As we mentioned last night, Jeff Halpern has been named captain of the Caps, replacing probably the worst captain in team history in Brendan Witt (if I had a nickel for every time I said, "A captain can't act that way," this site would be much prettier). Jeff's been through an awful lot in the past year or so, and we know how proud everyone is of his newfound responsibility. One quip - in his acceptance speech last night, Halpern failed to mention that he learned everything he knows about hockey from the Rink's own Spe.

The WaPo covers the announcement here, the WTimes here.

There's a new interview with Alexander Ovechkin up at Russian Hockey Digest.

Tonight's game: Caps @ Flyers, 7:00 PM.

Friday's Scoreboard:

• Dominik Hasek showed no signs of rust after nearly two years off, stopping all 19 shots he faced in just over half the game, and Dany Heatley had a goal and two assists as the Senators beat the Mario & Sid-less Penguins 3-0.
• The Isles beat the Bruins 2-1 behind 26 saves by backup Garth Snow. Zzzzzz.
• Marc Denis stopped 30 of 33 shots for Columbus, but it wasn't enough as the Jax fell to the Predators 3-2.
• Mathieu Schneider's late goal lifted the Wings over the Stars 3-2. Bill Guerin scored both goals for Dallas.
• The Blues sent Nikolai Khabibulin to 0-2 in the preseason as they shelled the Hawks 5-4.
• Brian Rolston scored a goal and set up the other in the Wild's 2-1 win over Florida. Manny Fernandez stopped all but one of the 28 shots he faced for Minny.
• Brent Krahn's 22 save shutout chalked up another Battle of Alberta to the Flames, 3-0 over Edmonton.
• Steve Bernier won the game in a shootout for the Sharks as San Jose downed Vancouver 4-3 in Todd Bertuzzi's return to the ice.
• Curtis Joseph stopped 35 of 39 shots for Phoenix, but the Coyotes lost to Anaheim 5-3. Keith Carney had three assists for the Ducks.
• The Devils... well, the Devils haven't played a preseason game yet, and don't until tomorrow night. What gives?

Elsewhere around the League (and other leagues):

• Ilya Kovalchuk scored but Khimik lost to Avangard 4-2. I hope Kovalchuk and fellow soon-to-be-ex-NHLer Alexander Semin are enjoying themselves over there, because they're killing their fans (and fantasy owners) over here.