This morning's WaPo has a lovely recap of the Chris Clark injury and the team's reaction thereto (as GMGM put it, "[T]he next time someone has a runny nose, or feels under the weather and doesn't think they should play, that should make them think twice").

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

• Apparently having most of the League's weaker sisters is helping the Western Conference fatten up. According to the Sagarin Ratings, of the ten easiest schedules in the League so far, only one - Pittsburgh's - belongs to Eastern Conference teams, and of the ten toughest schedules so far, only two - Detroit and Vancouver - belong to Western Conference squads. Translation? It's nice having St. Louis, Chicago, Columbus, L.A. and Phoenix on your schedule so many times. Further extrapolation: as Detroit's schedule has been tough so far, look for the Wings' record to really take off once they get heavy into the intra-divisional portion of their schedule.
  
• Of the 16 teams that have more points-per-game in the standings than the Caps, only Buffalo, Detroit, Carolina and Montreal have had a tougher schedule so far (both stats through Sunday's games).
• Not to get your hopes up, but... Nick Bäckström is gonna be pretty damn good.
• This is all well and good, but it's the Penguins that need the new home.
  

Daily Awards

• Hart: Paul Gaustad (2G, A, +1, 5 SOG, 78% faceoffs won)
  
• Ross: Paul Gaustad, Ales Kotalik, Joe Sakic, Marek Svatos, Joni Pitkanen, Ryan Whitney (3 points each)
  
• Norris: Ryan Whitney (G, 2A, +2)
  
• Vezina: Tomas Vokoun (W, 23 saves on 24 shots against)
  
• Richard: Glen Murray, Paul Gaustad, Tomas Vanek, Marek Svatos, Martin St. Louis, Brenden Morrow (2G each)
  
• Calder: Daniel Paille (2A, +2)
  
• Aiken: Marc Denis (L, 7 goals allowed on 29 shots against)