Washington Capitals 2013 Off-season

The more things change, the more they stay the same. The Washington Capitals once again got bounced from the playoffs before Memorial Day, leaving the DC faithful to wonder how a team with the best sniper in the world can consistently struggle to find postseason success. I've always maintained that the idea of being clutch or choking in the playoffs is largely an effect of luck and circumstance, but as the sample size of Caps failures increases I am left to wonder if that's just wishful thinking on my part.

More like "FAN OF THE DECADE".

The season wasn't a total loss. New head coach Adam Oates started off on the wrong foot (2-8-1) but after some lineup juggling he righted the ship and led Washington to its fifth division title in six years. Alexander Ovechkin's transition from left wing to right wing also took a while to get settled, but it resulted in Ovie's third Hart Memorial Trophy and third Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy. Despite another year of playoff futility, it's important to remember that the major contributors still have plenty of good hockey in front of them. Brooks Laich is the elder statesman at 30 years old, Mike Green and Ovechkin are 28, and Nicklas Backstrom is 26. Karl Alzner, John Carlson, Braden Holtby, and Marcus Johansson are younger still. The point is Washington still has a lot of juice left in the tank to make a substantial run at the Stanley Cup Finals.

Before I get underway, I'll offer the same public service announcement I did last season: Please check out the following websites for a much more informed and detailed account of the Capitals and hockey in general.

• Japers' Rink, the top Capitals community with daily links and intelligent discussions
• Russian Machine Never Breaks, my favorite Caps blog with a dash of humor
• Chris Gordon, reporter and photographer for RMNB
• sk84fun_dc, Japers' poster with tons of knowledge about Caps prospects
• CapGeek.com, the only source for anything about the salary cap
• Hockey Prospectus, not as complete as its baseball counterpart, but plenty of good info
• Hockey-Reference.com and Hockeydb.com, good sites for stats
• Hockey's Future and Elite Prospects, for all your prospect needs

-- Front Office --

In his quest to build a contender in Washington, general manager George McPhee has never shied away from trimming the fat off the 50-man roster. Following the lockout, he waived Roman Hamrlik after it was evident the aging defenseman was out of shape and ineffective, and the New York Rangers did the Caps a solid by claiming him. He chose not to sign projects like Mattias Sjogren and Steffen Soberg, and has taken a lot of NCAA prospects recently in order to add a few years to their signing window. Now in the midst of training camp, the Caps have 46 players under NHL contracts, which gives them a little room to sign cheap free agents or make NHL-level trades over the course of the season.

"Yay! I still have a job!"

To his credit, McPhee has resisted the urge to blow up the core roster despite six straight early playoff exits. The biggest loss, allowing Alexander Semin to leave via unrestricted free agency, was necessary due to the uncertain nature of the salary cap under the new collective bargaining agreement. McPhee was able to acquire Mike Ribeiro to fill the scoring void left by Semin, and hopefully Mikhail Grabovski (or eventually Tom Wilson, Evgeny Kuznetsov, or Andre Burakovsky) will do the same. But keeping Ovechkin, Backstrom, Green, Laich, and more recently Carlson and Alzner together indicates that he will never hit the panic button and do something to harm the team's long-term fortunes. McPhee's one historic weakness may have been to solidify the goalie position, as the post-Olaf Kolzig era has seen its share of hits and misses. But with Holtby now solidly in control of the starter's job, the whole roster may have the stability needed for a deep playoff run.

We'll get to the coaches and the players after the jump...

Florida Panthers at Washington Capitals: 9 February 2013

Last year, my friend asked me to go with him to see Florida and Washington square off at the Verizon Center, where I enjoyed braided pretzels and a dominating Capitals win. Exactly 368 days later, that same friend couldn't use his tickets and offered them both to me and my fiancée, in exchange for two signed pucks being offered at a team charity event. So we got there early, got in line for the pucks, and while we weren't lucky enough to get one of the five blank pucks to be signed by Nicklas Backstrom after the game, we did get four very good ones.

Left to right: Marcus Johansson, Joel Ward, Eric Fehr, Mike Green. Awesome.

Mike Green was an especially good get for me, since my friend already had one of his from the last charity event, and he's been one of my favorite Caps for years. My friend called dibs on Ward and Fehr, so now I'm really hoping MoJo doesn't get traded any time soon.

As for the game, I was less than optimistic. Sure, the Caps have owned the Cats at home in recent memory. But Washington opened the season 2-8-1, one of their worst starts in franchise history. In fact I had just written a lengthy rant on my favorite online forum BlueGartr on what was wrong with the Caps. Not only that, they were coming off an embarrassing loss to Pittsburgh where they played one of the worst periods I've ever seen. The only consolation I had was that Florida was playing almost as bad.

The game started in fine fashion, with Brouwer scoring a goal with his leg or maybe his ass (replays were inconclusive!) off a blast from Carlson, and the Caps took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. But I've seen that song and dance before, and Washington has been dreadful in second periods. Thankfully, they finally decided to put for effort for the full sixty minutes. The Caps got two goals in each of the final two periods while Braden Holtby stopped all 27 Florida shots to seal the win. A lot of encouraging things happened -- Ovechkin finally scored an even strength goal, Holtby looked calm and confident in net and even scored a primary assist on Brouwer's power play goal with a beautiful up-ice pass, and the Fehr-Perreault-Ward line was creating chances all night and picked up two goals combined.

In the post-game interview Smokin' Al Koken asked Holtby if this game was a turning point. He said it only is if they can continue to play solid hockey. Truer words... I'm still not buying the 2012-13 incarnation of the Capitals as a playoff team. But for one night in February, it felt like the Caps and the Verizon Center of old.

Turns Out This Was My Fantasy

I'm sure you all remember this post about how I evaluated my draft class at the start of the fantasy baseball season. A few things:

• Michael Young was God-awful
• I dumped Adam Dunn before he could destroy my batting average single-handed
• I accidentally dropped Brian McCann and had to go with a patchwork of Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Wilin Rosario, Jesus Montero, Salvador Perez, Russell Martin, and Yasmani Grandal at catcher
• I haven't had an effective Cub on my team since Sammy Sosa's 2003 campaign

Well, you will be happy to learn that I overcame my blunders and won this highly competitive league, ensuring me the top prize of $350 and more importantly my name and team, "Horatio Caine," engraved on our trophy (yes, we got it before The League was a thing and physical trophies started popping up everywhere). The standings were close all through September and October, with the top three teams each having a legitimate chance at winning it all.

"Whorin' n Storen" had a juggernaut. His four corner infielders were Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, Chase Headley, and Edwin Encarnacion (out of FRIGGIN' NOWHERE) to complement Adam Jones and Mike Trout (whom he drafted, props are due for that move) in the outfield, which adds up to the best offensive club on paper by far. His staff was dominant as well, milking Stephen Strasburg for all he was worth, and carrying Cole Hamels, Chris Sale, Chris Capuano, and trading for Felix Hernandez. What he lacked, however, was attention to detail. He tinkered with his lineup far less regularly than the other top teams, and finished 112.1 pitching innings under the cap. That's a lot of room to make up when it comes to counting stats, and he just couldn't overcome the mediocre point totals for wins, saves, and strikeouts.

My other main competition this season was "The Immaculates," possibly the creepiest fantasy sports team name ever. The owner, who will be the best man at my wedding in four months, has dominated both our football and baseball leagues over the years. He didn't have the firepower that "Whorin'" or I had, but he massaged his roster into the best it could be. During the 199 roster moves he made this year, I think only Matt Kemp and David Wright survived the entire season. My hats off to him for unreal levels of want. His moves on the final three days of the season were a thing of beauty, as he needed to balance grasping at wins with keeping his WHIP intact, as well as hitting for average, stealing bases, and driving in runs. His superfecta almost hit, as a mere three RBI more would have resulted in a shared title. I was nervous until the standings were finalized the morning of October 4th.

After my victory, most of my friends congratulated me, of course. But I could tell most of them were choking back their own resentment. One said to me just last week, "So what's going on with baseball?" He will not be receiving an invitation come spring. But one of my good friends seemed genuinely happy for me, and asked me a question I had not considered -- "Who is your MVP?" I honestly did not know.

Through trades and injuries, I didn't have anyone really excel for the whole season. Before Yahoo! archived the season and the team log was lost to the annals of time, I captured some of the stat lines from my active roster I felt directly contributed to my victory:

Hitters
Name	POS	GP	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG
Jason Kipnis	2B	149	84	14	76	31	.257
Ryan Zimmerman	3B	145	93	25	95	5	.282
Joey Votto	1B	111	59	14	56	5	.337
Giancarlo Stanton	OF	107	69	37	81	6	.293
Adam Dunn	1B/OF	94	60	30	71	1	.211
Adrian Gonzalez	1B/OF	89	41	13	71	2	.329
Allen Craig	1B/2B/OF	58	33	7	41	1	.325
Bryce Harper	OF	53	34	7	20	11	.270
Todd Frazier	1B/3B	40	23	7	27	2	.301
Marco Scutaro	2B/SS/3B	20	14	2	13	0	.375

For some reason I didn't include Carlos Beltran's monster two months on my team, and his totals are now lost to the annals of time (THANKS YAHOO!). I include Scutaro because at the end of the season, when Emilio Bonifacio went down with yet another injury, I was able to snap up Scutaro and keep pace in batting average.

Pitchers
Name	IP	W	SV	K	ERA	WHIP
Jered Weaver	188.2	20	0	142	2.82	1.02
Justin Verlander	148.2	11	0	142	2.42	0.92
Brandon Morrow	117	9	0	105	2.69	1.06
Max Scherzer	99.1	9	0	120	2.81	1.06
Rafael Soriano	51.2	0	40	54	2.09	1.05
Tom Wilhelmsen	51.1	3	29	50	1.23	0.92
Brett Myers	35.1	0	19	25	3.06	1.27
Hisashi Iwakuma	28.1	3	0	25	1.59	1.20
Alex Cobb	23	3	0	20	0.78	0.70

Myers was important as an SP-eligible closer for the first half of the season. Iwakuma and Cobb were late-season spot starters who worked out beautifully.

Interesting numbers, to be sure. All of the major contributors have their faults, however. Votto's counting stats where lacking, even when he was healthy. Kipnis kept me alive in steals and plugged a huge hole at second, but that batting average is troubling. Stanton and Morrow couldn't stay on the field. Weaver's strikeout totals weren't what I expected. Verlander had a rough stretch with wins before I traded him. The closers are, well, closers. So the question remains, who is the MVP?

Time to dig deeper. Maybe someone I acquired down the stretch provided that boost I needed to win the league. Let's break down my trade history:

• Preseason: J.J. Hardy for Cameron Maybin. Meh.
• Preseason: Nick Swisher for Emilio Bonifacio. I needed speed, and a shortstop after the Hardy trade, so getting Boni was great for my team makeup. Unfortunately he missed two long stretches, during which Kipnis was basically my only consistent stolen base threat.
• Preseason: Neil Walker / J.J. Putz for Jason Kipnis / Frank Francisco. I've already detailed how great Kipnis was, and he only cost me Walker and a closer flop. Me gusta.
• 25 April: Colby Rasmus / Adam Wainwright for Giancarlo Stanton. Wainwight ended up having a good year. I thought he might break down, which is why I dealt him, but his July and August were sparkling. Based on Stanton's spotty health, this was probably a wash.
• 23 May: Frank Francisco for Bryce Harper. I acquired Bryce for his talent, plus as a bonus I got to see him play live here in DC. After he arrived on the scene, I parlayed him into a bigger trade. Outright thievery on my part.
• 22 June: Carlos Beltran / Jordan Zimmermann for Adrian Gonzalez / Max Scherzer. I absolutely loved this trade at the time. Beltran was playing way over his head, and I thought Zimmermann might fatigue (as I did with Wainwright, notice a trend?). Both of them had two bad months out of the final three. Meanwhile, Mad Max became my staff ace, while A-Gon racked up the RBI. Woot.
• 26 July: Adam Dunn for Edwin Jackson. Something for nothing, since I considered dropping Dunn at the time. A home run every three games is nice, but that batting average...
• 26 July: Justin Verlander / Bryce Harper for Mark Teixeira / Carlos Gonzalez. I was overloaded with pitching, so losing Verlander wasn't that bad. Or so I thought. CarGo was good when he played, but never at the MVP-caliber level I was paying for. Stick a fork in Tex, I think he's cooked. Looking back, I think it was my worst trade.
• 30 July: Martin Prado / Michael Young / Kevin Youkilis for Allen Craig / Todd Frazier. My last and probably trickiest trade of the season. People love name recognition, and all three guys I dealt have some degree of it. But Prado was hitting for almost no power, Young was terrible, and I picked Youk up off waivers after he landed with the White Sox. In trying to parlay that group into something useful, I recognized the amount of plate appearances Craig and Frazier were getting due to injuries to Lance Berkman and Votto, respectively. Craig also had eligibility at 2B and filled the hole I had at MI after four months of Young. Both Craig and Frazier were plus players in four categories for much of the final two months, and having Craig at MI and a Frazier/Votto tandem at 1B was a huge boost to my offense.

In my estimation, two trades netting four players -- Adrian Gonzalez, Max Scherzer, Allen Craig, and Todd Frazier -- made the difference between winning and losing. So do I pick four co-MVPs?

Thinking back on the season, with it's six month-long grind, there was only one constant. It was my undying devotion to the sport. From March to October, I looked at my team's page literally every day, through birthdays, anniversaries, vacations, weddings, sick days, busy work days, days when all I wanted to do was sit on the couch playing NHL 12... you get the idea. So there is only one conclusion I can draw from my championship season.

I am the MVP.

Dat face...

The play:

The close-up:

THE FACE:

(Thanks to CJ Fogler)

Washington Capitals 2012 Off-season

A 7-0-0 start. A 3-7-1 skid. A head coach fired. A legend brought in to replace him. Mediocrity. A team on the brink of missing the playoffs with under a week left in the season. A career-low point total for a superstar. The seventh seed. Two injured goaltenders. A first round upset of the defending Stanley Cup champions. A rookie takes the league by storm. Another second round exit.

It was an up-and-down season for the Washington Capitals. But as with all sports teams who don't get a parade, there's always next season. I'll take my best shot at sizing up the Caps roster, depth, strengths, and weakness for the eventual 2012-13 season. The key word here being "eventual," as NHL commissioner and woodland imp Gary Bettman has allowed the collective bargaining agreement between the player's association and the owners to expire for the third time in his nineteen-year career. Thanks a boatload, G-Betts.

DO NOT WANT.

[Note: Before reading my little piece of the internet, please read the analysis and opinions of those much more knowledgeable on these subjects than I am, notably Japers' Rink and Russian Machine Never Breaks, statistics from Hockeydb.com and Hockey-Reference.com, and salary info from CapGeek. Many photos taken by Chris Gordon of RMNB.]

-- Coaching --

Dale Hunter was hired as head coach two months into last season. The idea was that a former Caps great would command respect in the locker room, and his defensive system would help Washington win close games, especially in the playoffs. Hunter succeeded in helping the Caps defensively -- they gave up 3.32 goals per game under Bruce Boudreau, and only 2.62 goals per game under Hunter in the regular season. Add in 2.14 goals per game allowed in the playoffs, and it's clear the players bought into his system in their own end. But they also struggled to score goals -- Hunter's Caps scored 2.53 goals per game in the regular season and a measly 2.07 goals per game in the playoffs. This was a recipe for close games, where every contest could be won or lost in a single shift, and every goal scored or defensive breakdown was magnified and scrutinized. While not exactly ideal for my blood pressure, it did enable the Caps to beat a better, more consistent team in Boston. And although their luck ran out in New York, it's hard to blame Dale for trying to do it his way.

Hunter may be gone, but his animated .gifs live on forever.

General manager George McPhee promised that he would take his time during the search for a new head coach, and in truth six weeks went by without anyone in place behind the bench. Earlier, I cautioned against hiring a former legend, as history has shown little correlation between a great playing career and coaching a team to a Stanley Cup. But McPhee decided otherwise, and on June 28th he hired Adam Oates to take Hunter's place. Coincidentally, on that same day, Oates was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame for his storied playing career. Oates has some numbers that speak for themselves; 341 goals and 1,079 assists in 1,337 games, along with 42 goals and 114 assists in 163 playoff games, and five All-Star Game appearances. He is sixth all-time in assists. But what he doesn't have is a Stanley Cup, and he must believe Washington is a good place to begin his head coaching career in search of one. He spent the last three seasons as an NHL assistant, first in Tampa Bay and then New Jersey, where he just helped guide the Devils to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Oates has several things in common with Dale; both were centers, both were Capitals captains, both have long, impressive careers, and both looked like famous actors (Oates was a dead ringer for Ray Liotta, and Hunter kind of looks like a cross between Robin Williams and Patrick Swayze). But Oates is an improvement over Hunter in several aspects. First, he most certainly has a more creative offensive mind, and is given credit by the Devils faithful for running their power play and getting star forwards Ilya Kovalcuk and Zach Parise on track amid three head coaches in two years. Also, Oates is a superior communicator, already much more engaging to the DC press than Hunter ever was. How that will translate to the locker room is anyone's guess. Hunter certainly won over the room and was respected as "one of the guys." But in that regard, I'm guessing Oates will do just fine.

"For most, being inducted into the Hall of Fame and getting their first head coaching gig is the most important day of their life. For me... it was Thursday."

Also leaving the team are both of last season's assistants, Dean Evason and Jim Johnson. Evason, the lone holdover from the Boudreau era and the man who encouraged the Caps to "grab [their] fucking sack and fucking compete" in 24/7, was hired by the Nashville organization to be the head coach for their AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals. It's his first head coaching gig since the 2003-04 season, when he was the bench boss for the WHL's Vancouver Giants, and a great opportunity for Evason. Johnson is changing coasts and will be an assistant to Todd McLellan in San Jose. Along with Larry Robinson, that's quite a formidable coaching staff for the Sharks.

To replace them, McPhee and Oates brought in two familiar faces to the Caps organization. The first is Calle Johansson, the former blueliner who spent fourteen-plus years in Washington and holds the record for most games played in a Caps sweater at 983. Known for his solid two-way game, he played parts of six seasons with Oates, and has one year of coaching experience in his native Sweden. Calle Jo should shoulder much of the defensive responsibilities for the coaching staff next season.

Rocking the red before it was a marketing ploy.

The other assistant coach will be Tim Hunter, who was an assistant to Ron Wilson during Oates and Johansson's playing days. In fact, this will be (the new) Hunter's first NHL coaching job without Wilson also behind the bench. Hunter was known as a rough customer during his playing days, as he twice led the league in penalty minutes and finished his career with 3,146 PIMs in 815 games. His role will likely be to bring toughness, grit, and accountability to the forward ranks, letting Oates handle the offensive playmaking side of things.

Dat nose.

We'll get to the guys actually on the ice after the jump...

On Dale Hunter, Coaching, and Legends

On 28 November 2011, the Washington Capitals fired Bruce Boudreau, arguably the most successful head coach in their 38-year history. After taking the job two months into the 2007-08 season, he piloted the Caps to a division title, and won the Jack Adams Award, only the second in franchise history. In his second full season, the Caps won the Presidents' Trophy, a first for the team. He is the fastest coach to 200 victories in the modern era. His affable personality made him a fan favorite, and he entertained millions with food stains and trips to ice cream parlors in HBO's 24/7 series.

"More offense! Savory, delicious offense!"

Of course, nothing in the paragraph above mentions the postseason. Boudreau had a 2-4 playoff series record in DC, including a 1-3 record in game seven situations, and he never advanced past the second round. His wide-open style, which helped the Capitals score goals in bunches during the regular season, never clicked after the second week of April. The problem with Boudreau was also the manner in which off-seasons in Washington began:

• a home overtime loss in game seven to Philadelphia in 2008
• allowing five straight goals to Pittsburgh in game seven in 2009, also at home
• losing three straight games to eighth seeded Montreal, two at home, and scoring only one goal in each game after going up three games to one, in 2010
• getting swept by Tampa Bay in 2011

Each individual playoff year is different, and it's hard to pinpoint one or two problems that caused all of these losses. And a 17-20 playoff record means that every series (except for Tampa) was winnable. But the cumulative effect of all these playoff exits is pretty embarrassing.

In Boudreau's defense, his 201-88-40 regular season record with the Capitals is downright awesome. Anyone well-versed in statistics would agree that a 37-game sample carries less weight than a 329-game sample. But this isn't mathematics. It doesn't have to be fair or make sense. It's sports. And no one cares about regular season championships.

Bruce Boudreau and the Capitals got off to a pedestrian (by their standards) 12-9-1 start to the season in 2011-12. The coup de grâce was a 3-7-1 run where the Caps averaged just 2.27 goals per game. When all a coach has is regular season accolades and gaudy offensive totals, and no postseason success, they can be subject to heightened scrutiny. In my opinion, the blame placed on Boudreau for the Caps' ills was unfair. General manager George McPhee said that "the players were no longer responding to Bruce," which to me sounded like a convenient excuse. I was reminded of the old sports adage, "it's easier to fire one guy instead of an entire team." So Bruce Boudreau was let go. The Caps needed someone who could win the locker room and get them over the second round hump.

Enter Dale Hunter.

How my dad remembers Dale: the Aragorn of the Capitals.

For those of you unfamiliar with the history of the Washington Capitals, Dale Hunter is the Washington Capitals.

More after the jump...

Cleveland Browns NFL Draft 2012: Overreaching for Over-Age

Let's be honest. As a Browns fan, I'm used to disappointment in all aspects of a football team. And building through the draft is no different. Cleveland is a team that has made troubling picks over the past, well, forever. Only twice over the past decade have I breathed a sigh of relief after a Browns first-round pick, following the selection of Braylon Edwards (what a tease) and the highlight package for Joe Thomas. I'm no Mel Kiper, but I follow college football pretty closely, and I'd like to think I have a decent understanding of talent, value, and NFL projection. I can usually be impartial (except when it comes to former Alabama players) and I always want what is best for the team. Trading up or taking a blue chip is exciting, and trading down for depth is a bit of a bummer. But the latter is necessary for a successful, sustainable franchise.

That said, I entered this year's NFL Draft with three wishes:

• Take Trent Richardson with the 4th overall pick
• Find a lot of help for the offensive line
• Do not, under any circumstances, select Brandon Weeden

We'll score that as a 1.5 out of 3.

"HURR DURR"

More after the jump...

Buffalo Sabres at Washington Capitals: 28 March 2012

Following three straight weeks of announcements that the next time the Capitals played was "a huge game," my fiancée finally agreed with me. Coming into last night's game, Washington and Buffalo were tied with 84 points, but the Caps had the edge in the first tiebreaker with one more regulation plus overtime win. Both teams had six games left in the season. If either Buffalo or Washington were to win in regulation, it would be a massive blow to the other team's playoff chances. So we did what any good Caps fans would do -- we went to StubHub and bought the cheapest tickets we could find.

After catching up with some friends at Redline, we headed into the Verizon Center, justifiably nervous for the outcome. The Caps were starting, for all intents and purposes, their third string goalie. And although young Braden Holtby has played well in spurts, we got the feeling that it was a huge gamble on Dale Hunter's part. Sure enough, Holtby gave up three goals and was yanked only a few minutes into the 2nd period. The Caps offense could only muster one lousy goal before a terrible turnover at the power play point by Ovechkin led to a Sabres shortie that sealed Washington's fate. Now the 5-1 score is a little misleading. The Caps peppered Ryan Miller with 45 shots, and even though a lot of them were unscreened and from outside the slot, he stood tall when he had to and made some key saves on drives from Ovechkin and Laich, among others. Simply put, Buffalo had a world-class goalie, and the Capitals didn't.

Japers' recap compared it to the last game of the 2008-09 season for the Caps, a 6-2 throttling at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins in game seven of the conference semis. I remember watching that game at one of my favorite bars, Chadwicks. It was embarrassing, deflating, and in my estimation created the media firestorm which still lingers today about what is wrong with the Washington Capitals. And while the feeling last night wasn't as grim (there is, by definition, nothing more grim than losing a game seven) the questions surrounding the team are louder than ever. Forget Ovechkin -- he's signed through the 2020-21 season and will remain the captain despite the media's needling over his leadership abilities. But the Caps' current roster was assembled to win this year, and after decidedly not winning, come July 1st it may look very different. There are six relevant unrestricted free agents (Semin, Knuble, Halpern, Aucoin, Wideman, Vokoun) and two massive decisions to make on restricted free agents (Green, Carlson). Throw in two more tweener RFAs (Perreault, Beagle), the likely drama with their Russian imports (Kuznetsov, Galiev), and anyone who George McPhee considers trade bait (*coughSCHULTZcough*) and you could have over half of the active roster in flux.

That is, if McPhee still has a job after the season. Whatever happens between now and October, it should be interesting for everyone in the organization, from Ted Leonsis on down. Just don't ask me what I would do if I were McPhee or Hunter. I would have started Holtby last night, and just like Hunter, I would have been wrong.

Redskins Trade Up

NFL.com news: Redskins acquire second overall pick in deal with Rams

Washington gave up three first round picks ('12, '13, '14) and one second rounder ('12) presumably for the rights to Robert Griffin III. To which I say:

This Is Not My Fantasy

On Saturday, my friends and I had our annual fantasy baseball draft. We have tailored our league's selection process to create the maximum amount of work for me as commissioner. First, we have a 15-round auction portion, followed by a 9-round snake draft to complete our 24-man rosters. We call our beloved system "the drauction." Our budget for the auction portion is $225 ($15/player) and no dollar value is assigned to drafted or free agent players unless they are kept the following season for a flat rate. There are 11 teams in the league, 5x5 rotisserie scoring, with 4 OF spots.

I came into the day telling myself I was going to buy two out of three superstars who would be the cornerstones of my team; Justin Upton, Evan Longoria, and Troy Tulowitzki. They are my favorite non-Cubs in baseball, and I was prepared to go up to $45 for each one of them, essentially soaking up about 40% of my auction money for 13% of my auction players, if I was indeed successful in getting two. The first round of the auction saw Justin Verlander fall into my lap for below market value, but still at a steep enough price that I was wary of overspending for my targeted bats. So I let Longoria go for $41, which I thought was high but still below my ceiling, and intended to buy Upton and Tulo. To my surprise, Tulo went for $50, followed by Upton for $48. I give myself credit for my restraint, instead settling on Joey Votto for $44. The rest of the auction was a bit of panic mode on my part -- since most of my roster projections included Longo at third, I ended up overpaying (in my opinion) for Ryan Zimmerman at $26. I also overpaid for some of my favorite pitchers, and was left floating guys I wanted for $1 at the end of the auction and hoping everyone passed. It worked most of the time, but it cost me a shot at Matt Wieters, Michael Cuddyer, Dee Gordon, James Shields, B.J. Upton, Freddie Freeman, and Anibal Sanchez, all guys I thought were undervalued.

Now, without further ado, here is my team as it stands after draft day:

AUCTION

• Justin Verlander, SP, DET ($32)
• Joey Votto, 1B, CIN ($44)
• Michael Young, 1B/2B/3B, TEX ($20)
• Ryan Zimmerman, 3B, WAS ($26)
• J.J. Hardy, SS, BAL ($6)
• Brian McCann, C, ATL ($20)
• Jered Weaver, SP, LAA ($34)
• Adam Wainwright, SP, STL ($23)
• Matt Garza, SP, CHC ($9)
• Neil Walker, 2B, PIT ($2)
• Carlos Marmol, RP, CHC ($1)
• Colby Rasmus, OF, TOR ($1)
• Jordan Zimmermann, SP, WAS ($1)
• Derek Holland, SP, TEX ($2)
• Brandon Morrow, SP, TOR ($4)

DRAFT

• Martin Prado, 3B/OF, ATL
• Carlos Beltran, OF, STL
• J.J. Putz, RP, ARI
• Rafael Betancourt, RP, COL
• Nick Swisher, 1B/OF, NYY
• Peter Bourjos, OF, LAA
• Dexter Fowler, OF, COL
• Brett Myers, SP/RP, HOU
• Brennan Boesch, OF, DET

Well, there it is. Great starting pitching, good infield, atrocious outfield. It needs some work, but my "fantasy" of teaming up Upton, Tulo and Longo is long gone.

Analysis after the jump...

Florida Panthers at Washington Capitals: 7 February 2012

My buddy had an extra ticket to Tuesday's Panthers game in DC, so I jumped on it. Terrific night to go to the Verizon Center. The crowds at the Iron Horse, our pre-game bar, were pretty light. So we could catch up without jockeying between jersey fouls for a beer. Once the game started, it was a study on everything that could go right for the Caps:

• the starting line of Chimera-Perreault-Semin scored right off the bat
• Vokoun was sharp all night
• Clemmensen was not
• Ovechkin power play goal, yes please
• Alzner and Carlson played well when paired together
• Laich won 87.5% of his faceoffs essentially playing on one leg

It wasn't perfect - allowing 42 shots against can't be explained away by holding a lead for 59 minutes - but it's always nice to see a dominating win. Games at the VC are always enjoyable, and the win obviously makes it more so. Plus, the barbecue place on the 200 level was outstanding, those braided pretzels are to die for.

One thing that stuck out to me is how well both Chimera and Johansson skate. You see it on television, and you notice. But seeing it live is something else altogether. With Chimera extended through the 2013-14 season, it's easy to see how those two can make up the majority of a dangerous third line moving forward. Of course for that to happen, Nick Backstrom needs to come back healthy and effective as the first line center, and general manager George McPhee must bring in a legitimate second line center. Where have I heard that latter part before? Oh right, each of the last three summers.

Still not optimistic about this team's playoff chances (if they make it) but it was refreshing to see a complete sixty-minute game from the Caps, especially while Backstrom and Green are still on the shelf.