Saying Goodbye to 2009

by J.P. on Dec 27, 2009 5:33 PM EST

With last night's win over New Jersey in the books, the Caps have now played 82 regular season games (i.e. a full-season's worth) in calendar year 2009. Their record? An impressive 50-21-11. They've outscored opponents by an average score of 3.43 to 2.83, have scored on 25.3% of their power plays, and have killed off 80.6% of their shorthanded opportunities. And they've played to an average home crowd of 18,260 fans, or 99.9% capacity.

Offensively, the Young Guns have been blazin', with each averaging well over a point-per-game:

	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-
Alex Ovechkin	73	56	52	108	+17
Nicklas Backstrom	82	26	65	91	+27
Mike Green	80	31	55	86	+29
Alexander Semin	70	34	45	79	+18

And the team has gotten fantastic goaltending from it's rookie phenom:

	W	L	O	GAA	SV%
Semyon Varlamov	14	1	3	2.33	.919

All in all, it's been a heck of a year (with two games left) for the Caps (at least insofar as regular season accomplishments go), and one that makes even the most pessimistic among us hopeful for 2010.

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Gotta say wow to this.

Here’s hoping for two more wins to finish out the year, and a bunch of really big wins in 2009, so Bruce has something to go in his Really BIG Cupholder!

by IRockTheRed on Dec 27, 2009 5:38 PM EST reply actions

definitely (just showed that commercial to a newly converted fan today – she loved it, haha)

awesome ‘09… here’s to an even better ’10 :)

"No Brooks Laich, no win. Know Brooks Laich, know win."

by kellobellow on Dec 27, 2009 5:49 PM EST up reply actions

Yes, I would like that item to go in his really big cupholder in June of 2010.

Rocking the Red since 1975

by CapsFan75 on Dec 27, 2009 10:29 PM EST up reply actions

I think we all would.

Unleash the Alex!

by gotsparkly on Dec 28, 2009 7:00 AM EST up reply actions

The Green numbers are astounding.

Japers' Rink: Hockey blogging from the most powerful city in the world

by J.P. on Dec 27, 2009 5:52 PM EST via mobile reply actions

He should be a wingah.

"And next year it will be ours."

by Ovechwin on Dec 27, 2009 5:55 PM EST up reply actions

for the longest time, i’d been of the mind that green’s success was mostly due to BB and BB’s system. it was hard to reconcile green’s production w/ hanlon and green’s production w/ BB.

but green has long since proven to be a truly elite player. as long as he’s given PP time, i’m fairly confident he could succeed anywhere with any coach. i hope he proves the doubters wrong and has a barn-burning 2010 playoffs.

by Natty Bumppo on Dec 27, 2009 6:18 PM EST up reply actions

Green is damn good, but you need to know how to use him. Making him just a shutdown defender kills half of his value. BB knows this. Hanlon didn’t.

They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.

by Bman21212 on Dec 27, 2009 7:41 PM EST up reply actions

One of the reasons the Caps’ performance under Hanlon and the Caps’ performance under Boudreau was a different as night and day. Under Hanlon, they were a bad team. Under Boudreau, they are an excellent team.

Rocking the Red since 1975

by CapsFan75 on Dec 27, 2009 7:48 PM EST up reply actions

And Belarus thought so, too.

by DrinkingPartner on Dec 27, 2009 7:50 PM EST up reply actions

Pretty darn close to his 08-09 #’s. 13 more assists, but 12 more games played.

by mechanicsville on Dec 27, 2009 6:24 PM EST up reply actions

Yes. I went over to Mirtle’s post from last year that put Green’s ‘08-’09 among the best years (offensively) for a D-man ever to see where calendar 2009 would rank, but because of the extra games played, Green’s last season was actually even more impressive because of the games he missed.

"Let the rest be scared of us." - Emo Bunny Sasha Semin

by Scott in Shaw on Dec 27, 2009 7:02 PM EST up reply actions

Redundant sentence structure is redundant.

"Let the rest be scared of us." - Emo Bunny Sasha Semin

by Scott in Shaw on Dec 27, 2009 7:03 PM EST up reply actions

Why something once when you can say it twice?!

by mechanicsville on Dec 27, 2009 7:27 PM EST up reply actions

The point so nice he made it twice!

Now drink with me deeply of the bourbon, scotch, and rye until such time as we are fighting drunk.

by Steckel Me Elmo on Dec 27, 2009 7:47 PM EST up reply actions

We are lucky as hell to have him and Ovi on one team. And Nicky.

I could have been equipment manager, but nooooo!

by boutros23 on Dec 27, 2009 6:25 PM EST up reply actions

Sasha takes umbrage at being left off your list. He will now sit on you!

by mechanicsville on Dec 27, 2009 6:30 PM EST up reply actions

Better put on my pads.

I could have been equipment manager, but nooooo!

by boutros23 on Dec 27, 2009 6:45 PM EST up reply actions

He can sit on my lap any time he wants! ;-)

by IRockTheRed on Dec 27, 2009 7:27 PM EST up reply actions

your one young gun exclusion reveals your overt bias!

/seminrocks’d

by Natty Bumppo on Dec 27, 2009 6:34 PM EST up reply actions 2 recs

the man cain’t get no respect!

by Seminrocks on Dec 27, 2009 8:59 PM EST up reply actions

More goals than Backis and more assists than Ovi. Maybe he should be a center.

ALEX, FЯEE

by EmilyB on Dec 27, 2009 7:03 PM EST up reply actions

AO’s goal scoring is still incredible to me. it’s hard for me to believe that a top player can wrack up more goals than assists. there are something like 1.7-1.8 assists for every goal scored! AO really does shoot the lights out.

by Natty Bumppo on Dec 27, 2009 7:06 PM EST up reply actions

So, with Nicky aiming for 35 g or so this year, and Sasha poised to threaten 40 like he usually does, does Ovie still get his 60?

(I feel quite fortunate to be a Caps fan able to even consider this question.)

by mechanicsville on Dec 27, 2009 7:37 PM EST up reply actions

Well we are talking about the top line of the Caps here — the OBS line.

Rocking the Red since 1975

by CapsFan75 on Dec 27, 2009 7:40 PM EST up reply actions

no the SOB line as in ‘Son Of a Bitch they are frickin’ awesome!’ or if you’re a defender ‘Oh Son Of a Bitch, here they come again!’

by wipps on Dec 27, 2009 8:27 PM EST up reply actions

I still can only think of them as “The Care Bear Line”…

"I am ready for his provocations"

by PaintDrinkingPete on Dec 27, 2009 8:44 PM EST up reply actions

Er… Son of a (care)Bear? Perhaps here at the Rink we are family-friendly with our language?

As cute as they get, I’ve always thought of it as SOB.

by Vinn on Dec 27, 2009 9:00 PM EST up reply actions

I believe you mean centah.

I could have been equipment manager, but nooooo!

by boutros23 on Dec 27, 2009 7:07 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs

Couldn’t wait until 2010…you just couldn’t wait.

But Brawndo's got what plants crave. It's got electrolytes.

by hotdog88gt on Dec 27, 2009 9:55 PM EST reply actions

82 games = NHL regular season, so it was a good point of reference.

Japers' Rink: Hockey blogging from the most powerful city in the world

by J.P. on Dec 27, 2009 10:09 PM EST up reply actions

Excuses, excuses!

"My face is my mask."

by Jake Shapiro on Dec 27, 2009 10:22 PM EST up reply actions

You all remember what we were facing two years ago in Dec 2007 — the team was slowly moving up from the very bottom, the Dec record was a very respectable 7-3-3 (yep, we lost to Pens on this same date 12/27 in overtime) but yet it was in no way certain that Caps can even make playoffs, not speaking about winning the division. That December, however, was THE month when we started to believe. And first of all, to believe in those four young guns (+ one stocky future ads star) that were about to turn the wave. Today no one is surprised by a 14-point lead in SE, and the only question is not “whether” but “when”. With four wearing the Caps uniforms, it’s going to be soon. Welcome to the 2010s.

by fnralch on Dec 28, 2009 12:12 AM EST up reply actions

December 2007, the Caps took a scarily dominant Red Wings team to the shoot-out, which prompted Mike Babcock, who has never been real forthcoming with praise, to tell Bruce that’s one damn good hockey team.

Fun fact: A popular opinion can still be stupid.

by RedBirdie on Dec 28, 2009 11:42 AM EST up reply actions

So often we get deep into the weeds with analysis and discussion of things that aren’t perfect or that are messed up or things we disagree with or how we’d like to see things done, and we lose sight of what has been accomplished and just how far this club has come in the last season and a half. It’s kind of dizzying, when you stop and think about it, to think that this club has gone from an also ran to a team that other clubs plan for and look at as a benchmark, from chasing for a playoff spot to chasing for the President’s Trophy.

I was watching a Kings feed late one night on Center Ice; they were advertising tickets for premium “gold” games and Caps @ Kings on 1/2 was one of the games in that list, right up there with the Penguins. It kind of blew my mind.

Reminders like these, that for all the peccadilloes and problems and issues, a lot of these are problems other teams wish they had, are good ones and put things in perspective. Thanks for posting this.

Unleash the Alex!

by gotsparkly on Dec 28, 2009 6:57 AM EST reply actions