Bruce Boudreau's decision to start Michal Neuvirth in net for the team's home opener Saturday night was one that raised quite a few eyebrows (and a temper or two) around the League; after all, Tomas Vokoun had been anointed the number one guy before training camp even started, and the Opening Night start - especially when it comes at home - typically goes along with that title. We all know perfectly well that putting Neuvirth in over Vokoun for that first game was essentially a reward for an excellent training camp by the young netminder, as well as for a '10-'11 season in which he was easily one of the team's MVPs. But that didn't stop the murmurs about a brewing goalie controversy in the District.

There is no controversy, of course. To question Vokoun's claim on the starter's role is to ignore the body of work that supports it, regardless of who opened the season (and despite the fact that Neuvirth will get his fair share of games). The only problem the Caps have in net is deciding between two extremely capable goaltenders on any given night.

Which brings us to the fact that, while no controversy is looming, there is still a decision to be made about who steps onto the ice first Thursday night when the Caps take on their biggest rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

On the one hand there's Neuvirth, who put together a 62-minute, 28-save performance against the Carolina Hurricanes to earn his first win of the season. He is, for all intents and purposes, the "hot hand" right now and likely gives the Caps the best chance to win - not to mention the fact that in three games against Pittsburgh last season, Neuvirth had a sparkling 2-0-1 record, with two shutouts, a .977 save percentage and a GAA of 0.65. If Boudreau's continuing his run of rewarding strong play with ice time, Neuvirth's the right choice.

On the other hand, while Vokoun's first game as a Washington Capital was a bit of an adventure (to be generous), he's still very much an elite goalie, and there's something to be said for giving him a chance at a little redemption. What better way to do that than to throw him right back in net against a bitter rival? If you want to send a message to a guy that he's The Guy, if you want to soothe some hurt feelings over that opening night "snub", and if you want to build up his confidence (which is key even for someone as veteran and experienced as Vokoun), this is how you do it.

So here's the question we'll probably ask a few times this season (again, because we're lucky, folks...not because there's a controversy) - if you're Bruce Boudreau, who is your starting goaltender for tomorrow's tilt against the Pittsburgh Penguins?

Bengt Gustafsson played nine seasons in Washington and was considered among the best Swedish players to put on a Caps uniform. - Washington Times, July 20, 2011

The line above was in Steve Whyno's recent piece detailing the break-up between the Caps and 2008 first-round pick (and son of Caps legend Bengt) Anton Gustafsson. But with appropriate focus having been paid to that substance, the word "among" in that sentence is the subject of this post - if Bengt Gustafsson was among the best Swedish players to put on a Caps uniform, who else is in the discussion?

HockeyReference.com lists 15 players who were born in Sweden and have laced 'em up for the Caps in at least one regular season game (curiously, the site doesn't list Marcus Johansson, so make that 16, with a 17th likely coming soon in the person of Mattias Sjogren). And while we all expect Nicklas Backstrom to make this entire question a no-brainer some day, he's not there yet. What we're left with (with due respect to Ulf Dahlen and others) is a two-man race between Bengt Gustafsson and Calle Johansson - a pair of crafty, efficient, cerebral Swedes playing different positions. (The two actually overlapped for ten regular season games and four post-season tilts back in 1989, with Johansson even getting the primary assist on Gustafsson's last NHL goal.)

Gustafsson is currently sixth in franchise history in points, fifth in goals and assists, sixth in shorthanded goals and fourth in game-winners. He also scored five goals in a game against the Flyers in Philly, so there's that.

Johansson is the team's all-time leader in games played and had more points as a Caps blueliner than anyone. Five times he played a full season without missing a game.

A quick look at each man's career stats as a Cap:

Might we have hoped that we could have looked back on the Gustafsson vs. Johansson debate in a dozen years and be discussing Anton and Marcus? Sure. But that wasn't to be, and the choice is between Bengt and Calle - who's the best Swede in Caps' history?

If there are two things Washington, D.C. is known for, it's politics and quarterback controversies. This winter, Caps fans were treated to a mild version of the intersection of the two, as rookie netminder Michal Neuvirth and incumbent starter Semyon Varlamov engaged in a season-long campaign to be named the team's starting goalie come playoff time. Heck, there was even a very spirited third-party candidate in Braden Holtby who, despite his credentials, ultimately couldn't break through the entrenched establishment.

Team Neuvy. Team Varly. You've read everything there is to read about these two. You know that Neuvirth has been a bit inconsistent and has struggled a bit against top competition, but has flat-out won when it has mattered (though he hasn't had a chance to yet at the NHL level). You know that Varlamov hasn't been able to stay healthy, hasn't gotten much support when he has been able to go, and has lost four-straight games when the Caps have had a chance to eliminate a playoff opponent.

Here's how they compare on the season, over each backstop's last twenty and ten games, and since Varlamov most recently came off injured reserve:

So the question is simple, even if the answer isn't: if you were Bruce Boudreau, who would you start in Game 1 of the playoffs next week?

Capitals General Manager George McPhee is sure to be a busy man between now and Monday, as he seeks to better his team ahead of the NHL's looming trade deadline. Online, on the air and in print, there's no shortage of media outlets predicting what will happen and at least as many offering up their thoughts as to what should happen.

That's all well and good, of course, but perhaps as interesting as asking Caps fans who they'd like to see in red come Tuesday is finding out who of the rumored-to-be-moved players they'd be most disappointed to find out their favorite team has acquired - who is their NHL Trade Deadline "Do Not Want."

Had you asked me that question a year ago, I might well have said Joe Corvo (and the 25 games he played for the team provided plenty of evidence as to why). This time around I've got another player topping the list: Chris Neil.

It's been said that the Caps are too easy to play against, that they need an infusion of grit, etc. And while I don't necessarily agree with the sentiment, no team has ever been "too tough" for the Stanley Cup playoffs, so adding a 31-year-old right-wing who has averaged 9.6 goals and 210 penalty minutes per 82 games over his career and has 74 career playoff games under his belt would seem to make some sense... but not if that player is Chris Neil.

To begin with, Neil has two seasons (at $2 million per) remaining on his current contract after this one concludes, so he's no "rental" - he's a commitment. More importantly, he's a guy who "delivered a two-hander to the back of [a star center's] legs," had "run-ins with Magnus Arvedson and Martin Havlat" (who have combined for two fights in well over 1,000 NHL games), and scrapped with Chris Campoli (whose NHL fight card has just two names on it, one of which is Sergei Brylin). That Neil picks on some featherweights every once in a while wouldn't be too much to look past... if all of those guys weren't his teammates at the time of the incidents. And when he's not actively bullying guys wearing the same sweater he is, he's often causing trouble for them.

I could go on, but won't. I'll just ask a simple question: is this the kind of guy you want around the Caps' locker room? I know my answer.

So who's your NHL Trade Deadline "Do Not Want"?

I could always go with two goalies. I've done that before. - Bruce Boudreau on who his goalie will be for the Winter Classic

He's kidding.

We think.

But with the Winter Classic now looming, Boudreau has a difficult decision to make - which of his young netminders to start against the Pens. By his ‘if they win they’re in’ approach, you'd think he'd stick with Semyon Varlamov coming off a 3-0 shutout of Montreal. Then again, Michal Neuvirth was superb against Pittsburgh in a 3-2 shootout loss less than a week ago and is 2-0-1/1.62/.944 in his last three games... which isn't quite as good as Varly's 2-0-1/1.30/.952 in his last three (and 2-0-0/1.00/.967 this week).

Guessing what Boudreau will do is one thing, but who would you start? Does the potential for less-than-ideal ice conditions impact your decision? Does this?

Following last spring's early exit from the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Washington Capitals (unsurprisingly) saw a bit more roster turnover than they had in recent summers, as a number of seasoned NHL veterans made way for younger (and cheaper) talent. The departures drained the team of depth and left some holes (and certainly some question marks) in the lineup, most notably down the middle, on the blueline and in net, as the team committed to evaluating the kids.

More than one-third of the way through the season, each of those potential "trouble spots" on the depth chart have been realized in varying degrees and many of those same questions and concerns persist. Whether or not they will be addressed from within or from outside the organization (or not at all) remains to be seen, of course, but our question for today is this: If you could bring back one of the following now-former Capitals from the 2009-10 team (and his salary would be of no concern), whom would it be?

The Washington Capitals team that broke camp and is, for the most part, ready to take the ice tonight bears a striking resemblance to last year's squad, at least in the forward ranks.  Likely part-timers D.J. King and Matt Hendricks, along with former first round pick Marcus Johansson, are the only additions, and Scott Walker, Eric Belanger, and Brendan Morrison are the only losses, which means no major overhaul and fewer headaches for coaches setting up lines.

As expected, Alex Ovechkin will return to first line duty with Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Knuble.  Alexander Semin, naturally, will be the driving force of the second line, which will be centered by Tomas Fleischmann, almost by default.  Jason Chimera's a near-prototypical third line player, and Marcus Johansson is a natural fit as the third line center given his age and inexperience.  Grinders like Matt Bradley, Boyd Gordon, and David Steckel will provide solid depth, but should only be be considered for use above the fourth line when injury hits.  Arguably, the biggest question is where to play Brooks Laich and Eric Fehr.

Laich is expected to start tonight's game skating with Fleischmann and Semin on the second line, which seems to make sense given that he's put together three consecutive 20 goal seasons (Fehr has one, last year) and back-to-back years of more than thirty assists (Fehr's career high is 18), while also displaying more consistency.  But the issue isn't as clear-cut as it seems as a casual glance.

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With less than 24 hours before the Capitals begin their 2010 training camp, and less than 48 hours before the team's third annual Duchesne Cup gets underway, Washington has announced their training camp groups.  Via Mike Vogel, here's how the three groups stack up:

GROUP A

Goalies: Brandon Anderson, Semyon Varlamov

Defensemen:  Karl Alzner, John Carlson, Brett Flemming, Lawrence Nycholat, Tyler Sloan, Dylan Yeo

Forwards: Nicklas Backstrom, Stanislav Galiev, Kyle Greentree, Anton Gustafsson, Marcus Johansson, Andrew Joudrey, Nikita Kashirsky, D.J. King, Mike Knuble, Dmitry Kugryshev, Alex Ovechkin, Brian Willsie

GROUP B

Goalies: Todd Ford, Michal Neuvirth

Defensemen: Patrick Cullity, John Erskine, Josh Godfrey, Johan Kroll, Tom Poti, Dustin Stevenson, Patrick Wellar

Forwards: Matt Bradley, Cody Eakin, Tomas Fleischmann, Boyd Gordon, Jake Hauswirth, Matt Hendricks, Boyd Kane, Brooks Laich, Garrett Mitchell, Joel Rechlicz, Alexander Semin, David Steckel

GROUP C

Goalies: Dany Sabourin, Philipp Grubauer, Braden Holtby

Defensemen: Samuel Carrier, Sean Collins, Brian Fahey, Joe Finley, Mike Green, Grant McNeill, Jeff Schultz.

Forwards: Keith Aucoin, Jay Beagle, Francois Bouchard, Trevor Bruess, Jason Chimera, David de Kastrozza, Eric Fehr, Andrew Gordon, Mathieu Perreault, Steven Pinizzotto, Ashton Rome

Our question to you, then, is who's your Duchesne Cup pick?