Friday Caps Clips: Erev Capitals Convention

me three

It wouldn’t qualify as writing about myself.

on a second read, i should add that the weihenstephaner isn’t an oktoberfest beer. light, wheat spring-summer beer.

skinny Screech is kinda creepy

I accept the fail – mascots are not exactly my field of expertise.

Sure. Doesn’t change the fact that the Young Guns as a group were pretty brutal last night :)

Possible, but who do you see on the other end of such a deal?

end of September is the best time to pass someone through waivers because of all the other activity at that time

GOD, you’ve made this claim a few times, and as far as the logic I completely agree with you. It just strikes me as an empirical question and I wonder if you (or anyone else) has paid enough attention over the years or looked at the data to see if this is actually true.

14 rostered forwards*

Did you just ask him to violate copyright laws in a public forum?

Article by Eric Adelson. The opening snippet, transcribed. Buy the Mag if you’re dying to read the final 2/3rds. Or join ESPN Insider, which gives you access to the Mag and mails them to your home whether or not you’re interested.

Finally, hockey has a great debate. Well, this being hockey, maybe it’s more like a bar fight. Either way, Tim Hortons and ice rinks and peewee locker rooms will be buzzing over this argument for years: Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin? Captain Cool or Captain Morgan? The guy you marry or the guy you date?

But before we explore deeper, let’s get a few things straight: 1) This isn’t a question of who’s the better player—both have won Hart and Art Ross trophies, and both are still a few years shy of their prime; 2) this is not a media creation—there is a real rivalry. “How can there not be?” says Crosby. “We’re different. He sticks out. I like to blend in.” Ovechkin agrees: “It’s good for the media, good for the game. I like it.”

It’s hard to imagine that two players so equally blessed with an abundance of skills could be so different in putting those skills on display. Crosby often seems to disappear on the ice, only to resurface at the penultimate moment with a brilliant pass or a crafty goal. Ovechkin sucks all the air out of the arena, drawing attention to himself even when he’s roving the neutral zone.

Hockey has always been too team-oriented, too unselfish to ignite the type of blogosphere drama that has elevated other sports. But almost every fan give a, ahem, shift about Sid and Ovie. The contrast in their styles, on and off the ice, is so complete that even casual puckheads take sides. And because of strange yet perfect circumstances that overrode hockey’s team-first culture, not to mention the NHL’s eager anointing of Crosby as the Next One, what was once a civil competition between young stars has risen to a boil.

Once upon a time this was a team rivalry, with the Capitals and the Penguins regularly clashing in the playoffs. In this decade, as the league spiraled toward a lockout, both clubs fell on hard times. Washington got the No. 1 pick in 2004 and took the speedy Moscovite Alexander Ovechkin. But already the hype was centered on the 16-year-old from Maritimes who was destined to save the sport. In July 2005, the Pens used the No. 1 pick to snare Sidney Crosby. Because of the work stoppage, the players debuted on the same night: Oct. 5, 2005. Ovechkin scored his first NHL goal less than half an hour into his first game, then scored another to lead the Caps to an opening night win. The response from the NHL? An audio file announcing Sidney Crosby’s first pro point—a power play assist—in a lopside Pens loss. Um, hello? Why did a routine assist get a press release for a No. 1 pick while two goals earned nothing for another No. 1? After the Caps complained, the NHL sent out a release on Ovechkin. But by then the league had tipped its hand. Ovechkin scored six more goals and five assists in October. But Rookie of the Month went to No. 87, who scored two goals to go with 12 assists. Speaking later at the National Press Club in Washington, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said the decision to honor Crosby was handled by the league’s PR crew. That was all Caps fans needed to hear.

Adelson’s contact seems to have been the main Caps media rep, Nate Ewell. Plenty of quotes from Nate throughout.

Exhibit a?