Washington Capitals

First of all, the Washington Capitals are my favorite hockey team, and I'm pretty sure that they are going to make some serious noise in the playoffs this season. Last season, the Capitals made the playoffs after a very late season push brought on by newly appointed head coach Bruce Boudreau. They pushed past the Carolina Hurricanes and won the South Eastern division title. They were later eliminated by the (hated) Philadelphia Flyers in seven games, but it was an incredible series and it gave Caps fans everywhere reason to believe that the 08-09 season would have the Capitals right back in the mix to win the Eastern Conference. Thus far the Caps have not disappointed. Injuries have attempted to destroy a team poised to win their second straight division title, but they are still ten points ahead of second place Carolina.
This Friday, the Caps have to face the Columbus Bluejackets at Verizon Center in Washington D.C.. The Caps are riding a seven game win streak going into this match up, while the Bluejackets have lost their last two games in a row. According to the Washington-Post's Capitals insider Tarik El-Bashir, Caps fans are looking forward to the possibility of getting Tomas Fleischmann back from missing games due to pneumonia , but it appears that Sergei Federov will not be playing. Maybe Saturday we will be able to see Sergei Federov,the $4 million dollar man, in action for the first time in far too long. I understand that when he was healthy he was almost a point per game player, but he is in no way worth $4 million per year. Now the Caps are going to be in trouble when Federov does decide to grace us with his presence, because they will have salary cap issues. One option Caps GM George McPhee has to consider is sending Karl Alzner, who has been one of our best defenders since being called up, back to the AHL Hershey Bears. If he does this, I will be pissed. Alzner and Green are the future of the defensive core in Washington, and since he is already playing so well, it doesn't make sense to send him back to Hershey. It will be very interesting to see how McPhee handles this, but I highly doubt that Alzner will be sent down.
I'm really looking forward to the game on Friday. This will be my first chance to see Steve Mason in goal for the Bluejackets, and from what I've heard, he is worth the price of admission. To be honest, I kind of like the Bluejackets. Rick Nash is one of the most underappreciated talents in the NHL. Since he plays on a crappy team in an even worse hockey market, no one really cares about him, but you should. This guy is the real deal, and I love his style of play. Mason has been incredible in goal for Columbus, but he will be put to the test by Ovechkin and company. I'll write a post game blog over the weekend. GO CAPS!