On January 3, the Calgary Flames paid a rare visit to Verizon Center for an East-West matchup that would end 3-1 for the good guys. By the time this one was done, however, the end result had almost become a sidenote to a much more concerning result for the Washington Capitals and their fans. As we all know by know, Rene Bourque threw a cheap elbow into Nicklas Backstrom's face (video here) and as a result Backstrom hasn't dressed since that game. The Caps' reaction was notably non-existent (unless you count the little chat Jason Chimera had with Bourque, which I don't). After the game the Capitals players seemed as though they'd like a chance to hold Rene Bourque accountable, though they knew they'd never get that chance with Bourque playing in Calgary. Troy Brouwer said "It's one of those things where it kind of sucks because we're not able to play (the Calgary Flames) again this year."

Well, Rene Bourque has been traded to the Montreal Canadiens, so the Caps will have an opportunity to see some more of the player that has knocked the Capitals' top center out of the lineup indefinitely. What should happen? What will happen? Everybody has thoughts, so here are ours.

First question, what is the response you'd like to see from the players after a guy gets a cheap shot or is on the receiving end of a questionable hit? What are the factors you are basing your decision on?

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Wednesday night the Caps took the ice for their 41st game of the season, a 1-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins that marked the halfway point of the season (and the 19th game of Dale Hunter’s tenure as bench boss). That win pushed the Caps back into playoff position with exactly half a season remaining in the 2011-12 campaign – and just about three months remaining until the playoffs.

With 41 games left on the slate and plenty of questions remaining about this team and their potential, we weigh in on how the season has gone so far… and what could lie ahead.

Question 1: Let’s start with the big one - is this Capitals team headed to the post-season, and, if so, can they do any damage once they get there?

Kareem: Yes, they are going to make the playoffs. They may even win the division if they get healthy enough. And there is always the possibility that they get hot at the right time and make a deep run, like Tampa did last year. But they are not a Stanley Cup contender. Even with a healthy Backstrom, they’re missing play-makers up front, evidenced by the failures of the second line to consistently produce. The defense is also a mess. The team’s push to have an overabundance of "puck-moving defensemen" hasn’t worked out as planned. The injury to Mike Green has really hurt the blue-line. Plus, the season-to-season regression of Jeff Schultz, Roman Hamrlik and, to a lesser extent, John Carlson, have really impaired the Caps ability to play well in their own zone and provide adequate defensive coverage. Long story short, the team’s personnel is a mess. It’s missing key players (a 2C and a top-pairing defenseman) and folks are not meeting expectations. And that’s why they’re underachieving.

J.P.: If they’re missing two incredibly important key pieces - a second-line center and a top-pairing defenseman (whether you’re talking about Mike Green or in further addition to him) - are they really underachieving that massively? If the personnel is a mess, perhaps they’re performing about as well as should reasonably be expected. Isn’t it one or the other - either they’ve got the right personnel to succeed and aren’t or they’ve got the wrong personnel and it’s easy to see why they aren’t having success?

KE: It’s not an either-or scenario: the Caps don’t have ideal personnel, and compounding that problem is the fact the the ones on the roster are underachieving. Even before Nicklas Backstrom went down, the team was playing very average hockey. The return of a healthy Mike Green won’t singlehandedly turn this team into a bona-fide contender. The Caps are missing key ingredients to a Stanley Cup contender, pieces that were missing last year and remain missing this year. Making matters worse are the 6-8 skaters (depending on who you ask) who have not brought their "A" games this season.

JP: To answer the question, I think it’s going to be awfully close on the playoffs. On the one hand, Dale Hunter’s system seems to be one that, when played properly, gives the Caps a chance to win every game. And yet it’s unproductive enough, offensively, that they’ve also got a chance to lose every game. When you’re playing for 2-1 wins every night, you’re essentially flipping coins and hoping they come up heads. Maybe they do more than half the time... and maybe they don’t. But they haven’t had many convincing enough performances under the new regime for me to think that they’ve got much more than a 50/50 shot on any given night, and that’s going to make it tough to make up a lot of ground in the standings. That said, their Division is weak (again) and if they can ever figure out how to play .500 hockey on the road, they should be OK. And once they get there... who knows?

Becca: I definitely see them making the playoffs, as well, but I disagree with Kareem in that I think the regression of Hamrlik is a bit overstated; he had a bad first quarter but has rebounded to become one of the team’s steadiest defensemen. I also don’t think we know what this team is capable of doing in the playoffs. We can project, sure, and agree that a 2C is probably needed before any significant movement in the postseason can happen, but when the defense is healthy (ha) and the team sticks to their system (ha ha) I could see them making some noise. The fact is that the hockey being played right now is nothing like what playoff hockey will look like, from any team, and we don’t know if another piece will be added, and we don’t know if, by then, the team will have adapted and adopted Hunter’s system the way it’s meant to be played.

Admittedly before the season I had them as at least Conference finalists and admittedly I might be less sure...but if we’ve learned nothing else from past playoff runs, even within this team’s own history, we know that all you have to do is get in and anything can happen.

Rob: They’ll make the playoffs but it won’t be with as much breathing room as we’ve gotten used to. From Montreal to Philadelphia to Tampa Bay we’ve seen that anything can happen in the playoffs, and the Caps certainly have a goalie that can get hot and change everything. But relying on a goalie getting hot is not an ideal position to be in so it’s tough to be too confident about the team’s chances right now.

Maybe the team will continue to adjust to Coach Hunter’s system and look like a more formidable team, but they’ve got a long way to go and haven’t looked like a team that can dominate puck possession for quite a while now. The defense could be better (and healthier) but this team has been a very successful team over the last few seasons with worse D than they have right now, regardless of personal under-performances. The forwards are the most troubling aspect, I believe. We’re not two years removed from a team that thought they could ice 3 scoring lines and now they’ve got to put all their eggs in one basket to create a single scoring line.

Question 2: How nervous are you that Dale Hunter might not be able to make the jump from OHL to NHL? What happens if he doesn’t find success?

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The 2010-11 season has been one filled with lowered expectations and disappointment, both on an individual and team level, with the roster as a whole often appearing disinterested, unlucky or both. Despite all that they've remained within reach of the Southeast Division crown, a title they've held for the last three seasons. To get there it seemed as though some holes needed to be filled - and as the Trade Deadline drew near General Manager George McPhee took steps to fill those holes and, hopefully, add some life to a team in desperate need of it.

His first move really came back at the end of November, when he shipped forward Tomas Fleischmann to the Avalanche for steady defenseman Scott Hannan. It was in the days leading up to the deadline, however, that McPhee became very busy, first snagging Marco Sturm off the waiver wire from Los Angeles, then swinging two deals - one that brought in defenseman Dennis Wideman from Florida for a third-round pick and prospect Jake Hauswirth, the other that sent David Steckel and a second-round pick to New Jersey for veteran center Jason Arnott.

After just two games, the new additions to the team seem to be making their mark - now we weigh in on the moves and their potential impact down the road.

Question 1: What is your overall impression of the job George McPhee did at (and in the days leading up to) yesterday’s trade deadline?

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[With an unimpressive playoff record to his credit and at the helm of a team with a "Cup or bust" approach, Bruce Boudreau wasn't going to have a whole lot of margin for error in the 2010-11 season, and now that the Capitals have hit a rough patch questions about his job security are starting to be asked - even to Boudreau himself.  We know where Gabby stands on the issue, but we also thought we'd take a deeper look at a potential Capitals coaching change.]

David Getz: Let's not beat around the bush, folks. The Capitals are really struggling right now. They're losing games, they look disorganized, disheartened, and even dispassionate. Many of the bad habits of last season remain and, given that coach Bruce Boudreau's proverbial leash was almost certainly shortened given last spring's early playoff exit, it shouldn't be surprising that chatter about his job security has picked up in the last couple days.

But is it warranted? What's your take on considering replacing Boudreau? Is it preemptive, has it been something we should have already been talking about, or is now the right time to start thinking about it?

Stephen Pepper: "Many of the bad habits of last season remain." That's the bottom line, and why the discussion of whether a replacement is needed behind the bench is entirely appropriate. The beginning of this regular season was replete with acknowledgments -- if not promises -- that the Caps in 2010-11 were going to focus their regular season efforts on "winning the right way." Thirty-two games in, the team finds itself struggling to score a single goal, much less winning the right way, or any way.  It's also found itself on the wrong end of shutouts four times in the last 13 games, three times allowing five goals against or more.

A team with solid leadership, together with the level of talent that the Caps have, simply does not follow up a 3-0 loss at home against the 27th-best team in the league with an uneven (to put it charitably) effort in friendly confines, and then head on the road to get embarrassed to the tune of 7-0. Coach Boudreau looks dangerously close to desperate on the level of former coach Glen Hanlon just prior to the latter's dismissal.  As Hanlon struggled to put together line combinations and devised all manners of new practice drills designed to get the team's star players to work through opponents' relentless shot-blocking, similarly has Boudreau juggled the offensive lines to a frenzied pitch in the last two contests. And Hanlon had considerably less talent with which to work.

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Rarely has there been a season heaped with higher expectations for the Washington Capitals than the one that kicked off a little over a month ago. So with a quarter of the 2010-11 campaign in the books, how have they lived up to those expectations so far? We take a look at the season to this point, and how the team - and the individual players - have performed.

Question 1: As usual, analysts were saying goaltending was a "weakness" coming into the season. Have the goalies, all three that have dressed for the Caps, lived up to your expectations, exceeded them or fallen short?

David M. Getz: I've been a little bit pleasantly surprised with Braden Holtby because, even though his ascent has been impressive, I didn't think he'd quite be able to hold his own in the NHL just yet. I still don't think he's quite there, but I do think he's pretty close. Naturally, I've been a bit disappointed - though not necessarily surprised - at the fact Semyon Varlamov's struggled with injuries.

Michal Neuvirth's been a lot better than I could have hoped for. His numbers aren't phenomenal, but his numbers also don't tell the whole the story. He has regularly single-handedly kept the Capitals in games, and even helped them steal a few. Don't get me wrong, I certainly felt he was talented coming to to the season, but to be that good, that often, while his teammates struggled? That's something I didn't expect.

Stephen Pepper: I agree on Neuvy's ability to keep the team in games at times this season where they might not have deserved to stay in them. What's most impressive to me is that he's been so consistent amidst an overwhelming #1 NHL goalie workload.

I have to say that I predicted well before the season began that Neuvirth would get the majority of starts for the Caps in 2010-11, on account of Varlamov's health and Neuvirth's demonstrated ability to play efficiently and confidently for a championship team, both in the regular and post-season. I didn't think that Varly would make it through the season without at least a few extended groin-related setbacks. And on that front, it's no wonder that Neuvy has a multi-year contract and Varly does not.

Becca H: I don't think any of us was particularly surprised that Varlamov's tendency to get injured popped up again this year – what surprised me most about that was how soon it happened. And it's frustrating, because in his (admittedly limited) appearances for the Caps, both in preseason and the regular season, he looked pretty good.

Beyond that, though, Neuvirth has - overall - been as good as expected, if not better. Which is good, because while Holtby's fast start initially led me to believe that the goaltending situation was well in hand his recent struggles have shown him to still be very much an AHL goaltender. Not unexpected, but troubling if he's backing up Neuvirth on a regular basis. Get well soon, Varly.

J.P.: Obviously Neuvirth had an unreal October (probably literally), Holtby's had his moments (both good and bad), and Varly's been hurt. But one thing that I think has become pretty clear is that, for the most part, these goalies are only going to be as good as the defense in front of them. That's not to say that there won't be games they steal (Neuvy did it several times during that first month) and games they let in more than they probably should.

But if this defense (and that includes the forwards - we're talking team D here) can't focus and keep shot totals and scoring chances down, it's probably not going to matter who's in goal or how well he's playing. The entire team needs to buy in here.

Question 2: Of the two deficiencies in the lineup, lack of a designated 2C and lack of defensive depth, which has been the bigger concern so far? Which will be the bigger issue down the road if not addressed?

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[Ed. note: The season's not quite done, and the Capitals still have six games left on their schedule before the postseason gets under way, but the reality is that right now most fans - and most of the players - are eagerly anticipating the second season.  Naturally, that includes the Japers' Rink contributors, who sat down to discuss Washington's lackluster play of late, the trade deadline, and how they feel about the team heading in to the postseason.]

J.P.: Alright, let's cut to the chase: panic, moderate concern or no worries over the way the Caps have played lately?

David M. Getz: As a whole, I'm really not worried.  At all.  These guys are only human, and when you're playing your 75th game in less than six months, the results don't count for hardly anything, and you've gone through the whole season knowing that the real prize isn't going to be contested until spring, it's hard to get motivated.

That said, I haven't been real thrilled with the way the goalies have been playing, but how much of that can be attributed to that pre-playoff lull and/or general poor play is something I'm not sure of.  Since it wouldn't surprise me if the answer was "a lot", I'm not hitting the panic button quite yet.

Becca H:  I’d fall somewhere between ‘moderate concern’ and ‘no worries’. The way they’ve played lately has pretty much revealed all of their perceived weaknesses – defense, goaltending and penalty killing – and they look disinterested at times, unfocused at others and basically out of sync with one another. It’s troubling to see a team this close to the playoffs getting into such bad habits.

On the other hand, the Caps are basically playing out the string at this point, and doing so without benefit of a full, healthy lineup. Aside from the oft-maligned President’s Trophy, they don’t really have much to play for – and they’re facing teams that have a lot to play for down the stretch. Actually, I’d be more concerned if they were getting blown out in these games; the fact that they’re at least launching a comeback and trying to stay in games is promising, because it means they’re not completely mailing it in. And the thing is that even at 85-90% they’re still picking up points.

My sense last year was that the Caps simply ran out of gas at the worst possible time. Right now it looks like they’re consciously holding something back as a result, particularly guys like Ovechkin, and resting guys with bumps, bruises and tweaks now so they’ll be 100% by mid-April. A bit troubling, definitely annoying but not something that should cause panic.

Yet.

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"I like what we did – we got better and deeper and didn’t give up our future to do it. We also didn’t take on any bad contracts to do it. I was really pleased with the way it went." - George McPhee

Heading into this year’s trade deadline, the general sense around the league was that it would be a relatively uneventful one at best. The lethal combination of multiple teams being in the playoff hunt, a shallow crop of pending unrestricted free agents, and some "desirables" moving weeks before the deadline led to a situation where guys like Raffi Torres became highly prized commodities. And it didn’t disappoint, with many calling this the most boring Deadline Day in years – despite a record 55 players finding new homes by the time the dust had settled.

For the Capitals and their fans, however, Wednesday  was anything but boring as George McPhee and company added Eric Belanger, Scott Walker, Joe Corvo and old friend Milan Jurcina to the lineup, sacrificing a handful of picks and just one roster player in the process. They may not have been flashy, but the moves definitely sent a message to the rest of the League that the Caps are ready to contend.

Becca H: It will probably be a few games before we really know what we’ve got in our new players; no trade can be judged solely on the paper transaction itself. In the afterglow of their debut, we break down the trades and weigh in on a highly eventful day here in CapsNation.

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[Ed. note: We had originally planned this as a mid-season post, a way to get everyone involved and to touch on some deeper issue beyond a cursory look at the team at the season's halfway point.  But, for a number of reasons (including the length of the discussion), we're getting this out slightly later than we originally planned.  Nonetheless, the commentary on the team's performance is all still valid, and the added quality and content was worth the wait in our opinion.  Enjoy - and be sure to let us know what you think.]

DMG: With the season at its midpoint (in terms of games played for the Capitals, any way) and a new year upon us, now's as good a time as any to evaluate where the team stands; what they've done right, where they could stand to improve, and what it's going to take to bring the Cup to Washington. 

To start things out, I guess the question, then, is how would you rate the team's season thus far?  Use any metric you like: letter grades, scale of 1-10, plain old text - whatever strikes your fancy.

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