Clark to go under knife, done for season.

Washington Capitals captain Chris Clark has not been able to shake the injury bug since his 30 goal campaign two seasons ago.

Last season the South Windsor, CT native played in only 18 games during the regular season, before a groin injury sidelined him for the remainder of the year.

Clark, who has only made 32 appearances this season will now require forearm surgery and will miss the remainder of Washington's regular season.

"He went to see a doctor today and the wrist has been bothering him all here. He'll probably have to have something done on his wrist -- have some surgery."
"It just got to the point where he wasn't the player we know he is," he added. "He was hurting himself and hurting his team. So we're probably going to go [the surgery] route instead of playing through it without getting any results." - GM George McPhee

Because Clark opted for the surgery, there is a good chance that he could return in time for the post-season, but that it's not set in stone.

What is certain, however, is that Clark will now go on LTIR which will open up a little wiggle room financially for the Capitals to recall personnel from Hershey, or even make a trade.

Luckily for the Capitals, elder statesman Sergei Fedorov will take over the reigns as interim captain, though he will retain his assistant captaincy patch.

Fedorov was signed this past off-season on a one year 4 million dollar contract to provide veteran leadership for a youthful club. Coach Boudreau has assured that when Clark regains his health, he will maintain his role as team captain.

"Clark is our captain, there's no controversy there. When he gets healthy, he'll come back and be our captain."

Washington will face the New Jersey Devils tomorrow night at the Prudential Center in Newark.

Clark wins vote for most disappointing Capital

Chris Clark is the winner of FEAR THE WEAGLE's second poll of the season, taking the title of most disappointing Capital this season by a wide margin (65%). Coming in second was off-season acquisition Jose Theodore (34%), who is finally starting to come into his own, going 3-0-0 in his past three starts.

This was the first and only time this season the french-Canadian 'tender has been able to string three victories together.

He will start again tomorrow night as the Capitals head into Buffalo, hoping to beat them for the second time in five days.

FEAR THE WEAGLE will be down the next few days for the remainder of the holidays, and will be back to covering the Capitals effective January 2, 2009.

Happy New Year to all those who follow the blog, and may 2009 be kinder to the Capitals infirmary than was 2008.

Roster Shake-Up for tonight's game.

As predicted, Jeff Schultz was placed on LTIR today and Sami Lepisto was called up in his place.

However, there was more juggling that followed as team captain Chris Clark was also placed on LTIR with a forearm injury.

This also allowed the Capitals to call up Karl Alzner, Chris Bourque and Graham Mink.

Tonight's rosters will look like this:

Forwards
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Kozlov
Fleischmann-Nylander-Fehr
Bourque-Laich-Bradley
Brashear-Steckel-Mink

Defense
Sloan-Poti
Alzner-Jurcina
Lepisto-Morrisonn

Goalies
Theodore
Johnson

FEAR THE WEAGLE will be shutting down for American Thanksgiving and would like to wish their American readers a safe and joyful holiday.

Alexander Ovechkin: Image of the Invisible

Since his 2005-06 rookie campaign, no one in the NHL has scored more goals than Alexander Ovechkin. The only player who comes close to the Russian superstar is Dany Heatley of the Ottawa Senators, and there is still a gap between the two.

The fact of the matter is that each year Ovechkin has set his sights on a higher goal and a new standard for himself. Last season he broke Luc Robitaille's record for goals in a season, finishing with 65, which eclipsed the previous mark of 63 set by the long time King. Those 65 goals also won him the Maurice Richard Trophy.

Alex has proven that neither the hype, nor the pressure the pressure, or even the opponent can stand in his way as he has been a one man wrecking crew for as long as he has been a Capital.

That's why his start to this season has been so disappointing.

Ovechkin has played in nine games so far this year, putting up a modest five points (2G, 3A). His two markers came in the same game versus the Blackhawks in the second game of the year.

The team has sputtered out of the gates, and the lack of production from number eight is largely the reason for their 5-4-2 mark.

Lets be honest, Nicklas Backstrom, Chris Clark and Viktor Kozlov haven't been the best line mates this year, however that's never stopped Alexander in the past. Dainius Zubrus and Jeff Halpren are still thanking him for the payouts they received in the free agent market due to their inflated point production with Ovechkin.

There is no reason why he shouldn't be able to succeed despite those around him, yet he is. He's shooting less. He's driving the net less. Sometimes you can go a few shifts without noticing him at all.

Nevertheless, the season is still young and Ovechkin does have a history of slower starts, and you also have to factor in that he spent a week in Moscow, Russia with his ailing grandfather.

His play may be lacking but his dedication should never be questioned. He has always played through adversity and has always played for his teammates above himself.

In his recent trip to Russia, he slept during the day and stayed up during the night so to not become jet lagged. That speaks volume for not only his character but also his love of the game.

Alexander Ovechkin is no Kevin Bacon in the sense that you'll never go a hour and a half without seeing him at all (see 90% of Bacon's terrible films, or Hollow Man). He will hit the score sheet more frequently as this season goes on and the Caps will benefit from it as he is still heavily depended on despite the insurgence of his counterpart Alexander Semin.

He will get the job done. It's only a matter of time.

Pre-Game Thoughts: 11/04/08 Washington Capitals at Ottawa Senators

The month of October has not been as kind to the Washington Capitals as their fans had hoped. Granted, they are 5-4-1 and are still above the .500 mark, the bar coming into this season was set at a rather lofty level, which as previously mentioned, has yet to be achieved.

I have previously stated the the Capitals are a slow starting team and this season bears no exception. It will be important to rack up points early in November before heading on a west coast road trip which has the team visiting Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Jose in a three night stretch.

Not to mention the hot start from the Carolina Hurricanes who seem to be able to plug anyone into their battered line up and still consistently win games. It will be important for Washington not to fall too far behind early as it a repeat of last years heroics would be fairly unlikely.

Lets take a look at some of the positives for Washington. Tonight, star forward Alexander Ovechkin will be back in the line up after heading back to Moscow for a week to visit his sick grandfather. Contrary to reports posted on www.life.ru, Ovechkin's grandfather is still alive in hospital, and Alex was glad to have been given the opportunity to see him.

"My mind was already back in Moscow," he said. "I called George [McPhee] and said, 'George I need to go back to Russia and see my grandpa because I don't know when he is going to die. Thanks to the Capitals. They said go there and be with your family. It helped me a lot."

Ovechkin's presence has been missed in the line-up and hopefully he is able to return rejuvinated and into mid-season form as the Capitals will try to turn up the heat and prove they were not just a one year wonder.

Also of note is the demeanor of Coach Bruce Boudreau, who I felt had let his players away with a lot so far. A shutout at the hands of the Sabres on Saturday changed his complex as he skated his players into the ice on Sunday and stated there will be no free rides this season. Perhaps this tough love is what players like Mike Green, Chris Clark, Shaone Morrisonn, Nicklas Backstrom and Jose Theodore need to kick start their game.

The Senators, too, are having a rocky start to the year with a 4-5-2 record so far. Alex Auld will be their starting goaltender and he possesses a 3-2-0 record with a .931 SV% this year.

The Caps will need to be able to capitalize on the power play and prove that they can play a full 60 minutes worth of hockey if they intend to win this game. So far they have taken untimely penalties which have cost them goals against.

It is clear that the Caps will have to make their own break as November's schedule is not kind. They cannot afford to repeat last years mishaps.

Pre-Game Thoughts: 10/13/08 Washington Capitals vs. Vancouver Canucks - UPDATED

A sigh of relief was all that could escape Capitals fans mouths after Alexander Ovechkin notched his second goal in Saturday nights game to give Washington a 4-2 lead with under five minutes left to play.

For the second game in a row the Capitals struggled early, and were forced to prove their resilience as they erased a two goal deficit early in the second period. Tonight they will face a Canucks team and a familiar foe who will look to shut the Caps down.

Roberto Luongo has faced this team as a member of the Florida Panthers, and now as a Vancouver Canuck. He is 15-9-3 with two shutouts, a 2.14 GAA and a .933 SV% lifetime against Washington. Luongo, in all likelihood will shut the door on the Capitals should they stumble out of the blocks again, so it will be imperil that they play a full sixty minute game.

Washington will have to get more production out of their third line of Fleischmann, Nylander and Clark. Not only have they yet to show up on the score sheet, but with the exception of Fleischmann, more resemble the ghosts of the Montreal Forum.

To put it into context, the Canucks third line of Alexander Burrows (2G, 1A), Ryan Kesler (1G, 2A) and Rick Rypien (2G) have ammased 8 points combined, compared to the one assist Michael Nylander marked against Atlanta.

Bruce Boudreau runs an up-tempo offense that relies on each line doing their part. They key to Washington's success tonight will be to ensure they can play a full team game and put up points early. If Luongo is provided a two goal lead, it could be curtains for the Capitals this evening.

Update: Tarik El-Bashir reports that Fedorov will be playing defense tonight. I will continue to update as news becomes available.

"With a game against Roberto Luongo and the undefeated Canucks looming tonight, Coach Bruce Boudreau appears to have changed things up. Sergei Fedorov wearing a black jersey this morning and he's working with the defensemen. Michael Nylander, meantime, has replaced him as the second line center, while Boyd Gordon is centering the third line."

Also of note, Jose Theodore has a career record of 17-7-1-2 with three shutouts in head-to-head match-ups against Roberto Luongo.

Update 2: Here are the line-ups for tonight:

Washington Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 19-Backstrom, 25-Kozlov
21-Laich, 92-Nylander, 28-Semin
14-Fleischmann, 15-Gordon, 17-Clark
87-Brashear, 39-Steckel, 10-Bradley

Washington Defense
26-Morrisonn, 52-Green
3-Poti, 55-Schultz
91-Fedorov, 23-Jurcina

Brent Johnson will get the start in goal tonight, which according to Boudreau "was the plan from the start".