(photo by Haraz N. Ghanbari)

While other players on the Washington Capitals might be more flashy, top-line center Nicklas Backstrom is officially someone opponents need to gameplan for. He’s in the midst of an eight-game scoring streak in which he’s racked up three goals and eight assists, and even more impressive is that he’s currently ninth in the league in scoring with 66 points. All this at the tender age of 21.

We caught up with Backstrom and some of his teammates over the last week to find out just how good this kid is.

You’re currently in the top five in the league in assists, but it looks like you’re shooting and finding the back of the net a little more often these days. Have you changed up your game lately or is this just a sign of your growing confidence?

“I don’t know,” he said. “When I have an opportunity to shoot, I shoot it. Some games I have more opportunities to shoot than other games, but I can’t tell you what’s changed lately. I have to shoot more though. That’s something I’ve been working on.”

We think everyone’s kind of labeled you as a pass-first kind of player, so maybe shooting a little more often will continue to catch teams off guard, right?

“Yeah, if you’re going to have success, then you have to surprise them a little bit,” Backstrom said.

Not too long ago, you were struggling a little bit and were moved off of the top line. Since then, it seems you’ve really been playing better. What changed?

“I don’t know,” he said. “It’s a long season and sometimes you’re struggling. It’s going up and down all the time and if nothing works between me and Alex [Ovechkin], then I think it’s good for both of us to change other guys around us. Right now, I think we play good. That’s what’s most important.”

Hey Sergei Fedorov, Backstrom just seems to get better every month. What are you seeing in his development?

“I think he’s become more mature, as far as making plays,” Fedorov said. “Every night he realizes he’s got to work hard, and that’s what he does. Coach gives him lots of ice time and opportunity to play on the powerplay. If he works hard and plays right in all these situations I think he’s got enough hands and enough talent to get a lot of points.”

Hey Tomas Fleischmann, just how well is Backstrom playing these days?

“He’s our best center man,” he said. “He’s sees the ice really good. I would say he’s unbelievable. His passes are unbelievable and I just think he’s going to get better. Way better, I think.”

One of the more underrated parts of his game because he typically is a pass-first guy. Does he have a good shot?

“Yeah, he’s got a pretty good shot,” Fleischmann said. “Every time he’s got a good opportunity to shoot, he takes the shot and usually scores. But he usually is looking more for Alex, and the combination is working, so why not?”

(courtesy photo)

Last week we posted an interview with Washington Capitals forward Brooks Laich in which he talked about being traded for forward Peter Bondra. As luck would have it, we ran into the local icon this past weekend at the Verizon Center and he was kind enough to answer a few questions about life after hockey, the new goal scorer in town and his thoughts about retiring his jersey.

What brings you to town this weekend?

“Well, right now I’m working for the Slovakian National team as their general manager and there’s a couple players I’m here to watch,” Bondra said. “What I do, I want to see the guys, how they play in person and maybe talk to them after the game. You know, talk about the Olympics coming up in 2010 and possibly the world championships for a couple guys here.”

It’s been a while since we’ve seen you around. How’s life treating you these days?

“Good,” he said. “I’m happy and retired and enjoying going to my kids’ games, traveling to their practices. It’s much more calm. I can relax and enjoy it. Actually, I can live life now. Before, you always had to think about the next game or getting to sleep or eating well and concentrating more on a hockey perspective than yourself or your family.”

You just had a birthday this month. Are you feeling older these days or are you still feeling pretty good?

“No, I still feel good,” Bondra said. “I still go to gym. I still ride a bike. I go running and play any sport I possibly can, so I’m in good health and am trying to stay in shape.”

What do you think of the atmosphere at Caps games now? D.C. has kind of turned into a hockey town now, hasn’t it?

“It’s great, it’s great,” he said. “Everything started the last half of last season for the Caps and now there’s a big buzz in town. People talk about the games and it’s hard to get tickets. I tried to get a couple tickets for my friends and I couldn’t do it, but I think it’s great. The Washington area needs something like this and hopefully this will continue to the playoffs and deep in the playoffs.”

Wait a minute. Did you just say one of the biggest names in franchise history can’t get Caps tickets?

“Well, I have two tickets from the Alumni, but I have two sons and a friend from Europe that want to go to games,” Bondra said. “One of my sons had to stay home [tonight] because I couldn’t get him a ticket. I didn’t try to call the ticket office, I just told him, ‘Hey, I don’t have any.’ But he’ll be here at the next home game. I think I’ll just have to choose which one gets to come to each game.”

This franchise has been to one Stanley Cup finals, which you were obviously a part of. Does this year’s team have what it takes to get there?

“I think so,” he said. “Last year was a good experience for them because most of the guys are young – they had a lot of rookies and young players on the team. This year they can go deeper and who knows? Now, these days, there’s not just two or three teams that can win the Cup. There’s no favorite team. More teams have a chance to win it because of the salary cap and changes to the league.”

You’re a goal scorer. Do you ever get tired of watching Alex Ovechkin play?

“No, it’s amazing what he can do,” Bondra said. “Not just Alex, but I put Alex Semin in too. Both of those guys have an unbelievable shot and they like to shoot through the defender. It’s hard for goalies to read their shots and it’s just amazing. Alex’s goal [against Montreal], I was watching from downstairs in the crowd and it was just amazing. I was thinking ‘How does he do that?’ It makes you stop and say, ‘Wow.’”

So you’re alright if/when he breaks your records?

“Of course … it might be next year,” he said with a laugh. “I’d never have a problem with him and I wish him well. He’s special. I mean, there’s not many players like him in the league. He’s the guy. He can do anything he decides to do.”

When are the Capitals going to retire your jersey number?

“I don’t know,” he said. “I talked to Ted [Leonsis] last year a little bit about it, but I can’t really control it. It would be nice, but at the same time, it’s not going to ruin my life. I’m happy with what I’ve done and how far I went – from the guy who came over here and just tried to play some hockey. I’m proud of myself and how far I’ve come.”

At that point, we thanked Bondra for his time and wished him well. By chance, we ran into Capitals owner Ted Leonsis in the team’s locker room after Sunday’s 5-2 win against the Penguins. We took the opportunity to ask Leonsis one simple question – have you given any thought to retiring Bondra’s number?

“No, he just retired. He could still play,” Leonsis said. “I talked to him about playing, so give it a couple years. Of course Peter Bondra is going to be up in the rafters, but it needs to stew. We just put Mike Gartner’s number up there and Peter’s back in the fold and hanging around. I’m sure we’ll do the right thing, but not in the foreseeable future.”

(photo by Brian Murphy)

With free agency less than a week away, we caught up with Washington Redskins defensive end Phillip Daniels over the weekend to talk about bouncing back from a season-ending injury, losing teammates to “business decisions” and his plans for life after football.

We saw an article last week that said the final two years on your contract had been voided and you’re about to be a free agent. When the heck did that happen?

(Laughs). “Really, right now I’m trying to figure out what’s going on with that too,” Daniels said. “I know I’m a free agent. I know I only had five years, of course they put those last two years on there to help the salary cap out and I restructured my deal a while back, but I’m a free agent. That’s what my agent tells me. I’m not on any of the publications or websites or whatever saying I’m a free agent, but I am.”

When did you find out that your status had changed?

“I knew that going into last season,” he said. “Even before I got hurt my agent told me that the years they had put on the end of my contract weren’t going to be … well, you never know about the Redskins. They could talk to me about keeping those years or have us look at our options. I’m not sure what’s going on right now, man. We’ll have to see what happens.”

You mentioned the injury. How’s everything coming along rehabbing back from that?

“Yeah, I feel pretty good, man,” Daniels said. “I’m already squatting over 400 lbs. I’m back into powerlifting and doing everything like that. Of course, Dr. [James] Andrews wants me to take it slow with all of the running and stuff, but I’m doing ladder drills and cuts and everything. I’m actually running pretty good on the treadmill and I’ll be back up with the Redskins this week. I guess they want to get a look at me before free agency starts and see where I’m at, but I’m really feeling great. I can’t complain, my knee is doing good. To be able to be back into powerlifting, squatting and doing the things I’m doing – it’s just amazing how quick I’ve healed.”

So where are you at these days?

“I’m near Chicago,” he said. “I’m in Vernon Hills, Illinois.”

Since the season ended have you done anything other than rehab? Any vacation time or something fun like that?

“Yeah, I went to the Pro Bowl,” Daniels said. “I went to hang out with Clinton [Portis], Mike Sellers and [Chris] Cooley. I enjoyed that. I went a week ago – I just took a little time off to go out there and support them – but other than that I’ve just been working and training. I’m just trying to get back and get ready. Of course, I’ve got five more months before camp starts, the big camp. I’ll probably end up doing some of these small camps and OTAs this summer, but right now I’m just doing like Dr. Andrews said and I’m taking it slow.

“The good thing about my injury was when I hurt it,” he continued. “It was a blessing with the timing. At the time I didn’t know that, I was just mad. But getting hurt in July gave me a whole year to be ready to go for next season. So I have a whole year, as opposed to a guy who gets hurt during the season and has like eight months to try and get back ready to play.”

It’s not a stretch for us to go ahead and say that you want to be back on the Redskins, right?

“Yeah, I’d love to be back with them,” Daniels said. “We’ll have to see. I know it’s a business and I know that they’ve told me they want me back, so we’ll see. We’ll see what happens. I know they’ve got lots of decisions to make with other guys, but I really don’t think this team is that far from making it to a championship. I’d love to be back.”

Speaking about football being a business, the Redskins released one of your friends, linebacker Marcus Washington. Have you had a chance to talk to him yet?

“Yeah, I’ve talked to Marcus,” he said. “It’s a sad day. Marcus is one of those guys who is a great leader. He used to break down our huddles and he used to quote this movie Drumline. He’d said “one heartbeat” and everyone would say “one sound.” I was thinking to myself, that today our heartbeat is a little bit slower. He’s still going to be a good player next year and I’m pretty sure a lot of teams are going to go after him.

“I really feel like he’s probably going to end up in New Orleans,” Daniels continued. “Gregg Williams loves him, and a lot of teams could use a guy like him that goes out, plays hard and leaves it all on the field. Like I said, they have to make decisions and we just have to go with their decisions. I know it’s a business and he does too. He said it’s probably time for him to move on and, of course, he’s going to be missed by all of us. I hate to see guys who came in back in 2004 leaving. You know how I feel about those guys and how close we are. It’s just sad to see him go.”

We know everyone says it’s just a business decision, but let’s be honest – days like this suck. Seeing high character guys like Marcus Washington being shown the door doesn’t sit right with us. Elite teams always have quality leaders like Washington, right?

“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “I think we lost a great character guy. The thing about the 2004 class, they can say what they want about us, but in the five years we’ve been there, we’ve had a top 10 defense four times. That’s with our offense not even ranking in the top 10 or our record being that high, so you’ve got to think about what we’ve put in there as part of this Redskins family. We had a purpose in life. We were hungry. None of us had championships and all of us wanted one. All of us still want one. Every time I talk to one of the guys from the 2004 class that’s the first thing that comes out they’re mouth, man. They say ‘I’m tired of being mediocre. I want to win a championship.’

“That’s why we were a great group and why we went out and fought hard,” Daniels said. “That’s why we were ranked in the top 10 four of those years. Hopefully I’ll be back and hopefully I can continue toward that. Greg Blache has been good to me. He brought me in from Chicago and I’ve been in his defense for nine years now. I know his defense inside and out. So we’ll see what happens. I would love to be back with the Redskins, but like I said, it’s tough when you lose guys like Marcus Washington.”

Last season the defense lacked a big-time run stopper and that’s something you’re known for. People also forget that with your long wingspan you’re routinely among the league leaders in pass deflections …

“You know, that’s one stat that they don’t keep up with,” he said. “I’ve been one of the top guys in the last four or five years in that stat. Even with the Bears I always had a bunch of deflections, batting down passes at the line of scrimmage. You know, to me, they’re just as important as a sack. I’ve had 10 of those each year, but a lot of people don’t look at that. It don’t even show up on the stat sheet, but I think it’s definitely something people should notice more.”

How hard is your situation right now – not knowing where you’ll end up next season?

“For me, it’s not that hard right now,” he said. “I’ve talked to Greg Blache and I’ve talked to Dan Snyder and both say they want me back. They also say they want me to go inside and play some tackle. Of course I can play all of the [defensive line] positions and that’s a bonus for me. I’m not really concerned about where I’ll play next year. I know I will play somewhere next year. I’m hoping it’s with the Redskins, but if it’s not, then I know someone’s going to have a great player in me and I’ll go out and work hard and play hard every time.”

During the course of our conversation Daniels also mentioned he might consider becoming an agent. Seeing as we’ve always thought he’d be a lock to get into coaching, we had to ask him about it.

An Agent? Really?

“Yeah, for me, I think I might want to get into the agent business,” he said. “So whatever team doesn’t want to give me an opportunity, they’re going to have to deal with me later.”

Seriously, we thought you’d end up as a head coach one day. You’re telling us you might pass that up to be the next Drew Rosenhaus?

(Laughs). “You know what, a lot of people want me to coach,” Daniels said. “I’ve just got to figure out which one of those I want to do. I don’t know. Being an agent, I’d still be around the sport a lot and be around guys who I can help out through tough times and deal with situations like this. But at the same time, you know my passion for football and coaching. People say I’ve got a knack for it and say that they can come to me and I help show them what to do. They say it’s kind of like I’m coaching on the field right now. I think that’s something important to bring right now. When things aren’t going good, I try to be there on the field to help them get through it. But with being an agent, I think it’s something I really want to do. I think I’m already set with that, so we’ll see.”

(photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

The Washington Capitals continued their recent dominance over the Pittsburgh Penguins with a 5-2 victory at the Verizon Center Sunday.

While the Penguins would not qualify for the playoffs if the season ended today, the game definitely had a playoff atmosphere with the fans fired up from the start and both teams trading hits and words throughout the physical affair.

In the end, the Caps secured their third-consecutive victory over Pittsburgh and we caught up with forward Tomas Fleischmann to get his thoughts on the battle.

How important was it for you guys to bounce back and get a win after the lackluster game against Colorado Friday night?

“We need to win when we’re at home and it was basically a great first period,” he said. “We skated with fast speed and had a great powerplay goal that got us going.”

This rivalry has been around for a long, long time. It certainly felt like a playoff game here today, right?

“Yes, exactly,” Fleischmann said. “That’s what I felt all game and it was really fun to play in.”

This one was pretty physical too. At times you saw some of the biggest names in hockey getting in each other’s faces and chirping back and forth to raise the stakes even higher, right?

“That’s what you expect from a game like that,” he said. “Like you said, it’s almost like a playoff game and that’s how we play in the playoffs. You know, it was a tough game on the boards and we got a lead 5-2 that made them start to get frustrated a little bit. We kept going and played our game and got the win.”

You’ve now won all three games against Pittsburgh this season. What do you chalk that up to?

“We got excited about these games probably and had more energy than usual,” Fleischmann said. “We chipped some goals in and that’s it.”

You’ve got 22 games left in the regular season. What’s the top priority for this team heading into the postseason?

“Keep playing the same way we did tonight and get in a better position for the playoffs,” he said.

(photo by Steve Mitchell)

Five years ago the Washington Capitals acquired forward Brooks Laich in a trade for right wing Peter Bondra. While it was a bitter pill to swallow for Caps fans at the time, most folks ultimately understood that moves like this one were necessary in order to rebuild the franchise the proper way.

So far, we’ve talked to the general manager who orchestrated the rebuilding effort, the captain during those dark days and the future Hall of Famer who played against the Caps of yesterday. In the final installment of our look back at the Capitals’ rebuild, we sat down with Laich to talk about replacing a fan favorite, getting blown out and more.

Coming into town, what was your initial impression of the Washington Capitals franchise?

“When I first got here, I was called up and I shook George McPhee’s hand,” Laich said. “I had never met him before, but he shook my hand and said ‘Welcome to Washington. We look forward to having you here for a very, very long time.’ As a 20-year-old, you get traded to a new organization and your world kind of flips upside down. At one point you’re sad to leave a bunch of friends from one organization, but you’re also excited about the opportunity with another one.

“For me to come in as a young kid and our general manager to say that to me, it kind of hit home and made me feel very welcome. Right away everyone here seemed first class and I was excited to be here,” he said. “At the time, they might have taken a lot of heat over it because those were some very popular players they traded, but I think fans would have to agree that it was for the better for the organization.”

Through no fault of your own, you ended up coming into town while fan favorite Peter Bondra was being shown the door. Did anyone hold that against you when you first showed up?

“I hope not,” Laich said. “You know, I had no control over that. I’m not going to try and replace Peter and what he meant and what he’s done for this organization. I’ve been able to meet him and he’s a fantastic guy and we’ve had a little chat about it. He was Mister Washington Capital for years and holds many records. I’m just going to try and play my game and be a solid Capital. It’s kind of neat to be able to say I was traded for one of the all-time greats in the organization, but I hope that people aren’t going to think I’m going to try and score 55 goals a year. I’m just going to play my game and try to help us win. I think that’s more important.”

It’s easy now to gloss over everything and just say “there were some tough times,” but honestly, how bad was it?

(Laughs). “It was bad, but you know, we understood that,” he said. “We understand that we were young and had some good hockey players, but we weren’t at the level that we could be. We knew there was going to be growing pains and it was gonna take time. We knew it wasn’t going to be an over-night process. Like they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day. That was the feeling around here. But we knew that one day we were going to wake up and we were going to be a very good hockey team.

“We took some lumps,” Laich continued. “There were some 5-0, 6-0, 7-1 games – some long nights – but you have to learn from those and we did. We took our beatings and I think we’re a better hockey team now because we went through it. We learned how much we hated losing. No matter how much you lose, you never get used to it. You realize how hard you have to work to win and that’s something I think we’re figuring out even now.”

With that in mind, how rewarding is it now to see all of that hard work begin to pay off?

“It’s so nice, we’re really able to enjoy winning now because we’ve been through the thick and thin,” Laich said. “We’ve all been here when things weren’t as good, and what we were doing was setting the foundation for what was to be a good hockey team. Some of the guys who’ve been moved out, I feel bad for them because they were part of the plan too because they’re not around now to reap the rewards. Fortunately, I’ve been able to stick around and have a contract that should keep me around for a couple more years. I’m just really enjoying it all right now.

“I think we have some really fantastic hockey players and I really, really like our hockey team,” he said. “I think a lot of people are still underestimating our team. I think we’re a very dangerous team and I think we should be a team to watch down the stretch.”

How close is this team to putting it all together?

“That’s the thing,” Laich said. “You know, we’re still growing. I’m not going to say we’re the number-one contender or we’re the best. I’m not going to say that yet because there’s still areas we can improve. We’re still a young hockey team and we’re still learning. The main thing is the desire is there. Watch our star player – Alex Ovechkin – and see how badly he wants to win. That has a trickle-down effect on everybody else and we’re starting to get a taste of success now. We’re putting together some streaks and it’s a fun time to play right now. It only makes us hungrier because we’re curious to see how far we can go.”

(courtesy photo)

Sometimes I can’t help but wonder what it’s like to root for a basketball team that has a fucking clue.

Seeing well-run franchises like the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs able to effectively run their teams on both an immediate and long-term basis is almost disheartening to a Washington Bullets/Wizards fan.

The Spurs land a number-one pick and draft a cornerstone like center Tim Duncan. Washington gets Kwame Brown. The Celtics acquire a grizzled veteran like Kevin Garnett and sail to yet another NBA championship. The Wiz somehow convince the greatest player of my lifetime, Michael “Freaking” Jordan, to play in D.C. and they can’t even sniff .500. Seriously, it’s embarrassing.

But at some point you get used to the ineptitude. You embrace the mediocrity. I mean, the franchise surely did when they dropped confetti and threw a party just for qualifying for the playoffs a few years ago. And who cares if the current version of the Wizards is, at best, good enough to qualify for the postseason but flawed enough to ensure the second round is a pipedream? When they’re this bad for this long, a first-round exit is a welcomed distraction.

That’s why I was able to live with the stories coming out of D.C. this week about our beloved basketball team. Comcast Sportsnet did a sit-down interview with general manager Ernie Grunfeld in which he said (with a straight face) that he wouldn’t change a thing if he knew then what he knows now about signing a one-legged Gilbert Arenas to a six-year, $111 million deal this past offseason and I didn’t even hit up the liquor cabinet. During the same interview Grunfeld said he isn’t second guessing any other moves that led to his Wizards’ 12-42 record and I somehow managed to avoid throwing the remote at my television.

Unfortunately, a day later, I lost it. You see, I can put up with a lot, but the Washington Post pushed me over the edge when they ran a story on Grunfeld that started with the following paragraph:

Ernie Grunfeld’s plan was to sprinkle talented youngsters and veteran role players around a core of three star players. Then he would watch the team progress deep into the playoffs, perhaps to a long-awaited second NBA championship.

Now I’ve never met the gentleman who wrote this particular story, but he clearly, unlike me, was unable to avoid drinking when the topic of the Wizards came into play.

Anyone who thought this team of streaky jump shooters who continually refuse to play defense was capable of doing anything more than selling popcorn at the NBA Finals should be forced to wear a helmet while riding the school bus. For this writer to even mention the word “championship” in a Washington Wizards article is a more egregious foul than anything Jayson Blair ever did.

Later in this same article, the writer suggests that there’s a silver lining to this pitiful season because the team “has a good chance at landing a high pick in the draft lottery.” That statement is then followed up with this turd in the punch bowl:

However, because the Wizards already have such huge financial commitments, there is a decent chance Grunfeld will consider trading the pick.

Um … what?

The only reason people are willing to live with this lost season is because there’s hope that Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin or someone of his caliber will ride into town and save this sinking ship. Now the Wizards are floating the idea of trading away the draft pick in order to rid the franchise of Etan Thomas’ bad contract? Really? Someone thinks that’ll go over well?

Click here for the full article.

Note to self is a weekly sports column written for HoboTrashcan.

It’s almost embarrassing how much better Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin is than everyone else. For those who missed it, Ovechkin raised the bar yet again Wednesday night in the Caps 4-3 shootout win over the Montreal Canadiens.

In the first period Ovechkin got control of the puck near the center line. He bounced the puck off the boards while spinning the opposite way past the helpless defender. Had the play ended with that and Ovechkin scoring it would have been the goal of the night. But no, Ovechkin ends up scoring a goal from his backside. We’d try to describe it, but honestly, words wouldn’t do it justice.

On a night when the “handi-capable” penalty killing unit did everything they could to lose to a slumping Montreal team, Ovechkin’s goal helped the Caps escape with a win. And judging from the recaps, The Goal 2.0 is the lasting impression. Giving up three weak powerplay goals is merely an afterthought.

If you haven’t seen the Ovechkin highlight, stop reading this and click the video immediately. Seriously. Do it now. You’re pissing us off.

[Update: Our friends at Japers' Rink have decided to break down the play frame-by-frame. With all that work involved, the least you could do is go check it out.]