Great #8 Poised to Win NHL MVP Award

For the first time in franchise history the Washington Capitals will tout the NHL’s MVP as Alexander Ovechkin will surely win the Hart Trophy on Thursday night during the 2008 NHL Awards Television Special, which will be broadcast live from 7-8:30 pm on VERSUS from the historic Elgin Theatre in Toronto. In addition to the Hart Award for the NHL MVP, the Norris Trophy (NHL best defensemen), the Lady Byng Trophy (league’s most gentlemanly player), the Calder Trophy (league’s top rookie), the Selke Trophy (NHL best defensive forward), the Jack Adams Award (NHL best coach), the Vezina Trophy (outstanding goalie), the Lestor B. Pearson Award (best player as voted by members of NHL Players Association), and the Masterton Award (for perseverance and dedication to hockey) will be given out. The Capitals finalists are: Alex Ovechkin (Hart Trophy, Lester B. Pearson Award), Nicklas Backstrom (Calder Trophy) and Coach Bruce Boudreau (Jack Adams Award). Only the Detroit Red Wings (six finalists for five trophies) have more finalists and the chance to win more trophies than the Capitals.

I expect Boudreau to win the Adams but believe that Backstrom will come up short to Chicago’s Patrick Kane for the Calder Trophy given to the Rookie of the Year. My other predicted winners are Ovechkin (Pearson Award), Nicklas Lidstrom (Norris), Henrik Zetterberg (Selke), Chris Chelios (Masterton), Martin Brodeur (Vezina), and Pavel Datsyuk (Lady Byng).

Caps Development Camp Schedule Announced

The Washington Capitals will hold their annual development camp from July 7-12 at Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Va. The camp, which features recent Capitals draft picks, select rookie players and other prospects, includes on- and off-ice workouts. Head coach Bruce Boudreau and his staff will run the camp. The on-ice workouts, which will include multiple scrimmages, are open to the public. The off-ice workouts are closed to the public.

Capitals Summer Development Camp On Ice Schedule

Monday, July 7 - Group A on ice at 10 a.m.; Group B on ice at 2:30 p.m.

Tuesday, July 8 - Group B on ice at 10 a.m.; Group A on ice at 2:30 p.m. 

Wednesday, July 9 - Group A on ice at 10 a.m.; Group B on ice at 11:15 a.m.; scrimmage from 3:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, July 10 - Group B on ice at 10 a.m.; Group A on ice at 11:15 a.m.; scrimmage from 3:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Friday, July 11 - Group A on ice at 10 a.m.; Group B on ice at 11:45 a.m.

Saturday, July 12 - Scrimmage from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

The camp’s complete roster is yet to be finalized, but among the confirmed participants are Capitals first-round draft picks defenseman Karl Alzner (2007), goalie Simeon Varlamov (2006) and defenseman Sasha Pokulok (2005). Defenseman Josh Godfrey (a 2007 second-round selection), goalie Michal Neuvirth (a 2006-second round selection), right wing Francois Bouchard (a 2006 second-round selection) and center Mathieu Perreault (a 2006 sixth-round selection) will also be in attendance. Certain selections from the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, which will be held June 20-21 in Ottawa, will also be at camp.

NHL Coaching News

As I alluded to in my last blog, former Caps coach Ron Wilson was officially named head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday. Wilson faces his most difficult task since taking over the expansion Anaheim Mighty Ducks in 1993. When Wilson took over as Caps coach in 1997 he inherited a talented and veteran laden team left by former Caps GM David Poile and in San Jose he took over a talented and young squad from Darryl Sutter. The Leafs, however, are in disarray and have several overpriced aging veterans. Good luck Ron, you’ll really need it in dealing with Leaf Nation.

The San Jose Sharks will announce that Todd McLellan has been named as the new Sharks head coach at a press conference on Thursday morning at HP Pavilion at San Jose.

“Todd McLellan has an excellent track record and has had success at every level of coaching in his career,” said Sharks Executive Vice President and General Manager Doug Wilson. “He comes from one of the top organizations in all of sports and has been exposed to some of the brightest hockey minds in the game including Jim Devallano, Ken Holland, Scotty Bowman, Steve Yzerman and Mike Babcock, along with Jacques Lemaire, to name just a few. We feel that Todd is an excellent fit for our hockey team.”

Most recently, McLellan, 40, captured the 2008 Stanley Cup in his third season as an assistant coach under Mike Babcock with the Detroit Red Wings. Over the course of those three seasons, the Red Wings won the President’s Trophy as the NHL’s top regular season team twice (2007-08 and 2005-06) and finished second in 2006-07, tying the Buffalo Sabres for first in points (113) but having three fewer wins.

As of today, there are still four official head coaching vacancies in the NHL (Los Angeles Kings, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Atlanta Thrashers). You can add the Ottawa Senators to the list as well because Sens GM and Coach Bryan Murray is planning on going back to being a full time GM this season.

Look for Joel Quennville (former Colorado Avalanche coach) and John Tortorella (former Lightning coach) each to end up with one of the above teams. Tortorella in Ottawa seems like a very good fit. It will be interesting to see if Calder Cup Champions Coach John Anderson of the Chicago Wolves gets his number called to head to the NHL. With the recent success of Boudreau, it seems logical that some team would want to try out another successful minor league coach at the NHL level.

Stanley Cup Finals TV Ratings Up

The NHL Stanley Cup Finals on NBC gave the network some fresh ratings air. NBC's final two Stanley Cup playoff games last week might have been lower-rated than the NBA games on ABC, but they posted even higher year-to-year increases. NBC tied for second place Monday night, with the hockey game up 155 percent (6.3 million, 2.8/9), and won Wednesday with the game up 123 percent (6.8 million, 2.9/9). This is good news for the NHL and with Ovechkin and Sydney Crosby becoming the face of the league the outlook for the NHL looks very good.