I can't wait to see how all of these young guys play over the course of the next few seasons, it will defiantely be alot more enjoyable to watch all of these young talented guys play their heart out than a bunch of overpaid over the hill super stars lolly gag around who played here just a year and a half ago.

The next 3-4 years are going to have alot of ups and downs, and in my opinion will be all worth it once these new Caps start kicking ass and taking names.

As for this year though, if we finish near the last while playing competitive hockey and start to show more improvement near the end of the season and start to make teams fear playing us, we are going to be in a great position come draft time. With a top 5 pick in the upcoming draft, you are pretty much guaranteed to get a damn good prospect, as this years upcoming class is LOADED. If we get that first overall pick, WOW, we are going to be straight up nasty. A previous poster mentioned the prospect, and yeah it is basically the USA version of Sidney Crosby. His name is Phil Kessel, and if we get lucky enough to land this guy, we are going to be scary good in that 3-4 years. Think a Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic type combo with Ovechkin and Kessel, they are going to be that good.

And by the way, Nikolishin is out of the NHL, playing in some Euro league I think.

Anyway, GO CAPS!

Here is to Ovechkin winning the Calder.

[StevieInferior]

So pysched I will be in row 3 right by the Caps Penalty box tommorrow night!

[manichispanic]

i don't watch hockey, but am insanely loyal to DC. I have heard about Ovechkin, i heard the hype when he was drafted and am happy to see the Caps get such a prodigy

[CEJ2200]

I think A.O. will have a bigger impact on our team than that 1st round pick in Pitt. will have up there (and he is good too).

[Fatty P For The Pulitzer]

Friesen-great pick-up for the young team, will definately show some of the youngins the ropes and tricks of the trade. With increased ice time this year, 25-30 goals is not out of the question for him. I figure that, depending on how bad or mediocre we are at the deadline, Friesen will be shipped out to a contender. I see us keeping him though if we are more along the lines of being a somewhat formidable NHL team.

Actually, I think they may try to sign Freeze to an extension. I've heard he can have a little attitude problem at times, but he plays on the ice the style that the Caps are trying to build. And during the BJs game, Joe B and Laughlin interviewed Teddy Log-on and he was saying their approach this offseason was to sign a couple vets to one year deals. When asked about Freeze, he said that was a different situation because he's only 29 and he plays the way they want their club to look like. I wouldn't mind seeing them sign him to a 2 year deal, or something like that. It depends on what Freeze wants to do though.

[Terpskins99]

Anyone see the Caos game tonight???? Looks like the Caps have found a gem. The 19 year old scores two goals and almost a third! Not to mention punding someone so hard into the boards that he dislodged the glass just 40 seconds into the game! I know it's only one game but it looks like DC finally has a home grown Superstar in the works!

The kid's legit. Personally, I think he'll end up getting the Calder Trophy and turn into the better pro over Crosby.

[panel]

Forget Crosby, this is the true rookie phenom

[SkinsHokieFan]

Another real pretty goal for AO tonight

6 games, 4 goals, 2 assists

This kid is going to be a star for a very long time

[Spaceman Spiff]

Yet you still watch football? Remember when they went on strike? The only difference is they actually finished out the season, but the sentiment was no different. But, to each his own I guess.

I'm a bit too late to reply here, as I just saw your reply, but I'll take a crack at this.

First of all, the NFL didn't screw their ENTIRE SEASON. They lost a few games.

The NFL also has a product that people will watch no matter what. Look at all the goons that play in the NFL, people on drugs, wifebeaters, people who have done jailtime, etc. Not a great group of people to begin with. This isn't to belittle the Darrel Greens of the league, but still, the bad guys get more press than the good ones do.

And you know what? The NFL doesn't have a problem with selling out a good chunk of their games and doesn't have a problem with TV revenue, merchandise, etc. The NFL is the most popular sports league in this country. No matter what happens to the NFL they have a product that people will always come back to.

The NHL before the strike was still hanging on a limb. No one cared about the playoffs or Stanley Cup, no one cared about the players. Games didn't sell out as much. Teams were losing money left and right.

People pay attention to the little things, like why playoff games (and until recently) Stanley Cup games were on cable only. How come Sports Illustrated never has a season hockey preview on the front cover? It goes to show the popularity of the sport. You can't argue this.

Of ANY league, of ANY sport that needed to bust their ass and figure out a way to attract fans and market themselves better, they could not afford to do what they did. They didn't miss a few weeks of training camp, they didn't miss a week or two of the season...they missed the entire freaking thing. What a monumental bonehead move. Their sport was already teetering on the edge of obscurity, then they had to take a running start and kick it off.

So for me, someone who has been to a few hockey games and taken a casual interest, this was like a slap in the face. An ultimate "**** you" to the fans, an ultimate act of selfishness.

And so what? They come back a year later, switch some rules around and expect people to come running back? Maybe for you dieheard fans, sure, but not for someone like me, someone that the NHL NEEDED to target and try to get to the games. I don't like to blow my horn here, but I'm the type of fan that the NHL needed to draw in, someone who's on the fence.

So thats why I'm giving a big **** you to the NHL. Because for a year they clearly didn't care about anyone about themselves. So why should a fan like me who took a casual interest in the sport care about them?

And really dude, comparing the NFL to the NHL is a joke. The NFL is light years ahead of the NHL in every way.