- ESPN: Former Capital, and current Florida Panthers forward Matt Bradley had some words to say about Alexander Semin and lack of playoff success in Washington on an Ottawa radio station.
“I don’t mind saying Alexander Semin’s name, because he’s one guy who has so much talent, he could easily be the best player in the league, and just for whatever reason, just doesn’t care,” Bradley said on Ottawa’s TEAM 1200 radio show.
“When you’ve got a guy like that, you need him to be your best player, or one of your best players, and when he doesn’t show up, you almost get the sense that he wants to be back in Russia.”
“We had some guys who didn’t show up in the playoffs,” Bradley said on the show.
“I think our locker room was maybe a little bit too nonchalant, and guys weren’t disciplined the way they should have been. Those two things are big things. It wasn’t that guys were going out the night before a game, but not being ready to practice or missing practice with questionable injuries and not being focused.”
“I mean, there were a lot of guys who played well that didn’t probably play as much as they needed to, but I love Bruce and Bruce is a great coach and he was in a very tough position there, because in Washington our top guys are definitely the stars and the guys that people want to see on the ice, so I totally understand,” Bradley said. “That just doesn’t happen on our team, it happens on a lot of teams.
“When you’re paying your top guys a lot of money and those guys carry you through the whole season, and if one of them isn’t going, it’s very hard not to play them, and I understand that that’s tough. But I think in the end, if you want to win, sometimes you have to sit some of those guys down and maybe send a message and try to get them going.”
Bradley had only good things to say about Alex Ovechkin: “I never worry about Ovi,” he said. “He’s an all-in guy. He’s young, he makes his mistakes, the same as anyone would. I often try to put myself in his position. And you’ve got to remember, he’s 25 years old, he’s got a guaranteed $120 million, he’s on top of the world, and he still for the most part makes the right decisions.”
- Greg Wyshynski via twitter: Wyshynski talked spoke to Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau about Bradley’s comments about how he overplays his stars: “Oh yeah? Oh well … it’s his opinion.” and he wouldn’t give further comment after that.
- EJ Hradek via twitter: According to one source, the LA Kings and Drew Doughty haven’t talked in weeks.
- Philadelphia Daily News: Michael Nylander will be at the Flyers training camp on a tryout. Nylander last played in 2008-09 with the Capitals.
- Slava Malamud via twitter: KHL’s Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg have made an offer to Alexei Yashin and are awaiting an answer.
- Shelly Anderson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Penguins forward Dustin Jeffrey has been cleared for light skating following his knee surgery.
- Steve Zipay via twitter: Zipay says that Wade Redden is “unaffordable” for the Rangers this year. (I wonder how many teams would be interested in him if he didn’t carry a $6.5 million cap hit for 3 more years? I’m sure he’d get some interest.)
- Marc Antoine Godin of Cyberpresse.ca: Canadiens forward Lars Eller, who had surgery on his dislocated right shoulder, will be at training camp, but
“There is no set date for my return, but it is possible that I am ready for the first game of the season.
I could also miss the first week of the calendar. The doctors will evaluate it during training camp.”
“Certainly I will be there from the start of camp. I will participate in some exercises, but I must take things as they come.”
- Mike Brophy of Sportsnet.ca: Brophy lists some coaches who could be on the hotseat this year: Ron Wilson (TOR), Todd McLellan (SJ), Alain Vigneault (VAN), and Terry Murray (LA).