In case you missed it Tuesday, the NHL nominated Ovechkin and two other guys for the Hart Trophy. The Capitals’ captain and centerman is up against Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin and Calgary’s Jarome Iginla.

Honestly, I’m pretty sure they only added Malkin and Iginla because they had to have three nominees.

Yes, yes, I’m solidly in favor of Ovechkin snagging this trophy, despite being a solid Penguins supporter. But I also acknowledge talent; Ovechkin personifies the essence of the Hart and he deservedly should win it.

It’s indeed fortunate that Washington made it to the playoffs - I highly doubt Ovie would’ve been nominated otherwise, though that travesty would’ve been unforgivable, I think.

We’ll find out for sure on June 12 in Toronto, when the 2008 NHL awards are doled out. And if you didn’t know, Nicklas Backstrom is up for the Calder Trophy for top rookie, too - but he’s going to lose that to Chicago’s Jonathan Toews.

Another Capitals member is an awards finalist - Bruce Boudreau was tagged today as a Jack Adams finalist, which goes to the coach who has “contributed the most to his team’s success.” Boudreau replaced Glen Hanlon in late November last year, where the Caps lay belly-up in the Southeast cellar at 6-14-1. Since then, he led the Caps to a 37-17-7 regular season mark (with seven straight wins at the end of the season) and three hard-fought playoff wins before succumbing to the Flyers in Game Seven. He was also the fastest coach to 20 victories (34 games) in Caps history.

Ovie’s already snapped up the titles for most goals (65) and points (112) on the season. The sole reason the Caps even made it into the playoffs by a hair was because Ovechkin carried them on his back. If Ovie wasn’t playing, the Caps would deservedly be in the dregs of the league along with Tampa and L.A.

Ignila makes sense as a nominee - second career 50+ goal season, 98 points total, and spearheading the Flames’ own run into the playoffs. But he didn’t electrify his team or the home crowds like Ovechkin did.

The sole player at a shot of sneaking away with the Hart is the Penguins’ Malkin. And really, despite locking in 106 points with 47 goals - 46 points and 20 goals during a 28 game stretch that kept the Penguins on playoff afterburners when Crosby went down - the only real reason he could skate away with it is if the Penguins win the Cup.

But even I don’t think that’s likely to happen. I foresee quite the Caps ’sweep’ of the awards in June.

So my heartfelt congratulations to Alex Ovechkin and the rest of the Caps for an electrifying season. I truly hope you all keep that fire lit for next year; it’ll make some awesome match ups for me and my Penguin friends to look forward to.

One down, three more wins to go.

In case you missed it, your Washington Capitals came from behind and stole Game 1 from the Philadelphia Flyers. They stole it like Ovechkin stole the puck in the waning minutes for his first playoff goal. Seriously - it’s a gorgeous move and great goal. You’ve got to see it. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

It’s not going to be a cakewalk, though. The Flyers came out gunning, hopping up to a 4-2 lead before the Caps finally got their jitters behind them and surged to a tie. Mike Green netted two, and Ovie had 43 hits - 43! - on the night. Think he’s a tad excited?

Now that they’ve got the return-to-playoff jitters behind them, they’d better settle into a groove on Sunday for the rematch and not fall behind often. It’s not a good pattern to get into.

So hit the Verizon Center on Sunday and wear your red. I won’t be there, though - my preferred team has some more Senator-smacking to do, so I’ll be watching that demolition from the comfort of my living room.

Go Caps! (because I hate the Flyers!)

I started to write some quick notes about the ways the Caps could still make it into the playoffs, but the added complication of division leads automatically getting the first three seeds made it too much of a headache and I deleted it all. So lemmie try again.

The Caps are in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. Currently the Carolina Hurricanes are leasing the SE div with 90 points and we’re behind them with 88. Were we were to win 2 out of the remaining 3 games and they lose all three of theirs then we’d be tied up with 90 points.

Point ties are settled by looking at comparative games played (which would be the same), then number of wins (ditto), then.. well, let me quote the HHL page on the matter:

The greater number of points earned in games between the tied clubs. If two clubs are tied, and have not played an equal number of home games against each other, points earned in the first game played in the city that had the extra game shall not be included. If more than two clubs are tied, the higher percentage of available points earned in games among those clubs, and not including any “odd” games, shall be used to determine the standing.

Clear as mud.

Now, that’s not the only way for us to make it into the playoffs - eight total teams make it in, with the top 3 seeds being the division leads. And in fact, those three aren’t necessarily the best. Carolina, currently holding that #3 seed spot, is actually eighth in game points, behind Philly and Boston. Which is our other shot at a berth - if either of those teams loses their remaining three games (a real possibility for poor Philly, who is facing the top-ranked Penguins TWICE) while we win our next three that would tie us for game points, allowing us to bypass them on number of wins.

What a damned headache.

Annoyed, courtesy of Fenchurch!

Murky Coffee (Arlington, not the former one in DC) was rather packed today, full of people who should have been in church for some salvation, rather than at Murky for a double breve half-skimaccino. I swear, folks - do you like the crackle of hell fire? Do you relish being enveloped by the stench of brimstone?

Here’s what you do, folks. Next year, come Easter, go to church instead of the coffee place. Leave the coffee for those of us heathens who are likely condemned anyway. Save yourself! I will gladly take your place in line, saving you from damnation, and as a reward for my selfless act, I will also obtain entrance into heaven. Everyone wins, and for once it will not be so darned crowded at Murky.

Photo: Fire of Hell Originally uploaded by muneeb_sami

So the NHL trading deadline came and went today. Think the Caps did anything noteworthy?

Well, they didn’t trade away Kolzig.

Instead, they sorta replaced him. Somehow, McPhee snookered the Canadiens and swiped their best goalie - Cristobal Huet - from them, giving the Habs a very large gamble in net….and in a very tight playoff race, to boot.

Oh, that’s not all the robbery your Caps got away with. I’m nearly ready to call the cops, they practically got away with murder by hockey stick!

Fans of Pettinger, say good bye. He’s packing his stuff for Vancouver. In the air, he’ll pass your new enforcer, Matt Cooke. Not a bad deal.

By far and away the most interesting and possibly the most troublesome trade (to me, a Penguins fan) is the acquisition of Sergei Fedorov from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Might want to frisk McPhee, he may have taken Ken Hitchcock’s wallet while he was stealing the venerable Russian forward.

Some may say it’s not the greatest grab - Fedorov’s on the back end of his career, no doubt. And he’s likely to end up again in Motor City next year (he’s an Unrestricted Free Agent come July 1). But I think this was a steal, honestly. And a scary, scary move. Pair up this Russian with That One? Yeah, an Ovie-Sergei pairing is about as scary as Crosby-Malkin two states over. (Shameless plug - did you hear what magic Ray Shero did up there? NICE!)

After today’s to-the-wire excitement, I’m fairly sure now the Caps are serious about a playoff run. Only five points behind the Hurricanes (and sitting in the 11th slot), McPhee’s putting the screws to the team. These moves - if they land the suddenly-more-than-lukewarm Caps into the playoffs - might go down as one of the more brilliant deadline con jobs of the century, or I forsee a lynch mob outside the Verizon Center come mid-April.

Who knows? I’ll say this, if the Caps vault into the playoffs, I may actually buy playoff tickets from them this year.

Naaah.

It’s still the Caps. Now if they faced down Pittsburgh in the Conference Finals….

It’s cold, icy and snowy-ish outside. Ready for some red-hot hockey?

Yes, yes, I know - me, a diehard Penguins fan blogging about the Caps. Well, hey - though I love to hate on the local hockey boys, I love and respect the game more. And considering that Olaf Kolzig (right) recently played his 700th career NHL game on Sunday - with a 3-2 OT win over the flagging Rangers, I think it deserves mention. Even from a black-n-gold supporter like me.

I recognize talent and tenacity when I see it. And the Caps’ recent tear has a lot to do with the Man in the Mask as much as it has to do with Ovechkin’s stellar play. If the Caps retain their 3rd seed (and SE Division title) to the end of the regular season, it will be in no small part due to Kolzig and his solid, stalwart play.

Ollie the Goalie entered the NHL during the 89-90 season, appearing only twice and allowed 6 goals during those 120 minutes. Sixteen seasons later with the same team he started with, he’s still going strong. By far, he’s been a pillar of all the Cap teams since he became the go-to goalie in the 97-98 season; I know many Pens fans (myself included) continue to see him as our nemesis between the pipes whenever these two rivals meet.

Over the course of his workhorse days, he’s compiled a 296-290-21 record, with 63 ties and a 2.71 GAA. Not bad with a team that’s seen more dips and heights than Space Mountain during that timespan.

And I’ll give him this - in today’s modern sports world, it’s rare to find a player sticking with one team for (what may be) his full career*. I tend to root for such loyal players more than the ‘for rent’ guys who shuffle back and forth between teams during the gear-up to the playoff season.

So while I still love to dis the Caps, I’ll reserve a beer-hoisting to Ollie the Goalie the next time I get to the Verizon Center (which’ll be in March…because the Almighty Penguins are due one more time this season).

Congrats, Kolzig, on a great run so far. Here’s to a few more - just make sure to take the day off when Crosby and gang come to town, mmmkay?

*Rumors of a last-minute trade aside, I hope more for Kolzig’s sake that the Caps hold onto him until he retires. He deserves that much respect, at least.

Instead of complying with a judge’s order to make their controversial day-laborer center open to all who might need employ, the town is shuttering the center on the 14th. That’s right, soon, all those workers who were no longer hanging out in the parking lot of the 7-11, making a general wreck of the place, will be back at that same parking lot.

Closing the center does nothing to stop the underlying issue in all of this, it won’t lead to more arrests and deportations for illegal immigration, it won’t stop businesses from needing construction labor on a day-to-day basis, and it certainly does nothing for the town of Herndon itself.

The whole thing just pisses me off, honestly. Instead of coming to an amicable compromise, the city is doing the equivalent of gathering up its marbles, and shouting at the top of their lungs on the playground that you’re a cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater, and they’re taking their marbles and going HOME, dammit.

Who wins? No one. Who loses? Everyone. I fear that this is symbolic of the coming political campaigns from all the various camps running candidates for various offices, and that in search of total victory for one side, we will all end up losing in the long run.

We’re about 27 hours from the MLB Trading Deadline for the season, and it’s time to ask: What can the Nationals do before 4pm on Tuesday to help themselves? It’s not like we’re heading to the Playoffs this year, hell, I think it’ll be a struggle to come up with 70 wins. Looking to the Future, though, is what we ought to be doing as a franchise right now. In just 9 months, the Nationals will open their next season in the as-yet-unnamed new ballpark on the banks of the Anacostia. To make good on their promise to the city to do their best to craft a winning franchise, it’s time for the Lerners, and their proxies Nationals President Stan Kasten and General Manager Captain Leatherpants Jim Bowden to start looking.

How can the Nationals improve? Do you keep or trade Dimitri Young (currently #8 in batting average)? Is Young the kind of guy you could build a team around? It’s clear that Nick Johnson isn’t ever going to be the hitter he once pretended to be, and that the Nats are going to need to slough off his contract ASAP. Cristian Guzman? Let’s just say it’s probably in the best interest of the team that he has, in fact, resumed his play from the 2006 season.

With sluggers like Mark Texeira (though he may be heading to the Braves today) on the block, perhaps it’s time the Nats made a move to come up with an Ace-to-be in exchange for Young? There’s no question he could provide some much-needed pop for one of the dark horses in the hunt for the Playoffs.

There’s no question: A .450 team will NOT put butts into the seats at the new stadium for long. There’s the lure of the new stadium, surely, but with only 16,000 full-season-ticketholder-equivalents (which is an awfully hyphenated term…) the Nats have to think about putting some excitement into the club, which could mean the pickup of a big name pitcher or hitter, which could increase the steady draw.

Or, they could do nothing, like last year. We all know how well that turned out.

photo courtesy of Parl

Not that I should share my impending-events-observations with you meanies, none of whom so far could be bothered to give me any feedback about GiraMondo, but MAN you find whacky shit on Upcoming.

Case in point: a Rockem Sockem robot tournament (I’m assuming that’s what they meant, though perhaps there is such a thing as a ‘tourament’ and nobody told me…) of all things. I’m torn on my hopes here. Do I wish that this is done in all seriousness, that people will really care who wins? Or do I hope that this is just another sad excuse for drinking concocted by people who just can’t face up - as we pros do - to drinking simply for its own sake?

I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was tempted to go find out…

Photo by DC Metroblogger

How did this shoe come to be here, at the corner of Connecticut and R Streets NW? Why was it there late on a Thursday night?

Did it fall off on a sprint for the 42 Bus? Was it removed to beat an offender? Is this the fate of a blister-maker?

What do you think happened? How do you envision its arrival on this traffic cone? The comments section awaits.

Best answer wins a Metroblogging Japan T-Shirt because we’re not cool enough yet to have pure DC swag.