Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.This hasn't been a season to remember for Caps' goalie Olaf Kolzig, the cagey veteran who has been playing with a giant fork stuck in his back the entire season.
Want a good reason why the Caps won't make the playoffs? Kolzig, and his near-the-basement 89.2% save percentage. There is a reason why the Caps went out and traded for a different #1 goalie.
Well, at least Olie the Goalie was able to 'cap' off his career with win #300, a 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames. Kolzig has been quite the soldier for the Capitals, and it's hard to blame him for being so overused by his club.
With the Capitals trying to keep realistic hopes alive for a playoff spot, Kolzig had little chance to focus on his accomplishments in 17 seasons with Washington. Kolzig is the 23rd goalie to win 300 NHL games.
"I think it'll set in a little more when the season's over, or my career's over," Kolzig said. "I kind of just approach it as a playoff game for us. We're in a must-win situation every night, and it just happened that tonight was my 300."
"It was huge to get this win," Kolzig said. "It was good to get this game to get rid of the demons from the weekend and move forward."
And, yes, Alexander Ovechkin scored, again! Two more goals for 1d8 gives him 56 on the year, and it looks more and more like the NHL will finally have a 60-goal scorer. Wow.
Why? Because, they refuse to fire GM Teflon Don Waddell, a man who has clearly done a poor job building the Thrashers into a team capable of making the playoffs, now and in the future.
Don Waddell's job as general manager is safe. The Thrashers' coach and GM got a vote of confidence from Atlanta Spirit co-owner Bruce Levenson on Tuesday.
Levenson said there are many crucial decisions to make regarding the future of the franchise this summer, including a new coach to replace Waddell. He said he has faith that Waddell is the person who should make them.
"[Keeping Waddell] might not be the popular thing to do in some circles, but I think it would be foolish and shortsighted to tear down this organization at this juncture," Levenson told the Journal-Constitution. "I believe we're closer than a lot of people may think or give us credit for. Less than a month ago, we [would have qualified for] the playoffs; it's easy to see our team and see where we need to improve. We have the assets and cap room to make those improvements."
One playoff appearance in franchise history, a history of foolish trades, and a team that can't keep the puck out of the net.
Of course it's not popular to keep Waddell as GM, because he's simply not good enough. Being 'close' to making the playoffs isn't going to cut the mustard when the Thrashers have had ample opportunities to build a team that could make the playoffs year after year.
How does firing a GM tear down the organization? Who says that everyone else, from coaches on down to scouts, has to go with the bath water? Get a new GM, and get to work.
Never fear, Tyler Kennedy is here ... uh, who?
Well, Kennedy had a great night as the Pens thrashed the Sabres by a 7-3 count. The Pens now move into a first-place tie in the East while the Sabres continue to piss away their playoff chances.
Who gets hurt in a shootout? Last time I looked nobody was throwing a flying elbow at the shooter to give him a concussion, and unless he loses an edge and goes crashing into the boards head-first, he's fine. The NHL doesn't yet allow guys to take off their helmets, but I have no problem with it in a skills contest. It would jazz things up and personalize players if you could see their mullets or brushcuts. I wouldn't mind seeing that $12 haircut Alex Ovechkin got a few weeks back, either.
$12? If he paid that much, he got serious ripped off.
Gratuitous YouTube Embed: Jere Lehtinen has always been a rather quiet NHL player that lets his fine defensive play do the talking. Not the type of guy you'd expect to be a hardcore metalhead, right?
Wrong!
Let's not forget that Finland is a hub for Death Metal, Black Metal, Gothic Metal, and other metal music you can imagine. If a Finn doesn't like hard music, it would be more of a shock to me than Lehtinen being a big fan of SLAYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-13-2008 @ 11:19AM
Brad said...
I don't know how much you can say Olie is responsible for the Caps' bad season; October was one of his best months, while it was arguably the team's worst. January was probably the team's best month, while it was probably Olie's worst (statistically) as he was being overworked with Johnson injured. That's been the oddest thing about Olie's season: some of his better statistical games have been the worst losses, and some of his worst statistical games have been pretty big wins. The Caps' terrible early season was about the inability to score, not bad goaltending (with the exception of a handful of games I think).
As for Huet, he's certainly better than Olie this season (although maybe not for the past month or so?), and you can't pass off such a cheap deal to get a guy you'd probably be looking to sign in the offseason anyways. It's an interesting situation all around, but I don't think it's as clear-cut as the stats suggest.
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3-16-2008 @ 10:52AM
Washington Capitals Tickets said...
Huet was awesome that one game he played, I think Ollie is good, I'm not sure hes among the best in the league though.
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