My thoughts on the Caps moves thus far

I don't know exactly what's going on in George McPhee's mind, but he has clearly shown that he is willing to shake up the roster, and I doubt he's finished. The Capitals are going to try to clear some cap room and that means more players are getting traded, more new players are coming into DC, and expect to see some new faces once training camp opens. By the way, this is descending based on time.

Caps re-sign Brooks Laich

If there's one thing I've been expecting of Brooks Laich, it's that he would replace the player he was traded for 8 years ago, Peter Bondra, the greatest Capital ever to suit up for DC's hockey team. The Caps have signed Brooksie to a six-year deal at $4.5 million per and I'm happy to say that it's a relief that he's staying with the Caps. He is one of those two-way players that could eventually become a Ryan Kesler. Those of you who don't know who Ryan Kesler is, shame on you, he's one of the best two-way forwards in the NHL. He scores goals, plays great defense, is on the power play and penalty kill and one of the best overall players. More on the Caps salary cap after the jump...

Capitals Impending Free Agency

So, the Capitals have a lot of their players that are restricted free agents (RFAs) or unrestricted free agents (UFAs) and the goal is to get under the salary cap. This season it's been set at $64.3 million dollars. Looking at the table below, you can see who's signed so far and how much their cap hit is. Also, I will note that the Capitals have 10 forwards, 7 defensemen, and 1 goaltender on the roster for now. More on that later...

Washington Capital's 2011-2012 schedule

The Capital's schedule was just released this past week, and now's a great opportunity to do an analysis on the upcoming season. A few things to point out, they're making three trips to Winnipeg. Obviously the NHL failed to change their divisions and the Caps might suffer for it.

THE CAPS ADVANCE TO THE SECOND ROUND!

As I begin typing this, Alexander Semin has just scored the third goal for the Capitals to give them a 3-0 lead. This was a lob from Marcus Johansson that Semin shot out of the air past Lundqvist. Ovechkin's goal to give the Caps a 2-0 lead was nothing short of greatness. He blew past Marc Staal and deked Lundqvist and shot it in backhanded. The Rangers were upset with the Caps in the crease after Mike Green scored on the power play, but they only have themselves to blame.