Elliotte Friedman broke the news today. The Toronto Maple Leafs have hired Manny Malhotra as their assistant coach, thereby denying ex-Caps bench boss Bruce Boudreau of getting job with his old favorite team.
Losing his chance at the Leafs job plus the Caps position going to Peter Laviolette. That’s a bummer… but also an opportunity!
The Capitals should hire Bruce Boudreau to be their new assistant coach.
By Peter Hassett 2 weeks ago
Capitals defenseman Nick Jensen and wife Jenner Jensen are back home in their native Minnesota. Earlier in the week, the couple had a chance encounter with a baby squirrel at a park. They documented it on their Instagram accounts.
[Editor’s note: I will be hereby referring to the squirrel as Sam because every squirrel my three-year-old son sees he calls Sam. Like dad, Ethan’s a big fan of alliteration!]
Sam The Squirrel was friendly, but a bit clingy with his new friends.
Elliotte Friedman wrote about the Capitals’ coaching search and the eventual hiring of Peter Laviolette in his latest 31 Thoughts column. While Friedman believes Laviolette was the team’s ultimate first choice, he reports that Mike Babcock, who won the Stanley Cup in 2008, got a lot of consideration from the Capitals because his interview went so well.
MacLellan only interviewed Laviolette and Babcock face-to-face due to the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Washington Capitals announced their first signing of the 2020 offseason.
Brian Pinho has agreed to a two-year contract extension with the Caps worth an annual average value of $725k. In the first year, Pinho will earn $700k at the NHL level and $125k at the AHL level, with a guaranteed salary of $150k. In 2021-22, Pinho’s contract will become one-way and worth $750k, meaning he’ll make a minimum of $900k through the life of this deal.
In case you missed it, Ilya Kovalchuk played for the Washington Capitals for a minute there.
By Peter Hassett 2 weeks ago
On Tuesday Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan discussed negotiations with Alex Ovechkin and other upcoming free agents after he introduced Peter Laviolette as the team’s new head coach. Ovechkin, who will enter the final year of a 13-year, $124 million contract he signed in 2008, will hit the free-agent market after the 2020-21 season if he doesn’t sign an extension first.
“I think conversations have been ongoing with all of them,” MacLellan said. “I think we had a good conversation at the end of the year with Ovi, just to have both parties communicate what they’re thinking and kind of set the table for what could happen next year as far as keeping him around and moving forward with a contract with him.”
By Ian Oland 2 weeks ago
Ex-Caps forward and current gentle sweetheart, Marcus Johansson, is now a Minnesota Wild… err, a member of the Wild. A Wildling? I don’t know. Anyway, now he’s wilding out.
(P.S. he was on the Buffalo Sabres before, in case you, like me, forgot.)
Going to Buffalo will be forward Eric Staal, who has never played for the Capitals as far as I can tell.
By Peter Hassett 2 weeks ago
The Dallas Stars improbably punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final on Monday, defeating the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 in overtime of Game Five.
Inside the Stars’ locker room afterward, defenseman Andrej Sekera presented the game chain, an oversized Dallas Stars-branded necklace, to backup goaltender Anton Khudobin, who backstopped his team to the NHL’s championship round with starter Ben Bishop out with injury since August 31.
For Caps fans, Khudobin received a familiar nickname.
Michal Kempny hasn’t looked 100 percent since that hamstring injury back in 2019.
By Peter Hassett 2 weeks ago
Peter Laviolette has taken the reins of the Washington Capitals, ushering in the era of the Washington Lavitals. In today’s episode, Peter and Ian try to figure out what that means.
By Peter Hassett 2 weeks ago
