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Washington Capitals Olympic Selections and Snubs

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When The final Olympic rosters were announced this week their were definitely a lot of mixed feelings in the locker room. Though four of the teams full time forwards made their respected teams, the list of snubs on the Capitals defense was the bigger story in the nation’s capital.

Before getting into that story, I would like to give the hard earned praise to the four Capitals players that will be representing their countries in Sochi.

Patrik Elias: The Caps captain will be making his fourth straight olympic appearance for the Czech Republic. “He does so much for us and he is such a great guy. He obviously deserves to be there” said Capitals forward Evander Kane. The 37 year old currently has 25 points in 33 games this season after signing a 3-year deal to likely finish his career with the Washington Capitals.

Pavel Datsyuk: “Pasha” will also be going to his fourth olympics and will be representing the home team in his native country of Russia. The Capitals top line pivot currently has 32 points in 35 games this season. “It’s a great honor and it’s beyond anything you ever dream of growing up” said Datsyuk. “I still remember last time when we didn’t play like we wanted to. Hopefully this year goes different.” The 35 year old superstar is a 3 time Selke Trophy winner for best defensive forward in the NHL and has become famous for his “Datsyukian dekes” which he uses to turn his opponents inside out regularly. The future Hall of Famer has a contract that expires at season’s end and you can be that da.moose will do everything in his power to lock him up for the remainder of his career.

Jakob SIlfverberg: The 23 year old Swede will be making his first appearance at the olympics this season. Silfverberg showed flashes of brilliance down the stretch last year; his rookie season in the NHL. He ten entered this season hot with 4 goals and 7 points in his first 11 games before injuring his hand and sitting out for over a month. In spite of his injury, the Swedish selection committee decided that Silfverberg had proven enough to earn a spot on one of the most competitive teams in the tournament. “You see the talent and you understand why he had so much success in Europe” said teammate Tobias Enstrom. “He has a very unique shot that is extremely strong for someone so young and he is only getting better”.

Richard Panik: The last member of the Washington Capitals that will be representing his team in Sochi is another one of the team’s up and comers. The 22 year old has had some difficulty adjusting to a full time job at the NHL level and has found himself in coach Bruce Boudreau’s dog house at times this season. “He has all the tools and we have seen what he is capable of” said Boudreau. “He is fast, strong, tenacious, competitive... I mean if I didn’t see all the potential I wouldn’t be so hard on him but I do and I think he understands that and has been responding very maturely.” Though Panik has been playing with limited ice time he still has managed to accumulate 11 points in 36 games during his first full season in the NHL and will be expected to bring his high energy to a very underrated Slovakian team.

Though the aforementioned players were definitely joyous after receiving phone calls from the representatives of their respected countries this week, some of the Capitals were not as fortunate. Most notably their are four Capitals defensemen that were all expected to head to Sochi with their nation’s crest on their chest in February, but instead will be watching with their families at home for various reasons.

Tobias Enstrom: The crafty puck moving defenseman was one of the only two players that opted to sit out the Olympic games in Sochi to instead rest up for the backend of his season with the Washington Capitals. “I went last time I know how special it is. It was a really tough decision to make” Enstrom stated. “I thought long and hard and decided it was best that I rest. I’ve had some injuries the last couple of seasons and I truly believe that we have a real chance in the NHL playoffs this season which is my first priority. I just want to be at 100% when that comes around.”

Keith Yandle: Leading the Capitals in ice time and leading all Capitals defensemen in points, the former CDCGML Norris Trophy winner was the most noteworthy snub on the team. “What a joke!” said Evander Kane. “He is such a great defenseman.. I mean.. with all due respect someone making decisions up there must be delusional or something.” Captain Patrik Elias stated “I feel awful for him. He is such a great professional that I know he will use it as fuel but he deserves to be competing. He is one of the best defensemen in the world right now and is a huge part of what we do here in Washington”.

Sergei Gonchar: Having already competed in 4 olympics, it seems that Gonchar may be done competing internationally after not getting invited to play for the Russian team in Sochi. “It’s never easy” said Gonchar. “You almost expect to get invited when you have gone four times, but I guess they are going with a younger team. Theres nothing I can do about it so I guess I’ll just enjoy the time with my family.” Gonchar was acquired by the Capitals during last season’s trade deadline and hasn’t been putting up the numbers that he has been accustomed to in previous seasons. “Ya, we’d like to see more offense from him in the second half, but he has still played really well; especially last month he really started getting hot” said Boudreau. “He is still playing really smart hockey and is a strong presence in the locker room. Our younger guys really have a lot of respect for him and respond to him.”

Jan Hejda: One of the newest members of the Washington Capitals, Hejda did not get invited back after competing for the Czech team in 2010. “I really thought I set myself up to make the team so it’s tough to digest” said Hejda. “I am happy to be here in Washington though. It’s a great organization and you know, this will just push me to play better and maybe play in the playoffs which is a dream of mine and something I’ve barely gotten to do in my career, so I guess I’m just trying to look on the bright side right now." The 35 year old has already tied a career high in goals with 5 this season and is on pace to surpass his career high of 21 points.

It will be interesting to see how this Washington defense group responds in the second half to being snubbed by their home countries. You’ve got to think that they feel that they have something to prove to the coaches and managers that have left them off of their national teams.

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The Blackhawks have 5 players representing their respective countries at the Sochi Olympics

Chris Kunitz has had a fantastic season so far , while there will always be those who think it is his chemistry with Crosby is the main reason he was chosen, we think he really deserves his place on the Canadian team.

David Backes , David does it all , gives 100% every shift , plays a hard physical game and this year has really picked up his scoring, a true leader.

Tomas Plekanec , while not as flashy as some Tomas is a very talented centre who will prove to be a thorn in the side of the teams he plays against.

Brooks Orpik , named after the coach of the American team that pulled off the "miracle on ice " Brooks will bring his leadership , experience and solid play to Sochi.

Jaroslav Halak , Staying in North America this off season and working on his fitness and strength has paid off big time for Halo , he has had an outstanding season so far , capping it with an assist and a shut out tonight , good luck scoring against Slovakia !

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Blues News "Future Plans"

Even the Deadline is 2 Month away the Blues will clear up some things.

The Playoffs are out of sight for the Blues, no doubt.

So we are talking about possibly Playoff Assets.

Steve Mason , Michael Raffl , Eric Gelinas and Michael Bournival are untouchables

and the Blues plans to keep them all for the Future.

Josh Gorges, Weiss and Brenden Morrow just have signed Contracts last Summer

and even Gorges was disapointing so far, we´ll stay confident in him.

Same counts for Stephen Weiss.

Further Brenden , Stephen and Josh all having NTC´s.

That probably leaves Joe Vitale, Anton Volchenkov and John Erskine.

Joe has been very good this Season and he´s a Guy we would also like to Keep.

Volchenkov just joined the Blues some Weeks ago via Trade and he could be

a solid Blueliner for the next Years.

Erskine was a real disapointment this Season. Only 1 Scorerpoint and a injury has

threwn him Back. We´ll keep an eye on him untill the Deadline.

Another untouchable but no Playoff Asset (yet) is Marcel Goc.

His contract expires and he´s on the Top of the List of our UFA´s

that we want to re-sign.

Mark Borowiecki and Mike Hoffman 2 another RFA´s we want to keep on and we hope that they wil lcome a step

closer to the NHL next Season.

One important thing is to sign a solid Top 6 UFA in Off Season to give

our Offence a boost for the next Years.

Our remaining 3 Draftpicks for 2014 are also untouchable.

All in all we will have a lot of Work in the Next Month and Years to become a Playoff Team again.

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With Jack Skille and Philip Larsen still on the LTIR with season long injured Sheldon Souray, there are no changes scheduled for the Rangers lineup going into the weekend. GM Primal Optimist gave a short sound bite earlier today, " The boys have responded well to the changes in the room and each day we have seen improvement in the chemistry and on the score sheet. It is a long road to try to recover 200 and more points to overcome the Devils, but all in all one point or three points at a time we are moving forward. Second or Third Place in the Division suits me just fine after finishing 7th worst in the league last year, but our goal is to top the division and get some home ice luck in the first round. And before you ask, no I don't think I am being overly optimistic, this is a good team and could certainly pull that off."

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WAIVERS: The Nashville Predators have claimed Matt Pelech from San Jose via waivers.

*As Nashville doesn't have a roster spot available for him, they have 24 hours from this post to create one or he will be automatically placed on waivers again to be assigned to the minors*

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