In the regular season the Washington Capitals scored 121 points last year. In the post season they were upset in the first round by the Montreal Canadiens. That left Capitals General Manger George McPhee with a big decision. Did he believe in his roster, or did he need to blow it up and go in a new direction. He took the safer route and decided to stick with his plan, and for the most part the Capitals return in 2010 with the same roster.

Their Head Coach is Bruce Boudreau and ever since he came to power in Washington in 2007 the Capitals have been an offensive juggernaut. He wants his players to be aggressive in all situations, and that leads to offensive chances at both ends of the ice. Bruce calls all the shots on the power play and that was this team’s Achilles heel in the playoffs.

This team’s breakout candidate may just be Center Tomas Fleischmann. If he can win the job as teh second line center, putting him between Brooks Laich and Alexander Semin, he could be in line to score a ton of points. Of course the star of this team is Alex Ovechkin, and no Capital may be ready to return more than he. He missed six games to an injury, was ejected three times due to physical play, and served two suspensions for said rough play. That is a lot or turbulence for one year.

Key Additions- G Dany Sabourin, LW DJ King, and RW Brian Willsie

Key Subtractions- D Milan Jurcina, C Alexander Giroux, D Joe Corvo, C Kyle Wilson, and LW Stefan della Rovere

2010 Washington Capitals Preview is a post from: The Inquisitr

This is a team that has a far amount of trouble not only behind it but in front of it as well. They will likely face a legal fight to void the contract of gun toting point guard Gilbert Arenas and now there seems to be a dispute amongst the ownership group on who exactly can sell the team and to whom. Somebody call CBS, because this has reality show written all over it. On one hand we have the family of deceased owner Abe Pollin. On the other, we have former AOL executive Ted Leonsis who says he has an exclusive opportunity to buy the Washington Wizards and their home arena the Verizon Center.

In the middle we have Comcast Cable, who themselves own a NBA and NHL team, and may be the ones to finance any deal to purchase the Wizards. So a couple of family members, whose family has owned the Wizards since its inception, say that they can sell the team to whomever the want. Since Pollin named Leonsis his heir way back in 1999, he feels that he has an exclusive right to purchase the team for himself.  There are reports that there is a signed agreement but of course both sides are interpreting that differently.

The two sides are also bickering over the price of the team. The family of Pollin are saying that the two sides are several hundred million dollars apart on the price of the team and the stadium. This seems a little ridiculous for a team with the second worst record in the Eastern Conference, and whose star player just got booted from the league for carrying a gun into their locker room.

Forbes Sports Money lists the value of the Wizards at 313 million. Since Leonsis already owns 44% of the team and stadium the hundreds of millions of dollars comment is unrealistic.  It seems that the Pollin family are sitting on assets worth about 250 million or so. That is for 66% of the  team, stadium and  Washington Sports and Entertainment.  Of course the stadium is the real prize for Leonsis, since Leonsis already owns the buildings other tenant the Washington Capitals of the NHL, owing the stadium outright gives him tremendous opportunity for future revenue.

More Washington Wizards drama is a post from: The Inquisitr

When the Washington Capitals finally decide on a net minder, they are going to be a very dangerous Hockey team. Until then the hockey fans in America’s capital are going to remain pretty frustrated. They already have the best player in the NHL today in Alex Ovechkin, and have A Norris Trophy worth defenseman in Mike Green, but a solid net minder still eludes them.

The Capitals have had four nominal number one goalies over the past three seasons. First their was Olaf Kolzig, who was replaced by Cristobal Huet. When Huet left as a free agent, the team turned to Veteran Jose Theodore, when he struggled in the playoffs last year the team turned to Semyon Varlamov. He took the mall the way to a game seven in the second round of the playoffs before losing to eventual Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Now Varlamov will get a chance to play in the regular season.

Now the Caps have three goalies that will battle one another for playing time. Theodore did win 32 games for this tam a year ago, then Varlamov went goal for goal with Pittsburgh’s Marc Andre-Fleury, and the team has MVP of the AHL playoffs in prospect Michal Neuvirth. Getting the goal tender situation is the top priority of this team, and their is little else to get done on the to do list.

Additions- RW Mike Knuble and F Brendan Morrison

Subtractions- LW Donald Brashear, F Sergei Federov, G Brent Johnson, F Viktor Kozlov, D Sami Lepisto, and F Graham Mink

2009-10 NHL preview: Washington Capitals is a post from: The Inquisitr