Washington Capitals General Manager George McPhee provided journalists and hockey-deprived fans alike a bevy of personnel moves to discuss during the typically dull and agonizing hockey-free summer months of the off-season. The headlines were rightfully focused on topics such as the Semyon Varlamov and Eric Fehr trades, free agent acquisitions of Joel Ward, Jeff Halpern, Roman Hamrlik, Tomas Vokoun, and successful negotiations that brought key players like Karl Alzner and Brooks Laich back into the fold.

Easily lost in this fray is the amount of retooling the Caps and their AHL affiliate have done to help usher the Hershey Bears back into the discussion of preseason favorites for an AHL-record twelfth Calder Cup Championship. Along with the return of some familiar faces like goaltender Darren “Cheeser” Machesney, Graham Mink, Chris Bourque, Mathieu Perreault and Francois Bouchard, the Bears have added further depth with the signings of Ryan Potulny, Matthew Ford, and Jacob MicFlikier.

It was another depth signing for the Caps and Bears that caught my eye – a one-year, two-way contract with free agent center and Pennsylvania native Christian Hanson.

Read more about Hanson's "Slap Shot" connection!

With the Washington Capitals over the salary cap already and a new deal for restricted free agent defenseman Karl Alzner imminent, it is time to see what he is worth so we know how much salary the Caps will need to move to make room. Alzner made a base salary of $875,000 last season on his entry-level deal, meaning the qualifying offer tendered to him by the Washington Capitals is for at least $918,750.  Judging by other young defenseman around the league, Alzner should earn quite a bit more than that as a top-pairing defenseman, likely a 4-year deal worth $2.75 million per season.

Read more about Alzner's expected new income!

#27 Karl Alzner

Many Caps fans are rejoicing this morning at the news that former Washington Capitals goaltender (and fan favorite) Olaf Kolzig is rejoining the team as associate goaltending coach. In the years since his departure, there has been a lack of stability at the goaltending position in DC with five netminders sharing starting time since 2008. On a more personal level, the fans never felt it was right to have Kolzig's last game at Verizon Center come in a Lightning jersey. Finally, Olie the Goalie is back home.

Top ten reasons Olie Kolzig is back with the Washington Capitals, after the jump.

Now that the dust has settled on another disappointing Washington Capitals postseason and ledges have been backed away from emotions have been brought into check, Caps Fans have begun to take a look at the team and where it stands for next season. Questions linger concerning potential Free Agents, career threatening injuries and possible line-up and coaching shake-ups. Throwing our two cents into the ring, we've come up with 10 changes to hopefully make the 2011-2012 Washington Capitals a little bit better.

Opinions, after the jump.

For many seasons, Caps fans have been equal parts dazzled and frustrated with the winger that is #28, Alexander Semin. Semin has been seen to possess a gift of a shot, lightning fast hands and the ability to control a puck in the corners that is rare at the NHL level. But we've also seen the lazy Semin; the one who takes unnecessary offensive zone penalties and seems to disappear for games at a time. We've figured out why.

Semin wants to play center.

We state our case, after the jump.

[Ed. Note: With overtime thrillers and unlikely heroes, the Washington Capitals first playoff series of the 2010-11 NHL Stanley Cup finals is surely one to remember. While we wait to find out the what lies ahead for the Caps, we here at Rock the Red took time to look back at some of our other favorite playoff moments, of series recent and past. Read Kevin's and Krafty's and feel free to share your own in our comments section.]

April 19, 2000

Two years removed from their Stanley Cup Final run, the Caps had made it back to the playoffs only to fall apart in the first round.  The Southeast Division Champion Capitals had surged into the postseason with the #2 seed and a defensive juggernaut to find out that not only would they be playing the cursed Pittsburgh Penguins, but also scheduling conflicts at the Igloo took home ice away from the Caps, making the normally 2-2-1-1-1 series a 1-2-2-1-1.  By the time Game 4 rolled arond, the Caps were down 3-0 in the series and my friend gave his section 107 tickets to me for free.  Being a teenager with high hopes for the Caps, I jumped at the chance to attend my first ever Caps playoff game with my dad and just maybe see the Caps eke out a win.

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With the untimely departure of the 2010-11 Hershey Bears from postseason play, the Washington Capitals' practice facilities at Kettler Capitals Iceplex are about to get a little more full. The Black Aces, you see, are making their way down from Chocolatetown to help out the big club.

For those who don't know the origins of the 'Black Aces', here's a bit of history (per the Washington Times):

"The term refers to the unlucky "Dead Man's Hand" in poker, which includes the black aces. In the 1940s, Eddie Shore, who was owner of the Springfield Indians, used this term originally to refer to players who he considered to be "out of luck" and needed to work their way back into the lineup from injury or the doghouse. Eddie was pretty famous for how hard he made his "Black Aces" work. Not only did they have to work extra hard in practice and scrimmages, they were also required to be available for every game to play on an emergency basis and to work around the hockey rink, doing various odd jobs such as painting, blowing balloons, and selling popcorn and programs."

With the sudden influx of young talent, the Caps have some decisions to make, namely what odd jobs these Aces should be tasked to do around Kettler and the Verizon Center. 

Thankfully, we're here to help with a few suggestions.

[Ed. Note: With overtime thrillers and unlikely heroes, the Washington Capitals first playoff series of the 2010-11 NHL Stanley Cup finals is surely one to remember. While we wait to find out the what lies ahead for the Caps, we here at Rock the Red took time to look back at some of our other favorite playoff moments, of series recent and past. Read Kevin's here and feel free to share your own in our comments section.]

April 11, 2008

As I slid out of my office early on the day of the Washington Capitals' first playoff game since 2003, I thought back over the many happenings of the 2007-08 NHL season in DC. Starting the season with the worst record in the league at 6-14-1, inking Ovechkin to his 13-year contract (and his league leading 65 goals), Hershey Bears coach Bruce Boudreau taking the helm, seeing George McPhee bring in Sergei Fedorov and Cristobal Huet at the trade deadline, a Southeast Division title - everything that somehow miraculously allowed the Caps to string together 12 wins in 13 games, including 8 straight, to close out the regular season and earn the number three seed in the playoffs.

The electricity surrounding the team came to a head that Friday night, when the Capitals were to take the ice against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers. As I walked to my seats in the nosebleeds, I took note of the number of red-clad fans young and old, some even mowhawked, anxious for the game to start. I also noticed how little support the Flyers had in the stands, a sight I was unaccustomed to from years of attending games often where the visitors had the upper hand.

Read on!

[Ed. Note: With overtime thrillers and unlikely heroes, the Washington Capitals first playoff series of the 2010-11 NHL Stanley Cup finals is surely one to remember. While we wait to find out the what lies ahead for the Caps, we here at Rock the Red took time to look back at some of our other favorite playoff moments, of series recent and past. Feel free to share your own in our comments section.]

April 25, 1990.

The Caps were playing the New York Rangers in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after beating the New Jersey Devils in Round 1.  My mom managed to get tickets to Game 4 of both the Devils' and Rangers' series, which were the first playoff games I ever attended.  The Rangers had won Game 1, but the Caps had managed to win game 2 in NYC and game 3 at the Capital Centre. Game 4 was a close game and eventually went into OT.  Then, (from the Washington Post, 4/26/90): Read on to find out!

We all know professional hockey coaches and managers are serious men who take their jobs seriously.  They work very hard to get where they are and have to work extra hard to stay there.  So when the officials make a bad call that could cost them their jobs, a player makes a stupid mistake, or a fan does something that’s just downright obnoxious, sometimes coaches take that just a little bit too seriously, too.

Then, they explode.

More, after we clean this mess up...