Kuzya gave in interview in which he says, "Last year [the Caps] were not especially calling me to come play. They were saying then: Play in Russia for now. But now it's a very pressing choice. Now they really are telling me specifically to come to play in Washington... The talks are happening, they've offered a contract... It's a standard entry-level contract. It's ready, and I just need to sign it, but I am in no rush. I want to finish playing the season with Traktor."

sounds like he is making the roster next season out of camp. translation mine.

"making roster out of camp" is the understatement of the century. He's gonna score 30 goals next season... BOOK IT

forward lines during the morning skate

8-90-28
50-19-20
25-21-42
26-15-22

i predict good things for #1 and #3 lines.

we are actually 4 lines deep on wingers, only have 3 servicable Cs, and lol depleted on D.

i am doing some live-blogging in the reg season thread. if anything, i think it should convince everybody that bruce has got to go. i happen to think he rides the guys pretty hard in practice, so for what that's worth, he is good. but i don't know what his system is this year nor is it really "working", and his lineup and in game decisions are lol bad.

fastest to 200 wins tho

when things are going good, he doesn't mess around with lines/systems that much. but when they go bad, he completely loses his mind.

and right on cue, third period starts and it's 8-19-22. i wonder if bruce gets his line combinations from some sort of scratch-off-bingo-lotto tickets.

for a second there it looked like bruce was double-shifting 8-19-22, then 8-90-50. if so, i think that's pretty clueless.

April came early this year eh?

Orlov got the call

Touchdownjesus.jpg

yes sah

traktor is trying kuzya out at center, an experiment that started with the national team at the karjala cup. stay tuned.

Laughlin definately has some head issues, but, taken in the right way, they can be funny. I mostly appreciate him because he rips on Joe B, who is without a doubt one of the biggest douches on the planet. I do, however, think it is low class of him to constantly plug his hockey camp. Tilts me.

Can't wait. Being a Caps fan is the real nut low right now.

So now that its coming out that ovie and bruce are feuding , or whatever, how long until he gets fired?

Yeah I am hearing it from unreliable sources also. I dunno.

I was watching some games/highlights from 2 years ago. Damn, he used to love scoring goals. This defensive scheme is just not his style at all

Semin benched tonight? He takes a garbage penalty every game it seems.

What is going on in that locker room?

RMNB needs a reality check. in what universe is Wideman/Ward/Halpern playing well? sorry to burst your bubble, but semin is fine. maybe half of his penalties are undeserved. is sasha a stubborn player who probably doesn't want to change? probably, but benching him over a lolworthy call by a ref is ridiculous. and how many times is he turning the puck over defensively? not many. for that you gotta bench schultz/hamrlik/halpern.

yeah, everyone is shooting ice cold right now, but i am blaming boudreau for this. sorry, but if your "defensive system" is cutting down the shots of one of the league's most prolific offenses, you are coaching it completely backwards. interesting how the caps have this tendency of falling behind early and turn it on to even up in shots when they need offense the most. could it be that they are taking a few more chances in the d/neutral zone?

oh look, an interesting point from drivbing play

so what does boudreau do with this generations greatest offensive player and an offensively elite team? make them more cautious and defensive. great job bruce!

semin is a healthy scratch.

Bruce really is aids. Coach according to what the canadian media says and negate your teams number one asset

Mike Wise from The Washinton Post,

"Boudreau might go first. If not, then they jettison Alexander Semin, Ovechkin's friend and countryman whose mercurial ways seem to be rubbing off on Ovi more than his adrenaline and fire have ever influenced Semin."

I really think thats a good point. Semin ****ing blows but he seems to drag ovie down too. This team is so ****ed. If we dont win a cup with this core im gonna **** all over myself then take torches and pitchforks to the verizon center

Sure, semin can take fewer penalties, but its not the sashas Who are dragging us down. It's the coach/system. The guy can't let the players stay with their own linemates for more than a period. #cmonnowson

Semin was one of our best PK guys, yet he has seen little to no PK time in favor of good old' gritty vets like halpern who look like fossils out there. #lifeinthepressbox

I've been a supporter of bruce for a long time, but even I am sick of this crap. Stop saying he's a great coach. Yes, his thing worked in Hershey and Washington for a few years. Then he decides to switch systems and it all goes to ****, and he starts disciplining like its freaking third grade? Last year this defensive crap wasnt working out, so down the stretch they implemented the trap for 2 months and pulled themselves out of it. What happened to that? Sorry, that doesn't sound like a problem with the stars of the team. It sounds like the system is playing to our weaknesses rather than our strength.

A great coach doesn't lose his team like that. #madrussianout

Jeff Schultz is the nut low defenseman in the league outside of mike komisarek. 2 years ago the "not built for playoffs" system made him the +/- league leader. Sounds like something needs changing!

kuzya with a goal and two assists today.