Response to Peerless

I applaud our friend over at The Peerless Prognosticator for his well-researched and thorough post on experience on defense being a major factor when it comes to success in the playoffs in the past decade. Of the ten Stanley Cup defenses he profiled, I would argue the Capitals are most similar to the 2000 New Jersey Devils with their two rookies and the 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning, who only had one real veteran but an otherwise overlooked but quick, puck-moving defense corps.  Many of those teams, though, traded for at least one experienced blueliner during the season. I agree with Peerless that we could stand an upgrade over Tyler Sloan, but even so, there is still hope. 

Capitals Recall Alzner and Beagle

The Washington Capitals have announced the recalls of Karl Alzner and Jay Beagle from the AHL Hershey Bears.  Their AHL player pages are linked below their pictures. 

 Karl Alzner               Jay Beagle

Capital Inflation - New Career Highs

Much has been made of the tremendous offensive season the Capitals are having collectively and the scoring exploits of certain team members, but I thought it would be instructive to show just how many career seasons are going on right now for the Caps:

-Nicklas Backstrom has set a new career high in Goals (29) and Points (89).  His previous highs set last season were 22 Goals and 88 Points.

-Eric Belanger has set new career highs in Assists (25) and Points (39).  His previous highs were 24 Assists and 37 Points.