Caps training camp recap, from 9/18

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

Link to pics

OK, first off, let me say, some of the pictures are dodgy enough, but I was hungover like no one has ever been hungover before.

Secondly, I arrived early, and saw brashear, the boar, man of the mountain standing at the top of the stairs, in an underarmour top and pair of shorts.

The man is massive, simply massive, and looks to be in good shape too.

On the brashear theme, Robataille was doing some serious arsekissing with him, but brashear didn't seem to mind. He was friendly and chatted happily to him.

Ovey skated very early on a line with brashear, and set him up with an easy goal, which brashear converted.

Brashear then skated back and got in line ready to go again, ovey skated over, with both hands raised and jumped on his back and cheered, Brashear laughed at it.

Players that impressed me

Ovey, enough said.

Pettinger, he looks confident on and off the puck, and I think he will top his goals mark this season, he looks like he is going to round into an excellent 2 way forward with offense on his mind

Brashear, nothing too spectacular, but worked hard, and seemed to get on with those around him, still finding it hard to root for him, but if he keeps the scorers relatively protected, then I will try to erase him in a philthy jersey from my mind

Bouchard (think thats how its spelt), played hard every opportunity he got on the ice, had some great moves, and did not look out of place at all.

Erskine, I know nothing about him apart from what I saw, and what I saw was someone who really really really had to control himself to not kill someone, but at the same time, stay in position. A few times he lined guys up and hit them, but once he is playing against someone, he looks like his entire game is built around postition and taking the body. He may not be a great player, but in limited minutes, I think he will serve a role.

Green, he is ready to play, he plays with an edge, and was dictating positions to players around him. Looks like he has a good head for the game and should stick all season with the caps.

Johnson, looks sharp in net, looks to have a good rapport with a lot of the players, will hopefully not have the rust he did at the start of last season now with a full year under him and a training camp down too.

Semin, I have been high on the kid for a long time, but he played well in his own end yesterday too. He and ovey were laughing and joking about at the start, and playing a little one on one at the very beginning. They also swapped sticks (oveys CCM for Semins Easton Stealth) and semin hit a wrister to the side boards, looking like he wasn't trying, and it just exploded off his stick.

Eminger played well too, I think he will be better this year, some real nice passes out of his own end.

Beech looks like he is going balls to the wall to make the team, played hard, played fairly well, but missed a couple of what looked to be easy tap ins, passing well though.

Fehr, was not a standout, but did not look left out. Skated quite a bit on the second line, played well, jammed up the crease. Nothing overly dramatic, but looks like he should be ready, maybe later this year, maybe all this year, depending on team needs. But another year down on the farm will do no harm either, but I think he could make the jump now.

Players who didn't impress me

Zednik, coasted in the offensive zone, didn't get back to his own zone once, skated on the PP with Semin, Zubie, Ovey and I think it was Pothier.

Robataille, He decided that the only way he could stand out was to try to take the body, and had no problems giving up position to do so. Once he came in hard to sutherby, who avoided the hit and give him a punch on the back of his head for his troubles. Point one to suts.

Fata, Saw nothing out of him, nothing.

Fleishman, it's not that he was bad, he was OK, but he was the hotshot with nothing to prove at the AHL level, and I just didn't get the feeling that he was up to the NHL yet

Gordon, I like gordon, think he has potential. But he just signed a 2 year one way deal, and has not shown me anything yesterday. He will have to clear waivers to go back down, so I think he will stay with the big club, but may spend time as a scratch, not good for his development.

Notes and whatnot

Semin skated on the right the entire day, and skated on oveys line the entire day.

After the first skating session (PP/PK session) they done 5 on 5, Zubie was up in the gym, working out, so the top center spot was filled by Sutherby for the most part. He done well there, made a couple of passes.

Ovey and Semin have good chemisty, and if Semin sticks, it will open the door for possibly fehr or flash to take a 2nd line role, although pettinger and zednick may have those spots already.

I think the caps have a very solid goaltending tandem.

I also think that for all the talk and all the joking, the caps defense will be better this year. Morissonn looks rock solid already at the back, Eminger looks better (to me at least) this year, Green looks like he will be able to eat up minutes, I didn't really see heward, but I like him, Erskine looks like he will play a punishing physical game, and didn't look to lose postitioning a lot yesterday, if his minutes can be limited, I think he will do well.

It was all scrimmage for the 2 hours and was great to see hockey again.

If I think of anything else, I will post it

[EBondo 233]

Wow, thorough review Allsmoke. I wish Brash the best after his stint in Philly, it seems like he's having fun in Washington already.

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

Wow, thorough review Allsmoke. I wish Brash the best after his stint in Philly, it seems like he's having fun in Washington already.

He certainly appears to be fitting in with the team. The way people talked about them last season, they were a tight team, so if the newcomers can fit, it should be good.

[TCsnipes9 0]

haha allsmoke, some of your captions had me laughin pretty good. weird how the stripes on the black jerseys look like reflective tape.

[Roach 0]

I too enjoyed the captions! Great job.

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

haha allsmoke, some of your captions had me laughin pretty good. weird how the stripes on the black jerseys look like reflective tape.

That was me forgetting to take the stupid flash off, hence the dark few pics and shiny sleeves, but figured it out early enough to get some semi ok pics.

[Chadd 916]

Brashear has a rocket of a wrister, you can tell by how hard it hits the glass.

[kovalchuk71 212]

LOL, Im guessing that was not a compliment

[Allsmokenopancake 0]

LOL, Im guessing that was not a compliment

It's true though, the only goal he scored when Iwas there was when ovey set him up so he would have had to have my sort of skills to miss that easy a shot