Taking Out The Garbage

In what has now turned into an ongoing series of ‘how do they score’ pieces, we’ve learned two things:


1. Alex Ovechkin is not a One Trick Pony as many believe.

2. Alex Semin scores with his long-range wrist shot

Now, in what I hope will be an interesting analysis, we’ll take a look at our first line garbage man, Mike Knuble. Everyone knows Knuble has made his living sitting on goalies within 5’ of the opposition’s goal. The traffic he creates by screening the goalie, drawing the attention of defensemen, and just being a pain in the butt likely lead to many more goals than he’ll ever get on the stat sheet for. But on a skill based team like last year’s Caps, there existed the possibility that Mike would get away from his bread and butter. Once again, we take a look back through the video machine at each of Mike’s 29 goals.

As with the two Alexes, I placed each of Knuble’s goals in a category. Because this is Mike Knuble we’re talking about, it’s only right to start out with two main categories, ‘Garbage’ and ‘Skill’, and subdivide those:

Garbage Goals - Rebound Goals, Tip-ins, Goals from a pass into a low position (near the goaltender)

Skill Goals - Goals scored while on an offensive rush, odd-man rush goals, empty net goals

As you probably guessed, Mike is a garbage man, with 19 of his 29 goals coming from within 5’ of the opposing goaltender. Of those 19 goals, 14 came on rebounds from a teammate’s shot, 3 came on re-directions, and another 2 came from a pass to him in a low position. Just as importantly, Mike manages to do all this while avoiding the penalties usually associated with dirty work (only 2 Goaltender Interference penalties).

What you may not have guessed is that while Mike certainly does make his living in the crease, he can still score the occasional skill goal. 6 of his goals were scored while on an offensive rush (with 4 of those coming from a hard shot from the right side) while another 3 came on odd-man breaks (specifically 2-on-1s). Add in the lone empty-net goal (scored from the right side, while on an offensive rush) and it’s clear that this garbage man can hang with the young guns without trying to be one.

The important aspect of Mike’s offensive production comes from doing what others are afraid to do. Mike’s rebound goals aren’t simple ‘scoop up a rebound and tap it in’ goals; they’re hard working, ‘bull over the goalie/defenseman, score at all costs’ goals. That kind of play inspires teammates to do the same. Players like Brooks Laich, Matt Bradley and even Eric Fehr seemed to emulate Knuble's play as the season progressed.

Mike Knuble didn’t have a 20+ goal season until he was 31, and has now had 7 in a row. Had he not been injured early in the season, Mike could have had a career year in just about every offensive category. Given the good luck of a healthy 2010-11, there is nothing to indicate that he’s going to stop picking up the garbage.

Caps Equipment Sale

This Saturday is the annual Caps Equipment Sale, held at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. Every year, this event brings local hockey players and Ebay Power Sellers non-players together in a mad rush to find the best sticks from a wall of hundreds of composite twigs. In an effort to bring some order to this chaos, I've devised this handy cheat sheet so you know what to look for when you get inside.

PLAYER	R/L	Make/Model	Stick Facts
Alex Ovechkin	R	CCM Vector U+ Crazy Light	These sticks may actually be on fire! Bring oven mitts!
Nicklas Backstrom	L	Bauer X:60	Don't worry if you can't find one, as there will be more of these sticks available for the next 10 years.
Alexander Semin	R	Bauer One95	These sticks expired April 11th and no longer score goals.
Mike Green	R	Easton ST	See: Semin Sticks
Brooks Laich	L	Warrior Dolomite	Can also be used as a tire iron!
Mike Knuble	R	Easton SE16	These sticks are magnetic and are attracted to the blue paint used in goalie creases.
Tomas Fleischmann	L	Bauer One95	Coach Boudreau is always saying how good these sticks are.
Brendan Morrison	L	Easton S19	Technically, these are left handed but they can also be used between the legs.
Eric Fehr	R	CCM Vector U+	These sticks really should score more, but they aren’t used nearly enough.
Jason Chimera	L	Bauer One95	Aerodynamically shaped for speed!!!
Matt Bradley	R	Reebok 10K	Bad. Ass. Sticks. May have blood stains.
Tom Poti	L	Warrior Dolomite	These sticks are sharpened. Seriously.
Jeff Schultz	L	Warrior Dolomite	Not a mark on these sticks, a true rarity for the sticks of a defenseman.
David Steckel	L	Easton SE16	Super tall sticks. Like Godzilla tall.
Shaone Morrisonn	L	Bauer One95	Name is spelled wrong on every stick... not enough 'N's.
Boyd Gordon	R	Easton SE16	These sticks win faceoffs. That’s about all they do.
Mathieu Perreault	L	Reebok 10K	Not the biggest sticks, but really fun to use.
John Erskine	L	Bauer One95	These sticks are exact replicas of Captain Caveman’s club.
John Carlson	R	CCM Vector U+ , Bauer X:60, Reebok	These sticks come with pride. And red, white, and blue tape.
Tyler Sloan	L	Reebok 10K	We still can't figure out why we have these sticks.
Keith Aucoin	R	Reebok, Warrior	Really long sticks. Compensating for something…
Karl Alzner	L	Reebok 10K	These sticks come with a booklet of rental car coupons.
Quintin Laing	L	Easton S19	These sticks are made from old Army tank armour.
Chris Bourque	L	Warrior Hitman	Everyone always compares them to his dad’s sticks.
Semyon Varlamov	R	Warrior Swagger, Bauer X:60	American girls shouldn’t bother buying these sticks. They won’t work for you.
Michael Neuvirth	R	Reebok 6K	These sticks just want a hug.
Jose Theodore	L	Bauer X:60	We really hope we're not making a mistake by selling these...

Now, for a few basic Equipment Sale Rules:

1. There is a 4 stick per person limit this year. That doesn't mean you can't grab an armful of sticks and hold them for your friends to arrive.
2. These sticks are way too long for kids to use. It's OK to shove them aside for your own financial gain.
3. There will probably be no sticks available for: Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin, Green, Carlson or Varlamov. You should complain as loudly as possible about this fact.
4. They wash the jerseys before they sell them. Sorry ladies hoping to get a sweat-nasty Brooks Laich jersey.
5. There will be a lot of prospect/departing player sticks on the wall. And just a warning: I've found at least 5 Matt Pettinger sticks at every equipment sale for the last 5 years. I think it's a running gag at this point.
6. Don't worry if you can't find any sticks you're looking for. They'll be up on Ebay later this weekend for 4x as much.

That's it. Have fun, and happy stick hunting!

A Jersey Dilemma

A few months ago, a great friend from Michigan (we’ll call him Uncle Brad) sent my then 3 month old son a present. Inside, my wife and I found a customized, toddler-sized Detroit Red Wings jersey with ‘BRYANT’ and the number ‘10’ stitched to the back in teeny-tiny twill lettering. Aside from being very small and having the flying wheel logo screen printed to the front of the jersey rather than stitched, the jersey is an exact replica of what the Wings actually wear. It's very cool.

Now the dilemma: do I ever actually let my son wear the thing?

I’ve always been a bit of a hockey history buff. My favorite player is Bobby Orr, even though he retired before I was born. I know about Milt Schmidt, Cyclone Taylor, Art Ross, and ‘Boom Boom’ Geoffrion. I also know that the number 10 is retired by the Detroit Red Wings. It’s Alex Delvecchio’s number. Since toddlers are exempt from Jersey Fails, I think that's cool as well.

But as a lifelong Caps fan, can I allow my son to wear a Red Wings jersey? What if, because of this jersey, he were to become a Wings fan? Could I ever live with myself? It’s an interesting study of loyalty vs. doing what’s right. Loyalty says no, he should only ever wear his tiny Ovechkin jersey to games. The right thing would be to allow him to wear his jersey (it was given to him, not to me), and I’ll make sure to teach him about the man who actually wore that same #10 for the Wings. But there’s no way he can wear that jersey to a Caps game. What's a dad to do!?

Fortunately for me, I have an easy solution to this dilemma. As my son’s name is Cameron, the jersey has a purpose. It will prove very helpful in recreating an iconic image sometime in his early life:

Now all I need is a grey suit and a red Ferrari...

#Numbers

With today's news that Semyon Varlamov has changed his number from 40 to 1, here's my list of other Caps who should change their numbers:

• Mike Green, from 52 to 2. You know, so people will think he's Scott Stevens or something.
• Jeff Schultz, from 55 to 77. Only the best defensemen get this number (Coffey, Bourque). Only makes sense.
• Michael Neuvirth, from 30 to 2. Dude, Varly pretty much just did this for you.
• John Carlson, from 74 to 80. Captian America should pay homage to the greatest year in USA Hockey. USA! USA!
• Alex Semin, from 28 to 61. Because someone has to pay tribute to the career of Maxim Afinogenov.
• Alex Ovechkin, from 8 to 87. Because Eff Sidney Crosby, that's why.

50 vs 40

About a month ago, I decided to research the question 'Is Alex Ovechkin A One-trick Pony?' by reviewing each of his goals and placing them in categories based on how they were scored. The conculsion was that, no Alex is not a one-move scorer. In fact, Alex scores more goals on plays where he is not leading the rush and when he uses his teammates.

So, with this being the season prior to his Unrestricted Free Agency, I decided to tackle the question 'How Does Alex Semin Score?' Given his performance in the post season, it's an interesting question. Does the way Alex Semin scores goals translate to a decline in goal production in the playoffs?

As with Ovechkin, I reviewed each of Semin's 40 goals on the season and attenpted to place each in a category. The categories are:

1. "The Semin": A ridiculous wrist shot from the top of the circles
2. A Breakaway (For the purposes of this list, pantsing a D to get behind them counts)
3. Power Play one-timer
4. 2-on-1
5. Rebound low
6. Shot from the low circles
7. Deflection
8. Slap shot

I've always been a huge fan of "The Semin", as I believe it is the best wrist shot in the game. Semin used it 13 times to score goals this past season. The key to the shot is having traffic in front of the goalie, and placement of the shot (see: his hat trick against Ottawa, 2/11). In the playoffs, Montreal's defenders did a great job of either blocking Semin's shots or steping aside and allowing Halak to see the shot the whole way. And from my personal perspective, there was less zip on Semin's otherworldly shot (an injury, perhaps?). Add in the 4 goals scored scored using his slap shot (which is also a rocket), and 17 of 40 goals were scored from the top of the circles.

Down low, Semin also excels, with 6 shots scored directly from rebounds and another 5 scored from shots from the bottom of the face off circles. With 2 power play one-timers, 2 goals off 2-on-1s and 1 deflection, Semin has shown that he can also work the puck down low and with help from teammates. Finally, his 7 breakaway goals showcase his speed and fantastic hands around the net.

I found it interesting that Semin has no empty net goals on the season. If you take away Ovechkin's 5, Ovie only beats Semin in goals by 5.

Based on the large percentage of Semin's goals coming from the top of the circles, I wonder why he hasn't been considered for a spot on the point on the power play (perhaps Mike Green's spot?). Frankly, the Caps #1 power play unit has far too many right handed shooters (Green, Ovechkin, Semin), so perhaps saving Semin for a point spot on Unit #2 while placing a left handed shooter on Unit #1 would provide more chances on the PP (and make both units less predictable).

In reviewing all 90 goals scored by the Alexes, it's clear to me that the two are dramatically different scorers. While Ovechkin is a bull with the puck, Semin is far more tricky and more creative. His creativity sometimes leads to turn-overs and a high percentage of his shots are blocked or sail high. If Alex can rein in his shot a bit (keep it lower) and choose when to shoot vs. when to pass better, 60 goals isn't beyond his reach.

Jeff "Snarl" Schultz

A lot has been written about the Caps "less than intimidating blueline" this off-season, with George McPhee's clear intention to stay pat with the 7 defensemen under contract.

With the re-signing of Jeff Schultz, who is quite possibly the most 'love him or hate him' Caps blueliner, the conversation has been elevated. Schultz has become the whipping boy for haters, as his lack of physicality doesn't seem to fit with his sizeable frame.

That being said, I have some suggestions for Jeff, to help make him meaner this coming season. With his new spiffy contract, he can afford it.

1. Weight. Add some. At 6'6" and only 220 lbs, Jeff is a bit of a bean pole. Wait. Chris Pronger is 6'6" and 220 lbs? WTF!? That makes no sense...
2. Get rid of the visor. No one takes visored defensemen seriously. Just ask Don Cherry.
3. Vampire teeth. With Twilight being so popular, I'm sure obtaining a pair would be relatively easy, and would make Jeff look THAT MUCH scarier. Or teenage girls would swoon for him. Either way, he's distracting Sidney Crosby.
4. A good story. Someone needs to start talking about the time Jeff wrestled a rabid Grizzly.
5. A number change. Say, to #2. Everytime people see '55' they want to boo or whoop or something. Now #2, you think Scott Stevens. And you'd NEVER whoop Scott Stevens.
6. Red contacts. Badass. With the previously mentioned vampire teeth, even more so:

7. Roughing penalties. Jeff has 97 PIM is his career. Pronger had more than that his rookie season.
8. A full slap shot. Everyone read about his 'half slap shot' and thought "wow, what a pansy". Man up Jeff. Full slap shot.
9. A new nickname. I like 'Snarl'. 'Sarge' just doesn't cut it.
10. Ask Brett Leonhardt for tips. Stretch is super tall too, and he manages 'badass' just fine.

Caps Heat Maps

I was recently made aware of these things called 'heat maps' that track a player's position throughout a World Cup match, which got me thinking about what various Washington Capital players 'heat maps' would look like. SO, without further ado:

OVECHKIN

SEMIN

FEHR

KNUBLE

NYLANDER

ALZNER

VARLAMOV (PLAYOFFS)

GREEN