Final Countdown

Guess what day it is... Guuuueeeesssss

            Yep that’s right. Were not counting in months anymore but now in days. Hockey Preseason (Where everything is made up and the points don’t matter….just like rules against PED’s in baseball) starts in eighteen days and the regular season starts in thirty five days. We have made it! Thankfully we are just waiting with anticipation of a guaranteed full season of hockey this year. Anyone remember what we were doing last year? Everyone was stressing out wondering if there was even going to be a season at all. But yet it came, and we rejoiced. In 18 days a large group of fanatics of watching some puck being played are going to be happier than a midget getting stilts for Christmas.

            Even though the pre season doesn’t matter, training camps haven’t even started yet, and we have no idea of final rosters for the teams its still fun to sit back and play “Arm Chair Oates” and see what the month of September holds for us.

            The Pre season starts out with Winnipeg but instead of the Nut house of a stadium it can be the game is one of those red headed step-child preseason games that isn’t at a normal rink. Looking at Winnipeg from last year we all know the danger they can be. They have come out strong and then fizzled off due to injuries. Look for Winnipeg to have a firm foundation under their feet this year as well as their stadium to be even crazier. (14 September Away)

            The Flyers are next up and are going to most likely be without their captain for the pre season in my opinion. (Which again means absolutely nothing in the large scheme of things.) Laviolette will be coaching a team without Bryzgalov in goal. The Space Cadet had his contract bought out this summer and is still looking for an institution that is willing to take the risk…….And the beat goes on. Expect Emery to start in goal for Philly. I just don’t think Mason is going to outshine Emery, but I could be wrong. Sadly this pre season game is in Philadelphia…..Which means one thing: DON’T GO IF YOU LIKE YOUR HOCKEY JERSEY!!! Save getting beer thrown on you for the regular season. The Caps will see Philly at home on the 27^th so chuck all you want at someone dressed like a fat Halloween jack o lantern. They throw snowballs at Santa…they are free game the rest of the year. (16 September Away) (27 September Home)

         Finally the Capitals play at home…well sort of. McPhee and Leonsis in their infinite wisdom are having the Caps play the Bruins in Baltimore. Not only do Caps fans not like Boston and their ogre of a player Chara, but the city of Baltimore hates with a passion the city of Boston because of baseball and football. Nice strategy Ted! Good thinking, If I’m going to have to go to Baltimore to watch my team play and risk losing my life just walking to the stadium I’m glad there are going to be a large group of people who hate the bruins and Boston as well. Look for the bruins to not play super physical. Its pre season no one wants to get hurt. The caps will win this one but nobody jump and shout just yet. They see the Bruins for a second time just six days later in Boston (17 September Baltimore) (23 September Away)

         The defending Stanley Cup champions the Chicago Blackhawks fly in tow by superman (Kane) into Washington. Look for the first of these matchups to be a mega yawn factor. The second game is the last preseason game for each team before the regular season. And guess what the regular season opener is for the caps this year….that’s right 1000 pts. to the man who guess “Chicago.” The season opener and last preseason game looks to be the caps first road trip and you can definitely say the caps first real test of the season. If both teams want to fire on all cylinders, pending no injuries from the pre season of course, I can say that Ovechkin will be displaying his prowess early. (20 September Home) ( 28 September Away) (1 October Season Opener Away)

         The final team is Nashville. Yep there used to be only two reasons I wanted to watch the Predators play: To see a Shea Weber slap shot crush someone’s jaw, and to see if Carrie Underwood was watching her husband play hockey. But now playing Nashville even in the pre season holds a much bigger meaning. Matt Hendricks a well-known enforcer in the league and long time former capital is now a Nashville Predator. All in all with respect to Matt, I hope he has an amazing career but hope Ovechkin “Rick Rolls” him with a good ole fashioned hip check just to say hi. The other reason this game because more dramatic is the fact that one of the dumbest trades that McPhee ever did in his career is going to slap us in the face that game. Filip Forsberg is on Nashville lest we forget the *insert sarcasm here* amazing player in Martin Erat we picked up. But all in all drama creates a little bit of sparks so who knows this game may have something to it after all.

          Well that’s it. That’s as much as preview of the pre season that really matters. We will see what even becomes of the pre season and what the capitals do. All in all I am expectant of a better year than last year. (I say this every year to no avail) Oates has a good system, his players like him, and they will actually have time for a real training camp. Interesting drama will take place. Don’t use the preseason to judge how the capitals will stack up during the regular season in the metro division….just not worth wasting your time crunching all the numbers.

Shake 'N Bake

Realignment

            Just four months after the game of hockey returned to the ice Gary Bettman shakes the pot up again….and he shook it like a salt shaker. But for the most part, it seems to be a smarter move all around for everybody. Business wise its genius. Geographically it makes more sense than any other set up that we have seen yet.

            Rivalries will take on a whole new meaning this year, especially in the Metropolitan Division. Each of the 82 games will play such a key role in just making the playoffs. So here’s how the NHL is broken down this year:

Western Conference

Pacific Division

            Anaheim

            Calgary

            Edmonton

            LA

            Phoenix

            San Jose

            Vancouver

Central Division

            Chicago

            Colorado

            Dallas

            Minnesota

            St. Louis

            Nashville

            Winnipeg (Came from the Eastern Conference Southeast Division)

Eastern Conference

Metropolitan Division (Metro??? Who came up with this idea for a name?)

            Carolina

            Columbus (Came from the Western Conference Central Division)

            New Jersey

            NY Islanders

            NY Rangers

            Philadelphia

            Pittsburgh

            Washington

Atlantic Division

            Boston

            Buffalo

            Detroit (Came from the Western Conference Central Division)

            Florida

            Montreal

            Ottawa

            Tampa Bay

            Toronto

            

            So far this set up looks smart on paper financially. But since this is a Washington Capitals blog there is really only one division that we need to look at….The Metropolitan division. Ok, I get it. I understand the fact that each team in the “Metro” division, with the exception of Carolina and Columbus, have teams in large metropolitan areas. Really though, a sport like hockey with its violence, passion, and fans are really going to want to be called the 2014 Metro Champs! Might as well just make the Division Trophy a giant fairy for heaven sake.

            The Metro division is going to be one of the closest watched divisions. The rivalries are already well established from years past. Its basically the Atlantic division and just throw Washington in there. The added Capitals element will prove to play a vital role in the amount of teams that make the playoffs from the Metro division.

            As of now the set up for the season goes as follows (For the Metro Division): Each team will play 30 Divisional Conference Games (Five games against two teams and then 4 games against 5 teams), 24 Non Divisional Conference Games (3 games against each team), 28 Non Conference games (2 games against each team). The amount of games being played and the amount of stars in the Metro division alone makes for an incredible opportunity for fans to see the top stars in the game play. With four of the top five fantasy rated players in the Metro division alone it has become molded into an environment that is poised for drama, excitement, and a whole lot of fighting.

            The playoffs becomes an interesting issue as well. The way to make the playoffs this year comes down to a very simple set up. The top three teams in each division will make the playoffs. This will fill 12 slots total for playoff spots. The final four spots will be filled by the next highest point accumulation for the regular season. So it is definitely possible for the Metro division to send five teams to the playoffs.

            This entire realignment may actually be the first thing in a long time that NHL fans have agree with Gary Bettman on. We are all still mostly very bitter at how the season played out in the NHL last year. But we can be sure of one thing. This year will have alot of excitement. Its still August and you can just feel the anticipation building. Its basically the old Patrick division coming out to play which will definitely create some drama. Expect to see Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, the Staal family, and Tavares in the news ALOT! Then just think about the goalie matchups we will see:Lundqvist, Brodeur, Nabokov, Thomas, Holtby, and Fleury all going up against each other. 

            This being said every point is important. Every injury takes on a whole new meaning. Every day brings about a new challenge for the capitals on their quest for their first Stanley cup.