Okay, fair enough. The Caps are 15-3-0 against the Southeast division. Even though they have played more games against Southeast division opponents, they have lost fewer games to the Southeast division than any other team in the Eastern Conference. Pittsburgh is 8-4-2 vs. the Southeast. New Jersey is 12-5-0 and Buffalo is 7-6-1.

Now granted, some of those Southeast Division losses for Pittsburgh, New Jersey and Buffalo came at the hands of the Washington Capitals themselves, so let’s see how Washington stacks up against the other Eastern Divisions.

Washington is 10-4-3 versus the Northeast Division. That means 23 of Washington’s 101 points have come at the hands of Northeastern opponents. Buffalo, who currently leads the Northeast Division with 82 total points, has only garnered 22 points against their divisional opponents.

Washington is 12-3-3 versus the Atlantic Division. There are no teams in the Atlantic division that have more wins than Washington’s 12. Pittsburgh is 12-7-1 versus their own division; New Jersey (ranked second in the ATL) is 12-7-1 also, and Philadelphia (3^rd) is 12-6-1. The Capitals 27 points off the Atlantic division are more than any other team in that division.

Now the Caps’ 33-point lead in their division is what clinched their playoff spot, but they also have a 14-point lead over the entire Eastern Conference. The top three teams in the Atlantic Conference are separated by 9-points, and the top four of the Northeast division are separated by 10.

Washington also has a 5-point lead over the rest of the league, so maybe the critics might want to consider that before chalking the Caps up as a product of a weak division. 68 of Washington’s 101 points have come at the hands of their other non-divisional opponents.

So, moving on, let’s talk about Alex Ovechkin’s “game misconduct” penalty from yesterday and possible multi-game suspension. Let me start off by saying the refs were right to call a penalty. Most everyone believes that “boarding” was the right call. If you don’t see that as a penalty, maybe you shouldn’t join this argument because you judgment is clearly biased.

Here’s the official NHL rule on Boarding 42.1 “A boarding penalty shall be imposed on any player or goalkeeper who checks an opponent in such a manner that causes the opponent to be thrown violently in the boards. The severity of the penalty, based upon the degree of violence of the impact with the boards, shall be at the discretion of the Referee.”

Now, watching the replay, you can clearly see Ovechkin shove Campbell as they both went to fly around the back of the net. Campbell was already low, and the hit was ill-timed, but if you watch the replay, and are honest with yourself, boarding, by definition, is the right call; same as an unintentional high-stick, the outcome determines the penalty, not the player’s intent.

…but wait, there’s more; 42.3 of the NHL rules “Major Penalty – The Referee, at his discretion, may assess a major penalty, based on the degree of violence of the impact with the boards, to a player or goalkeeper guilty of boarding an opponent.” See, it doesn’t refer to the “intent to injure” and leaves it at the discretion of the referees. Campbell did hit the boards pretty hard and head-first.

Very few rules refer to “the intent” of a player; this is usually handled by the referee’s discretion. An unintentional high-stick (when you “accidentally” hit an opponent in the head or face with your stick) is a minor penalty. If you hit an opponent hard enough to draw blood, even if you didn’t intend to hit him, it’s an automatic “double-minor” (back-to-back minor penalties of two minutes each served one after the other by the offending player).

Now, let’s consider how boarding can be called. If a player knocks down another player close enough to the boards that the other player goes full speed into the lower-boards, that’s the definition of a minor penalty. The other degrees are not as clearly defined.

If the ref feels it’s unintentional, he may, at his discretion, leave it as a minor penalty. If the other player hits the boards with a great degree of force, but it still seems “unintentional” the ref can call it a double minor. If it seems that the player intentionally knocked the other player down, and rode him hard into the lower boards, the ref can call that a major penalty.

In this case, Alex did knock him down, and both players went hard to the boards. At full speed (remember, the refs can’t see all the different camera angles we can, and they can only see it at full speed) it looks like the definition of a major penalty.

Now here’s the rub; Section 42.5 “Game Misconduct Penalty – When a major penalty is imposed under this rule for a foul resulting in an injury to the face or head of an opponent, a game misconduct shall be imposed.” Campbell (the player knocked down by Ovechkin) did not return to the game. It sucks, but it’s in the rules; Campbell was injured (or at least reported he was) so by the rules, Game Misconduct is automatic.

Now, here’s the kicker; Section 42.6 “Any player or goalkeeper who incurs a total of two (2) game misconducts under Rule 42 and/or Rule 44, in either Regular season or Play-offs, shall be suspended automatically for the next game of his team. For each subsequent game misconduct penalty the automatic suspension shall be increased by one game.”

This will be Ovechkin’s third Game Misconduct of the year. By rule he should receive a mandatory two game suspension.

I know; Matt Cooke (of Pittsburgh) throws an elbow into Marc Savard (of Boston), hard enough to knock Savard out for the season (Savard was carried out on a stretcher) and not only is he not penalized in the game, but he isn’t even chastised by the league. Meanwhile, Ovechkin, who didn’t intend to hurt Campbell, was not only thrown out of the game, but will most likely receive a (at least) two-game suspension.

The league office needs to review this. They need to come out and say that the penalty should have been ruled a double-minor instead of a major penalty. They need to over-rule the game-misconduct and waive the suspension. While the refs did not have the luxury of multi-angle, slow motion replay; the league office does.

I don’t think it’ll happen. The league has tried very hard to paint Ovechkin as nothing more than a “goon.”His previous Game Misconducts were “trumped up” calls. Watch the replays of those hits. Neither of them were as bad as anything done by Matt Cooke.

Last season, Matt Cooke played for the Washington Capitals, and his team-mate Donald Brashear was suspended for five games during the playoffs for a similar hit (though Donald didn’t throw an elbow). The league said it was Brashear’s “obvious intent to injure” that resulted in the suspension, but the player hit by Brashear didn’t even leave the game (certainly not on a stretcher like Savard did).

So, what’s the league to do? No matter what they do, someone’s not gonna be happy. If they suspend Ovechkin, fans nationwide are going to be up in arms about suspending the two-time MVP for two or more games while letting Matt Cooke, a relative nobody skate away scot-free.

If they don’t suspend him, fans of other teams nationwide are going to scream that Ovechkin is getting superstar treatment. What I’m going to say next is probably going to surprise everyone, including my wife.

To hell with it; suspend him. It’s in keeping with what the league wants to do anyway, and I really don’t want to hear it from every other fan of every other team. The Caps were down 3-0 to Chicago (the third best team in the league) and they came back to win 4-3 without him.

The Caps are a lock for the playoffs anyway, and they’ve proven they can win without him. So instead of six 20+ goal-scorers, they’ll have five. Ovechkin serves his time, comes back to play, and nobody can say a damn thing.

I don’t agree with a suspension, but if the league doesn’t suspend him, then people will howl about how the Caps are getting preferential treatment and it will tarnish a possible Stanley Cup win. We fans know that the suspension is a crock, but do you really want to hear it from the rest of the league? The ignorami who will say “well of course the Caps won because the league loves Ovechkin?”

Yeah, me neither. Leave that kind of stuff for Pittsburgh. The Caps can win in spite of the bad calls, and even in spite of any suspension the league feels fit to hand out to Ovechkin. Teams still have to worry about Backstrom, Semin, Knuble, Laich, and Green. That should be enough to keep ‘em busy.

C! A! P! S! Caps! Caps! Caps!

The Phantoms, the only team in the AHL that can boast of placing three blemishes on the Bears’ record, gave the visitors all that they could handle in the oscillating affair, twice grabbing one-goal leads after falling behind early in the contest.

The Bears took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Jay Beagle at 4:34. Beagle pounced upon the rebound of a Mathieu Perreault point blank attempt, and poked the puck behind Phantoms’ netminder, Johan Backlund, to pot his 11th goal of the season.

Less than two minutes after Beagle’s goal, an outstanding individual effort by Alexandre Giroux led to his 34th marker of the campaign, an unassisted tally.

“I was coming from the bench and the guy bobbled,” Giroux said. “The guy in the zone was standing still, so I tried to make a move on him. Then, I didn’t have enough speed to go around the defenseman, so I stopped and took a shot between his legs. I don’t think the goalie saw it.”

Greg Amadio’s cross checking infraction at 9:50 put the Phantoms on their first power play, and ultimately put them on the board for the first time, with defenseman, Marc-Andre Bourdon, lighting the lamp at 11:32.

Steve Pinizzotto’s punishing hit on Bourdon behind the Phantoms’ net, which put Bourdon on his back, resulted in his defensive partner, Sean Curry, taking a double minor penalty on Pinizzotto at 16:02.

Curry’s aggressive actions gave the Bears a golden opportunity to finish out the period on a positive note by potting a power play goal, but Adirondack’s penalty killing unit thwarted those plans and the teams retreated to the locker room after twenty minutes with the Bears leading, 2-1.

The second period belonged solely to the Phantoms, who netted the only two goals of the frame, including a soft goal that went in off of the back of Bears’ netminder, Michal Neuvirth.

“I thought we played well in the first, and came into the locker room with the 2-1 lead,” said Bears’ head coach, Mark French. “I thought in the second, we were dominated physically, and lost a lot of battles and races to the puck.”

In the forgetful second period, the Bears did not officially test Backlund for the first time until 10:25 into the frame. In all, the high-powered Bears’ offense put just three shots on net in the period, with Andrew Gordon garnering the only shot on net by a forward.

Early in the third period, Hershey captain, Bryan Helmer, was whistled off by referee, Jamie Koharski, for a cross-checking penalty on Phantoms’ forward, Stefan Legein. After realizing that he was being penalized, Helmer blew a fuse and drew an additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty as well as ten-minute misconduct.

“Sure, the guy embellished it,” said Helmer. “He got in my way when I had a chance to get the puck out of the zone, and then they got a great scoring chance because of that. I just lost my cool, and I shouldn’t have done that, but that’s the stuff you learn by.”

With Helmer in the penalty box, Steve Pinizzotto struck with in shorthanded mode, netting his 11th goal of the season, and fourth in short-handed style.

“They tried to dump it in, and they missed the puck,” Pinizzotto said. “Wellar made it a good play by throwing it up to Joudrey, who dove and sent me in on the breakaway, and I beat him low to the glove side.”

Pinizzotto, who of late seems to be able to draw the wrath of his opponents even quicker while sporting the protective cage apparatus that he wears after being injured in a scrap against Albany, wishes he could drop the mitts, but has found another way to contribute by putting up consistent offensive numbers.

“It sucks that I can’t fight, particularly against team like this who want to put on a show for their fans,” Pinizzotto admitted. “The points are starting to come now, which is good, and I feel that I can do a lot to help this team out.”

Ironically, just as Helmer’s first penalty was about to expire, Legein struck on the power to give the Phantoms another one-goal lead.

Amadio, making amends for his earlier actions, drew an interference penalty on Phantoms’ defenseman, Joey Mormina, at 10:37.

While Mormina waited out his sentence, Giroux struck again on the power play at 11:58 to tie up the affair. For Giroux, the multi-goal effort was his second in his last two games played in Glens Falls.

“We know what we have to do when we come here. It’s always a battle and these guys always play really, really hard, and they are particularly intense against our line,” said Giroux.

“I thought all night we moved the puck well, but didn’t shoot enough. Then we were shooting and they were blocking the shots and getting in the lanes; but, on my goal, Miskovic made a great play to Aucoin and he did what he always does, finds me in an open spot.”

Giroux’s goal would be the last of regulation and the teams needed extra time to settle the score in the topsy-turvy battle.

Justice was served for the visitors from the Keystone State when Helmer roofed a wrist shot over the fallen Backlund just 1:33 into the session, giving the Bears their 22nd road triumph of the season.

“I thought the guys played really well in the third period, responding from a bad second period,” said Helmer, who watched the majority of the third period from the penalty box.

“Bourque and Pinizzotto made the play on the overtime goal, and I actually had two chances. The first one I put right in his pads, but I got a second chance, and put it in the net. It’s nice when you can come back and chip in like that.”

“We really came out hard in the third. Going into the third, we weren’t happy because we hadn’t played a good game. We wanted to break the record, and we knew what was on the line,” said Bears’ center, Keith Aucoin.

Kane initiated the scoring at 16:10 of the first period denting the twine for the 20th time this season.

“I gave it to Bourque up high and he went down low and made a great pass to me,” said Kane, who has reached the 20-goal mark twice in his career, both times with the Bears. “I was all alone in the slot and I was able to put it far side.”

Adirondack’s Andreas Nodl knotted the score at one by fending off defenseman, Karl Alzner, and then beating Bears’ goaltender, Michal Neuvirth through the five-hole at 18:24.

Rob Bellamy gave the Phantoms a 2-1 lead 6:11 into the second period by taking advantage of Neuvirth turning the puck over in the trapezoid behind the net and banking the puck off the glove and body of the second year netminder.

The Bears opened the third period on a power play and seemingly tied the game when Chris Bourque’s bullet appeared to bounce quickly in and out of the net. Though the goal light went on, the goal was waived off and play continued. Shortly after the controversial shot, Zach Miskovic’s missile from the point eluded Phantoms’ netminder, Johan Backlund, and officially tied the game at two.

At 6:25 of the final frame, Aucoin, thanks to a solid screen provided by Kane, put the home team in front for the second time.

“My job on the power play is to go stand in front of the net and screen the goalie,” Kane said. “That’s what I was doing, and Aucoin was actually trying to pass it to me and it just went through me and Mormina and got through the goalie, too.”

Hershey head coach, Mark French, who was not with the organization when Kane captained the club to the Calder Cup in 2006, realizes what Kane’s presence means to the team.

“He’s every bit a professional,” said French. “He’s a great asset in our dressing room, and a workman’s type player. You appreciate his work ethic. He shows up every day with his lunch box and his work shoes and he goes to work. I think everybody can appreciate the type of player he is. He’s very versatile, as you mentioned. He can step up and play, as he did at times this year, on our top line, or he could play on your third-line checking line and do each equally as well.”

Kane capped off the scoring with an empty net goal at 19:40, establishing a new career-high goal total of 21.

“It’s nice. When you come so close and don’t get there, you want to get there,” said Kane of breaking the 20-goal barrier. “It’s a good feeling to get it out of the way, and now I’ll just keep going.”

While playing against players that one called teammates just last season may present problems for younger, less experienced players, for Kane, it’s all in a day’s work.

“It’s a lot of fun to go out there and play against your friends. I’ve been around a bit and done it a lot, so I think it brings the best out of me sometimes.”

After 10 years of service, Chris Samuels officially made the announcement to look after his health as opposed to lacing on cleats every Sunday during the fall.

This decision is not a surprise to most and comes after a battle with spinal stenosis that came to a head in Washington’s Week 5 loss to the Carolina Panthers last October.

Of course, because Chris has been my favorite player since his rookie season in 2000, I would love for him to continue for several more years and see him play at a high level. But in this case, I am lucky enough to say I was able to see my favorite player’s final play in person, since I was in attendance at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C. on October 11th.

Thank you for your 10 years of dedicated professionalism and service that you have provided this franchise. In an era of ups and downs for Redskins fans, you brought a fresh air of consistency and dominant play to the line.

Luckily, Chris will continue to stay in the area and work with the players this offseason as a coaching intern. Hopefully the lessons learned from “Head Hog” Joe Bugel will translate into a similarly successful coaching career for him. If his playing career is any indication, the lessons will translate into coaching very fluidly.

Will Samuels’ six Pro Bowl appearances and exceptional play be enough to put him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame? That remains to be seen but if it does happen, I will be there.

Thank you, Chris.

Fans are understandably nervous about the possibility of a lockout in 2011, but in the mean-time, it’s looking like 2010 will go uncapped. The rumors of what the Redskins would do in an uncapped year began the moment someone realized this was an actual possibility.

“Look out for Dan Snyder,” they laughed, “an uncapped year and an owner that sees money as no object? It’ll be like Y2K all over again!” I’m paraphrasing of course, but with every release of a high-priced free agent, the Redskins’ name gets mentioned as a possible landing point complete with golden parachute.

Time to face facts fellas; the Dan Snyder of ’99, ’00, and ’01 is long since gone. He’s not the “wide-eyed know it all” he once was. A decade of losing and marginal seasons will do that to ya. I put forth that Snyder has let his coaches make the player recommendations dating all the way back to the Spurrier era. Certainly were a lot of former Gators on the team back then.

We have not seen a coach since Turner that has seemed unhappy with the personnel moves, and in most cases, we’ve seen it reported that Snyder, while party to the discussions, has let his coaching staff have their say. Jason Taylor was a move that involved Zorn, Blache, Cerrato and Snyder. They each agreed it was the move that needed to be made; even the Washington Post reported it that way (and they have never gone out of their way to make Snyder look like anything but an idiot).

Just prior to Michael Vick’s release from prison, the Washington Post reported that Snyder asked if the team should go after him, and it was reported that Cerrato and Zorn both agreed that Vick was not a good fit for the team. Vick was eventually picked up by Philadelphia.

Many credited Cerrato as nothing more than a puppet for Dan Snyder; a straw-man to take all the blame. Even with Cerrato’s “resignation” many felt it was nothing more than a scapegoating orchestrated by Snyder to take the heat off of himself. That could be true, but then it doesn’t seem to fit very well with Snyder’s next two moves. Snyder could have promoted someone from in house to Cerrato’s position, and kept up the “straw-man” game as many speculated, but he didn’t. He picked up two of the most respected professionals in the league in Bruce Allen and Mike Shanahan, and gave them control over all football decisions.

Snyder has done everything he can to show the fans that he has taken a back-seat approach. He can’t leave the picture all-together, it is his money after all, and no owner is completely out of the picture. The one thing Snyder has always done well is get the coaches what they want. If a coach says “we need this guy” Snyder will get him. Even Joe Gibbs, now two years removed from the team can’t say enough good things about Snyder. Gibbs was credited by Shanahan for convincing him to take the job.

So, the big question is, what are the Redskins going to do in the draft? It’s not every year you get a first round pick as high as fourth overall. Sure you can trade down and get more picks, but when you need to be that high, how many picks are you going to need to give up to get it?

Many of the same people, who think Campbell isn’t worth his role as the starting QB, think that drafting a QB is a waste of time. I say take a QB. You’ve got at least one more year with Campbell, get one and get him ready to go by next year. Then you can decide whether you want to stay with Campbell, or start your rookie. Dump Collins, and bring up Colt Brennan as the number two. Let’s face facts; this is not a Super Bowl year. Even if Campbell goes down, we aren’t riding the arm of Collins into the playoffs.

If you’re not going to go QB, than go HB. Portis has clearly lost a step, and it might be time for us to cultivate a new running back. As far as running backs go, Shanahan has always had a good eye for them.

For those of you howling about the offensive line at this point, we don’t need ten picks to get quality O-linemen. You can pick up perfectly good offensive linemen in the second and third, and even fourth rounds. They can also be found in free-agency. I may be wrong, but I’ve never seen a single offensive linemen credited with being the Super Bowl MVP. It’s usually a QB or a running back, and they were usually taken in the first round.

You just don’t see a team saying “we really won this game because of the outstanding play of our left guard.” I’m not saying that we don’t draft linemen, but they don’t all have to be this year, and they certainly don’t have to be as high as #4. I know the argument is to trade down and get two first-rounders, but again, what happens next year when you want a QB or a Running Back? How many picks are we going to need to trade to get as high as fourth?  Solid, MVP-type Running backs and Quarterbacks are much less likely to be found in free-agency. Drew Brees being the exception; not the rule.

Granted, a solid offensive line could do wonders for this team, but if we learned anything from last year, play-calling was as much to blame for the losses as the talent on the field. The team’s offensive production picked up markedly when the play-calling duties were handed over to Sherm Lewis. A team that couldn’t beat the 0-fer Lions carried the Super Bowl Champion Saints into overtime.

I’m not saying we are one or two players away. How many offensive changes have we seen now over the past ten years? The first year is always the hardest while the players all learn new lingo and plays. We are getting a new offense AND a new defense. This year is going to be tough for us fans as well as the team.  Personally, I think we’ll be lucky to get to 8-8.

I like the move to get Allen and Shanahan, and I’m excited for the future in the long term. I will hate seeing us go through yet another losing season, but I can at least temper it with the knowledge that we have people who know what they are doing, who have a combined three Super Bowl rings in the free-agency era, running things for this team.

Go ‘Skins!

I knew this game was big, but when I got a call shortly after Team USA tied the game from someone who never watches hockey to ask me “did you see that?!” I knew it was a good game.

It’s a rare thing when the losing goaltender is named MVP, but Ryan Miller certainly earned it, and when he returns to Buffalo Wednesday night, I expect his home crowd is going to salute him appropriately.

For the Caps, it’s back to business. After going into the Olympic break on a three game losing skid, the Caps would like to right the ship. It’s never easy for the Caps, and their matchup in Buffalo on Wednesday pits the highest scoring team in the league versus arguably the best goaltender in the world (at least as noted in these most recent Winter Olympics).

The last time Washington squared off against Buffalo was just before Christmas in a 5-2 win at Verizon Center. Earlier that month, Buffalo shut-out Washington in a 2-0 game in Buffalo.

On the heels of that matchup, the Caps will return to DC Thursday night where the Tampa Bay Lightning will be waiting. The last time Washington faced Tampa it was a 3-2 decision for the Caps as part of their 14-game winning streak. Many Caps fans will remember the 7-4 loss in Tampa that sparked that winning streak in early January.

The Caps round out their week with a matchup Saturday versus the Rangers. The Caps last game versus the Rangers ended in a 6-5 decision for Washington in early February; also part of that winning streak. Washington is 2-1-0 versus New York this year, and that one loss came way back in October in a 4-3 loss at Verizon Center.

The Caps hit the ice yesterday with their full team back on the ice. They have 20 more games to play over the course of 40 nights. I don’t expect any big trades before the deadline, but you never know with George McPhee; the man has pulled rabbits out of hats before.

It’s good to be back, I’ll be sporting my Brooks Laich jersey tomorrow!

C! A! P! S! CAPS! CAPS! CAPS!

Kevin Basped, DE, Nevada
Arrelious Benn, WR Illinois
Eric Berry, DB Tennessee
Jahvid Best, RB California
Navorro Bowman, LB Penn State
Sam Bradford, QB Oklahoma
Dezmon Briscoe, WR Kansas
Antonio Brown, WR Central Michigan
Dez Bryant, WR Oklahoma State
Bryan Bulaga, T Iowa
Morgan Burnett, DB Georgia Tech
Bruce Campbell, T Maryland
Jimmy Clausen, QB Notre Dame
Rennie Curran, LB Georgia
Anthony Davis, T Rutgers
Carlos Dunlap, DE Florida
Jonathan Dwyer, RB Georgia Tech
Dominique Franks, DB Oklahoma
Clifton Geathers, DE South Carolina
Thaddeus Gibson, DE Ohio State
Jermaine Gresham, TE Oklahoma
Everson Griffen, DE Southern California
Rob Gronkowski, TE Arizona
Joe Haden, DB Florida
Aaron Hernandez, TE Florida
Kareem Jackson, DB Alabama
Chad Jones, DB Louisiana State
Reshad Jones, DB Georgia
Lynvall Joseph, DT East Carolina
Darius Marshall, RB Marshall
Ryan Mathews, RB Fresno State
Rolando McClain, LB Alabama
Gerald McCoy, DT Oklahoma
Joe McKnight, RB Southern California
Shawnbrey McNeal, RB Southern Methodist
Carlton Mitchell, WR South Florida
Joshua Moore, DB Kansas State
Derrick Morgan, DE Georgia Tech
Jerell Norton, DB Arkansas
Jason Pierre-Paul, DE South Florida
Maurkice Pouncey, C Florida
Brian Price, DT UCLA
Dennis Rogan, DB Tennessee
Jevan Snead, QB Mississippi
Amari Spievey, DB Iowa
Golden Tate, WR Notre Dame
Demaryius Thomas, WR Georgia Tech
Earl Thomas, DB Texas
Donovan Warren, DB Michigan
Damian Williams, WR Southern California
Mike Williams, WR Syracuse
Jason Worilds, DE Virginia Tech
Major Wright, DB Florida

At offensive tackle, those two players are Russell Okung of Oklahoma State and Anthony Davis of Rutgers. Okung might be the best pass blocker in the nation, using tremendous balance and footwork in conjunction with long arms and his 6′8″ frame. He also plays nasty as a run blocker, and is sound technically in that area as well. Davis came out early as a junior for this draft, and has the potential to be an extremely physical tackle at the next level. He’s 6′5″, 330 lbs, and moves well for his size. While his size and strength will be an asset, he will need to show more consistency and better technique to be an elite player in the NFL.

The quarterbacks who could draw the Redskins’ interest in the first round are Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford and Jimmy Clausen out of Notre Dame. Bradford is a Heisman winner, who has superior accuracy and touch.  It is believed that he very well could have been the number one pick last draft had he come out early. By staying  at Oklahoma for his senior year he may have shot himself in the foot. He injured his throwing shoulder not once, but twice last season, and his arm strength was already average. Bradford is also somewhat difficult to evaluate because Oklahoma was such a talented offense, with open receivers everywhere and great pass protection.

Clausen’s stock is rising and he could very well be the number one quarterback on most teams’ draft board when it’s all said and done. He shows great accuracy and intelligence, with sufficient mobility and arm strength. His touch on deep passes is also very impressive. Playing in Charlie Weis’ pro-style system at Notre Dame will give him a distinct advantage over Bradford, who played in a spread offense. That knowledge, along with his competitiveness, could make a good impression in interview sessions at the combine. He will not throw at the combine however, due to a foot injury. He and Bradford will hold private workouts that could determine which of them is selected first, being that they are very closely rated at the moment.

Whichever of these positions isn’t addressed in the first round will very likely be addressed in the second, because offensive tackle is the biggest need position and Shanahan has reportedly stated that he will select a quarterback at some point in the first two rounds. However, they could always select a guard, a runningback, or a defensive back in the second round. Also, if the Skins fall in love with some of the elite players in this draft, such as defensive tackles Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy, or Tennessee safety Eric Berry, they make take such a player if they somehow fall to pick number four.

The NFL draft is a fluid situation, and the NFL combine will shake up a lot of things. Keep an eye out for the Combine Recap in the blogs, as well as mock drafts and opinion pieces. Who knows how much will change between now and April.

They got two of a possible six points last week. That might be great if you were the last place team in the league, but when you’re riding high atop the NHL, two out of six doesn’t cut it. So what happened? Personally for me, I think the beginning of the end started with the emotional overtime win versus Pittsburgh.

After trailing 4-1, the Caps managed to battle back and win 6-5 and the celebration was akin to winning game seven. It was the second time the Caps had beaten Pittsburgh in their 14-game winning streak. After a bounce back like that, how could any team beat them?

I think the Caps began to believe their own press. Who needs defense when you can overcome a three goal deficit in the third period? When the Caps skated against Montreal, the Canadiens scored on their very first shot before the game was a minute old. The Caps didn’t get worried; they bounced back and scored one of their own. The Caps even took the lead to start the second period…but then they got sloppy. Montreal scored four goals in the second period and put Washington in a 5-2 hole. Sure, it didn’t help matters that the refs got together and waved off a goal without any form of video review, but when you give up four goals in a period, you have to recognize that you have a serious problem.

You wouldn’t pull your goalie for the whole game would you? Of course not! Why? Well sure, it gives you the extra attacker, and you have an offensive advantage, but it’s a lot easier for your opponent to score on you than it is for you to score on them. When you don’t play defense, and you’re not careful with the puck, you have left your goalie on an island.

The Caps went on their high scoring winning streak by being solid in their own end. It wasn’t just Theodore, it was defensemen being in the right position and sweeping rebounds into the corners. It’s not just the defensemen; forwards have to be back there to clean up the corners on the back-check. They can’t all be waiting at the blue-line for the outlet pass, they have to get back there and help clean up the boards.

In Montreal, the Caps made a last second score that forced overtime. Just like in Pittsburgh, they forced overtime through sheer will. They felt like the game was theirs for the taking…right up until Plekanec scored the game winner for Montreal with :08 seconds left in the overtime period.

So they lost, right? It had to happen sometime. The puck just didn’t bounce their way. They still bounced back from a three goal deficit, nothing to worry about, they’ll get ‘em next time, right?

Well, not exactly. Y’see, when the streak was hot, everyone wanted to be part of it. Now that the burden of the streak was over, they didn’t have all that pressure. So the next night when they went into Ottawa, they could make some changes. The Caps welcomed back Semyon Varlamov, and some guys with minor injuries decided to sit this one out. The Caps found themselves down 3-1 at the end of the first, but they rallied back to tie it 4-4 at the end of the second period.

It was time to turn on the offense. They had just scored three goals in Montreal in the third, and had scored two versus Pittsburgh in the third, and now they had their hot-shot goaltender back in net. Varlamov was 16-1-3 in the regular season, who needs defense when you’ve got him back there between the pipes?

Instead, the Caps gave up two goals early in the third, and even though Alex Semin became the third consecutive Capital to get a hat-trick in three consecutive games, Ottawa showed the Caps that the best defense is really to play defense.

The Caps had been handed their first regulation loss in 15 games; they lost 6-5.

The coach’s words were finally starting to sink in. You can’t expect to win if you let your opponents’ score five or more goals in a game. Sure it’s possible, the Caps had proven that versus Pittsburgh, but you can’t sustain it.

In the Caps’ final game (final game before the Olympic break) versus St. Louis, we saw more of a commitment to defense, but there were still some areas of concern; mostly in transition and puck protection. The Caps’ were turning the puck over way to many times in the neutral-zone creating odd man breaks going to other way. The defense was much more solid, but it’s hard to play defense when you give up a break-away or a two-on-one.

The Caps enter this Olympic break on a three game skid, so most of the team will have plenty to think about over these next two weeks.

Certainly, this isn’t the end of the world for Washington. They are still first place in the league, even if it is only by one-point. They still have a 13-point lead in their conference, and are in no danger of missing the play-offs. The Caps’ 27-point lead in their division is two points shy of being more than the combined margins of all the other divisions.

The Caps could lose more than half of their remaining games, and still win their division.

So, now we have the Olympics for the next couple of weeks. The media world is a-buzz about Team Canada. I’m so sick of hearing about Team Canada I’m ready to stick sharp objects in my ears to dull the pain. Personally, I’m wanting to hear more about Team Russia. With six current and former Caps on the team (Ovechkin, Semin, Varlamov, Gonchar, Kozlov and Federov) how could I not pull for them? Add to that Malkin, Datsuk, Kovalchuk, and Afinogenov, and San Jose Sharks’ (who happen to be second in the league) goaltender Evgeni Nabokov and it certainly looks like Russia is going to be hard to beat.

With the snubbing of Capitals defenseman Mike Green (the highest scoring defenseman in the league, mind you) and Vincent Lecavalier from Tampa in favor of “west coasters” I’m just this side of rooting against Team Canada. Who am I fooling; of course I’m rooting against Team Canada!

Sure, I’ll be happy if somehow Team USA surprises everyone and takes the gold, but my heart lies with the Caps, and Team Russia has the most of them. How could I root for anyone else?

C! A! P! S! Caps! Caps! Caps!

I’ve spent too much time trying to defend the guy, and trying to tell other Redskin fans how right he often is, to do so again here. Some like him, some don’t. That’s up to the individual.

But the clip of him going off about Clinton Portis is quite simply the best rant I’ve ever heard on a radio show. Ever.

Download the clip from here.

Lavar just takes ‘rant’ to a whole… ‘nother… level…

Dan Steinberg provided a transcript of what was said at D.C. Sports Bog, but as he says in the intro, reading the transcript doesn’t even come close to doing it justice.

You have to check it out, it’s just under twenty minutes long.

Wow.

Lavar, buddy… that was simply off the hook.