As if the Washington Capitals and their fans needed any more bad news to come down the pipe, the hockey gods sent them some anyway.

According to the website Sovietsky Sport, and as first reported by TSN's Dmitry Chesnokov, Capitals super-prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov was "seriously injured" during the final moments of his team, Traktor Chelyabinsk's, game on Friday.

Chesnokov, citing Russian colleague Pavel Lysenkov, reported that Kuznetsov was checked and fell down late in the contest, immediately beginning to slam his hands on the ice. According to Lysenkov, Kuznetsov was "in terrible pain," writhing around on the ice surface and yelling.  He had to be carried off the ice on a stretcher.

As of 11:30 AM Friday, Slava Malamud of Sport-Express had been told that Kuznetsov may have torn knee ligaments, and that this is the "preliminary diagnosis."  However, at 12:30, Chesnokov noted that there were many unconfirmed reports that Kuznetsov may only have a severe bruise in his knee.  This report was confirmed later by Lysenkov, who said that the Russian forward has "soft tissue bruising," according to his agent, and could miss three weeks.

At 1:45 PM on Friday, Traktor released the MRI results, according to Malamud.  The examination concluded that there were no tears in the knee, and instead Kuznetsov has "slight damage in his knee ligaments."  He is expected to play in the Russian Gagarin Cup playoffs, which begin on March 1.

Nothing on this story is definite yet, and it is still developing.

Here is video of the hit.

Harry Hawkings is a college student who covers the Caps for RtR.  Follow him on Twitter here.

If you are George McPhee, how can you look at what happened on Monday night and consider yourself a buyer?

On Monday night, the Washington Capitals had a great opportunity.  After getting some help from the Bruce Boudreau-led Ducks, who beat Florida Sunday, Dale Hunter’s men could climb back in to playoff contention with a win over the Carolina Hurricanes.

The fifteenth-place Carolina Hurricanes.  Who had Justin Peters in goal and were missing two of their top six forwards.

Recipe for success, right?

Wrong.

The Capitals were utterly humiliated Monday evening, getting blown away by the Hurricanes in a game that they needed to win.  They were shut out by Justin Peters.  I repeat.  They were shut out by Justin Peters.

It was a terrible game from the beginning, with a missed chance by Mike Knuble after less than three and a half minutes telling you just how bad a night it was going to be.

On the same play as that missed Knuble chance, Roman Hamrlik took an elbowing penalty.  Carolina converted on that man advantage almost immediately and added another 90 seconds later to chase Vokoun.  And just like that, the rout was on.

Washington would allow another goal with less than a minute remaining in the first period before conceding two more by the time the game was over, including a shorthanded goal early in the second period.  It was just an ugly, horrendous game.

Quite simply: a rout, an embarrassment, a roasting, a hammering, a mauling, a devastating night for Washington.

The Capitals are missing their best player.  That is unfortunate and it undoubtedly has something to do with their pathetic performance over the last month.  But Mike Green is back in the lineup now, so the Capitals don’t have that excuse anymore.  Alas, in Green’s two games, he has been on the ice for six goals and the Capitals have been outscored 7-1.

I’m as big a Green fan as any; I think he’s a tremendous player, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t expecting more from him. He was supposed to be a shot in the arm for this team.  He hasn’t been; in fact, it’s only gotten worse.

Which brings us back to the beginning of this post.  If you are George McPhee, how can you possibly spend assets to try and improve this team?

Yes, I understand they are only a point out of a playoff spot.  I understand that they are only two points back of first in their Division, though Florida has a game in hand.  But anyone saying that this team is close is kidding themselves.

Their play on the ice indicates a team so far away from anything of substance that it hard for me to put into words.

The goal of this team is not to make the playoffs anymore.  It hasn’t been for awhile.  Their goal is to win the Stanley Cup.  And no matter what you want to think, that’s not happening this year.  Not without Nicklas Backstrom and at least one more very good center.

Why would anyone in their right mind spend organizational assets to try and improve a team like this?  The Capitals are in complete and utter disarray.  Antoine Vermette isn’t solving this problem, and that seems like the best the Caps are going to get at this point.

Trading away young players and draft picks to add players to a team that isn’t going anywhere is irresponsible and it’s not intelligent.

It’s not me being overly negative and it’s not me overreacting.  It’s just me being realistic.  What we saw on Monday night at the RBC Center probably could have been beaten by an AHL team on a good night.

Sooo, who’s excited for the draft?

The NHL trade deadline frenzy is fast approaching.  While the floodgates haven't opened fully, some trades are trickling through as the dominoes start falling on the markets for various positions and players, limiting teams' options, but also increasing the pressure for the remaining teams to try to acquire whoever is left.  The real question on everyone's minds is what dominoes have to fall before the Capitals start making some moves.  George McPhee has stated his desire to not be a seller at this year's deadline, that he only realistically has $1 million in cap room to work with, and that he is going to wait until he knows for sure about Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green to make any bold moves.  He may have said he's not particularly interested in trading players off the roster, but he reserves the right to do whatever he thinks will make the team better.

Read on.

Don't Panic. These are the first two words in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," and they should be the first two words that come to mind about this season's Washington Capitals.  The Caps haven't been performing as well as anyone expected after the reeling off 7 straight wins to start the season.  Injuries have certainly played a large part in that, with the long-term ailments of #1 center Nicklas Backstrom and #1 defenseman Mike Green being the most painful.  Another big factor was the exchange of cheap, home-grown talent who had played together for years in favor of older, more expensive veteran free agents and trade acquisitions, which has affected the chemistry in the locker room.  Of course, the biggest hiccup was the mid-season coaching change that brought in first-time NHL Head Coach Dale Hunter and immediately put him under the microscope.  While it was necessary both for the team to move on and for the Bruce Boudreau to re-discover himself, coaching changes and system changes still take time to adjust to.  None of these factors make for an ideal regular season, but none of them are cause for panic, either. 

The bad news is the Caps would not be in the playoffs if they started today.  The Hockey News picked the Caps to win the Stanley Cup this season, but they have only won 3 of their last 11 games.  The coach has made decisions about scratching players or dressing players that seem puzzling on the surface.  These moves, combined with the losing, have cerated quite a bit of tension around the team, tension that erupted in the form of two players speaking to the press about their unhappiness, the associate goaltending coach criticizing the team captain, and said team captain getting into a scuffle with a teammate in practice.  After these kinds of issues, it would be easy for fans to panic and start throwing in the towel, but that would do no good.  If Capitals' General Manager George McPhee is anything, he's a frood who really knows where his towel is, that is to say, a guy who's really amazingly together.  He has a plan heading into the trade deadline over the next 10 days, and that plan is for the Capitals to not only make the playoffs, but advance deep into spring. 

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My defense has this guy.

My skate is definitely against the post.

I'm definitely not getting traded to Colorado.

The puck is definitely in my glove.

This guy is just trying to dump it in.

It’s this last assumption that routinely gets goalies time on the "Not Top-Ten Plays" list.  A rushing puck carrier gains the red line, winds up to seemingly fire the puck hard around the boards and, at the last second, redirects his aim towards the net. Sometimes it’s intentional; sometimes the seams in the boards/glass/other players do it for him.

Enter ‘Awkward, confused goalie with a red light behind him.’

Unfortunately for the Caps, this has happened to three different red-sweatered goalies over the last seven games; once each to Michal Neuvirth, Tomas Vokoun and Braden Holtby. Is there something about the Caps’ defensive system or strategy that is leading to these type of goals, or is it just plain horrible luck? First, let’s take a look at where the change of direction occurs.

Read on.

Give me a ping, Vasili. One ping only, please.

The game of ice hockey is like a game of poker.

In poker, there will be moments when you lose a hand that you deserve to win.  You may have the better cards, but are forced to fold your hand because of a bet that you cannot match.  There will be moments when you win a hand you do not deserve to win because it is you making large bets with the poor cards.  When you bluff.  It happens.

Over the course of the entire game, however, the best poker player usually wins.  The player with the best strategy, who picks their spots, usually has the most money by the end of the night (or afternoon/morning, if that is your thing).

In ice hockey, over the course of any given season, odd bounces and bad luck abound.  Goaltenders steal games, playoff series, even, that their teams have no business winning.  Goals that have no business going in go in.  And it goes both ways.

But hockey, like poker, has a constant: in the end, more often than not, the best team comes out on top and wins the Stanley Cup.  That does not mean the team that was the best in the regular season, or the best team with the most offensive firepower.  It means the best team.  Often, it is the team with the most depth and the better strategy.

Of course, you need good cards to win in poker.  No matter how good a player you are or how well you pick your spots, if you don’t get the cards, you will lose eventually.  But you don’t need the best cards.  The same goes in hockey.  You need talent to win the Stanley Cup, but you don’t need the most talent.

Right now, the Washington Capitals are sitting at a poker table with the other 29 teams in the NHL.

Read more here!

It was an innocent Sunday morning. My wife, my two year old son and I managed to sleep in a bit before heading down to Chinatown to grab brunch before the 12:30pm Caps game against the Boston Bruins on Super Bowl Sunday. After stuffing ourselves on cinnamon buns and breakfast pizzas, we headed over to wait in line to enter the Verizon Center. We played with Backstrom's gloves in the team store and pointed out every Weagle we could see. Also, did you know Mike Knuble's sticks weigh twice as much as anyone else's? It's true.

Getting to the game early means being able to take our son down near the glass to watch warm-ups. It's a blast for him to see the players that closely. It’s also a great test of patience (his and ours) as the players don’t step onto the ice for a good 30 minutes after doors open. We played all sorts of games to kill the time: “watch the guys move the nets”, “look at all the Caps fans on the other side of the ice”, and “smile for the guy with the camera.” One puck was thrown onto the ice to look at, so we played the "point at the puck" game too. Then all hell broke loose.

For those who have never ventured down to the glass, the seats near the ice sit atop movable, aluminum bleachers. Unfortunately, these bleachers end about one inch from the boards, leaving a nice gap, like those found in many older elevators. It’s a gap just large enough for things to get dropped into, never to return. A game program. A cell phone. Car keys. A #68 jersey (just a suggestion).

Read more about pacifiers.

These things = gold.

The Washington Capitals are at a crossroads heading into tonight's game against the first-place Florida Panthers.  They have a veteran-laden roster that has underachieved thus far.  They are sitting in 9^th place in the conference and 2^nd place in the division, just a couple standing points away from being in the playoffs, and they are just a few weeks away from the NHL’s trading deadline.  This is not a finger-pointing, blame-game exercise; injuries have taken their toll on the roster and moves made over the summer that seemed like a good idea at the time haven’t worked out as anticipated.  The real question becomes what George McPhee will do at the trade deadline in 20 days if the team falls out of the playoff picture.

If the team can stay in the playoff hunt, McPhee is likely to make some moves to solidify his team for the playoffs.  It was this time of year in 2008 when the Capitals had clawed their way back into the playoff picture under a new coach but were just muddling along in February.  They were lacking a #2 center, had injuries to key players, and needed key upgrades.  McPhee went out and acquired a #2 center from Columbus for a prospect, he picked up a #1 goaltender for a draft pick, plus he exchanged a spare part roster player for another team's spare part.  The moves worked out beautifully and the Caps won the division and came within a lucky bounce of defeating the juggernaut Philadelphia Flyers in the first round.

Much of what will influence the direction of the Capitals is the status of 3 of the 5 players this team has been built around since 2007:  Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green, and Brooks Laich.  It is telling that the only other players left from that first season under Boudreau are two key forwards, Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin, and two defensemen, Jeff Schultz and John Erskine.  The Capitals cannot realistically expect to compete for a championship without Laich, Backstrom, and Green, and it is a stark possibility that at least two of them will miss a large part of the remainder of this season, damaging the team's playoff chances.  These five key players will not be traded, as the team can realistically expect to win the division title next season if they can stay healthy.  The variety of supporting casts they’ve had over the years can attest to that.

Other players that will be wearing the Caps logo for training camp in the fall are defenders John Erskine, Karl Alzner, John Carlson, Dmitry Orlov, and Tomas Kundratek, plus forwards Troy Brouwer, Jason Chimera, Matt Hendricks, and Marcus Johansson.  Other likely names to be in D.C. next fall are Yevgeni Kuznetsov, Cody Eakin, Jeff Halpern, and Jay Beagle.  The other player I fully expect to be wearing the Capitals red next fall is Tomas Vokoun, a must considering how poorly the team plays without him, and he will be making in the neighborhood of $5 million.  The rest of the players on the team have the potential to get traded or become free agents between now and then, and McPhee may choose to do trade players now while he can still get something in return, either to salvage this season or prepare for next season.  Since missing the playoffs this season is unacceptable and signing key free agents this summer is crucial, he will likely do both. 

Who will be in a new uniform? Read on!

(John McDonnell - THE WASHINGTON POST)

Top Ten things overheard at the Verizon Center as Brooks Laich hobbled back to the bench during yesterday’s Caps game against the Boston Bruins:

10. Somehow, Ovi’s gonna get suspended for this…

9. Do we start yelling ‘Ref you suck!” now, or wait a bit?

8. Damn. It’s hard enough stalking Green and Backstrom at home. Anyone have Brooksie’s address?

7. OH GOD! HE DIDN’T GET HIT IN THE FACE, DID HE!?

6. I think Tim Thomas hurt him somehow. You know how he hates those left wing and center types…

5. I can’t tell who it is… all I see is a ‘2’. Please be Aucoin. Please be Aucoin. Please be… dammit!

4. OH GOD! HE DIDN’T GET HIT IN THE GROIN, DID HE!?

3. It’s ok, it’s Brooks. He’ll probably change someone’s oil on his way to the locker room.

2. Quite the interesting dance Brooks is doing there. Beat Dat Beat!

1. Would anyone like to buy some non-refundable playoff tickets!?

The Washington Capitals are in dire need of a hero at the moment.  When Sheriff Shanahan rounded up the last Young Gun who was on the loose by slapping Alexander Ovechkin with a 3-game suspension, the Capitals suddenly went from a star-filled, talent-laden roster to one without a rudder.  Alexander Ovechkin is the team's captain and emotional leader, not to mention the best goal scorer.  He was the driving force behind the Capitals getting a point out of Sunday's loss to Pittsburgh, posting two assists and the go-ahead goal in the third period.  He used to be the most fun player to watch in the league, but lately he looks like he is being dragged down by the "C" on his chest and the public persona change that happened when he signed with IMG.  He has been a shadow of himself for over a year.  Even so, he has set up or scored 5 of the team's 8 goals over the past 5 games, he anchors the powerplay, and he is the most dangerous player on the ice.  Without him for three games in seasons past, the Capitals would buckle down and find ways to win.  Now, a 3-game absence for the 100 million-dollar man on the heels of his first 3-point performance of the season means the Caps aren't likely to make much of an impact on the score-sheet.

The 2011-12 season started out with so much promise for the Capitals.  The team had a lot of new, veteran faces and they were loaded for bear to march all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.  For the first 7 games, nothing could go wrong.  Even when the team looked out of sync and disjointed, they found ways to win.  That's the mark of a great team, the ability to win games even when you're not at your best.  Not coincidentally, those 7 wins, plus one more on November 11, are the only games the four core players this team has been built around have played together this season.  Since then, the Capitals have been a patchwork quilt of overpriced veterans, minor-league call-ups, and spare parts.  The entire team got put through the wringer when Bruce Boudreau was fired as head coach.  New coach Dale Hunter is an excellent replacement, but the team still needs to adapt to his coaching style and establish the identity he wants to stamp on them.  Hunter is getting the most he can out of this line-up, but the spokes on the wheel can only do so much without the hub. 

Hunter has the ball rolling in the right direction, but until he gets Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Mike Green, and Nicklas Backstrom in the line-up at the same time, hopefully in the playoffs, we won't get a true sense of how good this team really is.  General Manager George McPhee hates overpaying for anything, but he will pay to keep these four players together as long as he thinks they can win together.  Money can only take the team so far, though, if the players aren't in the lineup.  As Capitals' owner Ted Leonsis said in his rebuttal to Ovechkin's suspension, one-third of the team's payroll is tied up in Green ($5.25M), Ovechkin ($9.5M), and Backstrom ($6.7M).  In real money terms, the 20 players who suited up for opening night counted $59.6 million against the salary cap.  The 20 players expected to suit up for the Caps tonight combine for $39.3 million, just under 66% of the opening night roster.  Considering the salary cap floor is $48 million, don't expect too much from the Caps tonight as they face the defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins. 

Read on.