Ovechkin, Fedorov get 'A', Clark is still Caps' Captain

  By Corey Masisak, TWT 'In the room', Oct. 7, 2008

The Caps are taking care of the team photo right now, and then will practice here at Verizon Center shortly. Brian Pothier is out on the ice with his teammates for the photo, but the more interesting development is a simple letter 'A.'

While Chris Clark is the captain and Alex Ovechkin is an obvious choice as an assistant, the Caps may have tipped their hand on who the second assistant to Clark will be. Last year Donald Brashear wore an 'A' for much of the season, but Sergei Fedorov is wearing the other one in the team photo. Not earth-shattering, but an interesting tidbit.

There were a couple of people earlier in camp asking different players about why Alex Ovechkin was not made the team's captain after last season. Brooks Laich, as he often does, put it best.

"I think it is undisputed that Alex is the face of the Washington Capitals and a leader on this hockey team. Chris Clark is a veteran that has been around and knows how to handle a hockey team and how to be a leader. Alex is a superstar. We all know that, but [Clark] has a great relationship – as does Alex – with all of the players. [Clark] has a bit more of a calming presence and we missed him last year. We missed him dearly. I don’t think either of those guys are worried about titles and who has the ‘A’ or who has the ‘C.’ Those guys are both leaders and they just want to win."

From Capitals Insider, WP, Oct. 7, 2008 11:38 AM ET

Alex Ovechkin left this morning's practice at Verizon Center after less than 15 minutes on the ice. I didn't notice a limp when I saw him walking outside the locker room a few minutes later, but it's believed that he's been nursing a sore groin/upper leg muscle. But knowing Alex and his threshold for pain, I'd be surprised if he misses any time because of it.

Now that the opening night roster has been announced, the forward lines look very familiar to the ones that were making the rounds over the summer:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Kozlov
Laich-Fedorov-Semin
Fleischmann-Nylander-Clark
Brashear-Steckel-Bradley

The defense pairings were as follows:

Morrisonn-Green
Erskine-Poti
Schultz-Jurcina

By Corey Masisak, TWT 'In the room', Oct. 7, 2008

Alex Ovechkin left practice after a few minutes this morning. I'm not a great lip reader, but a grimace and "Too sore" to coach Bruce Boudreau was pretty easy to make out. A team spokesman said he is not expected to miss any time, but I'll get some sort of update from Boudreau and Ovechkin after practice.

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