The Washington Capitals announced that Karl Alzner and Chris Bourque have been assigned to the Hershey Bears. Quintin Laing was placed on waivers and, if cleared, will report to Hershey.
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| 2008 Washington Capitals Opening Night Roster | ||||||||
| FORWARDS | ||||||||
| # | Player | Ht. | Wt. | Shoots | Born | Birthplace | 2007-08 Club(s) | League(s) |
| 19 | BACKSTROM, Nicklas | 6’0″ | 183 | Left | 11/23/87 | Gavle, Sweden | Capitals | NHL |
| 10 | BRADLEY, Matt | 6’3″ | 201 | Right | 6/13/78 | Stittsville, Ontario | Capitals | NHL |
| 87 | BRASHEAR, Donald | 6’2″ | 234 | Left | 1/7/72 | Bedford, Indiana | Capitals | NHL |
| 17 | CLARK, Chris | 6’0″ | 196 | Right | 3/8/76 | South Windsor, Connecticut | Capitals | NHL |
| 91 | FEDOROV, Sergei | 6’2″ | 207 | Left | 12/13/69 | Pskov, Russia | Capitals/Columbus | NHL |
| 16 | FEHR, Eric | 6’4″ | 212 | Right | 9/7/85 | Winkler, Manitoba | Capitals/Hershey | NHL/AHL |
| 14 | FLEISCHMANN, Tomas | 6’1″ | 190 | Left | 5/16/84 | Koprivinice, Czech Republic | Capitals | NHL |
| 15 | GORDON, Boyd | 6’1″ | 201 | Right | 10/19/83 | Unity, Saskatchewan | Capitals | NHL |
| 25 | KOZLOV, Viktor | 6’4″ | 232 | Right | 2/14/75 | Togliatti, Russia | Capitals | NHL |
| 21 | LAICH, Brooks | 6’2″ | 210 | Left | 6/23/83 | Wawota, Saskatchewan | Capitals | NHL |
| 92 | NYLANDER, Michael | 6’1″ | 195 | Left | 10/3/72 | Stockholm, Sweden | Capitals | NHL |
| 8 | OVECHKIN, Alex | 6’2″ | 220 | Right | 9/17/85 | Moscow, Russia | Capitals | NHL |
| 28 | SEMIN, Alexander | 6’2″ | 200 | Right | 3/3/84 | Krasnoyarsk, Russia | Capitals | NHL |
| 39 | STECKEL, David | 6’5″ | 222 | Left | 3/15/82 | Westbend, Wisconsin | Capitals | NHL |
| DEFENSEMEN | ||||||||
| 4 | ERSKINE, John | 6’4″ | 216 | Left | 6/26/80 | Kingston, Ontario | Capitals | NHL |
| 52 | GREEN, Mike | 6’1″ | 208 | Right | 10/12/85 | Calgary, Alberta | Capitals | NHL |
| 23 | JURCINA, Milan | 6’4″ | 233 | Right | 6/7/83 | Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia | Capitals | NHL |
| 26 | MORRISONN, Shaone | 6’4″ | 210 | Left | 12/23/82 | Vancouver, British Columbia | Capitals | NHL |
| 2 | POTHIER, Brian # | 6’0″ | 200 | Right | 4/15/77 | New Bedford, Mass. | Capitals | NHL |
| 3 | POTI, Tom | 6’3″ | 210 | Left | 3/22/77 | Worcester, Mass. | Capitals | NHL |
| 55 | SCHULTZ, Jeff | 6’6″ | 221 | Left | 2/25/86 | Calgary, Alberta | Capitals/Hershey | NHL/AHL |
| GOALTENDERS | ||||||||
| 1 | JOHNSON, Brent | 6’3″ | 199 | Left | 3/12/77 | Farmington, Mich. | Capitals/Hershey | NHL/AHL |
| 60 | THEODORE, Jose | 5’11” | 182 | Right | 9/13/76 | Laval, Quebec | Colorado/Lake Erie | NHL/AHL |
| # Non-roster injured player | ||||||||
| Rosters as of 6 Oct, 2008. | ||||||||
Nuts. I was hoping Bourque would make it. I think Flash and Fehr have to be looking over their shoulders at him though. Especially after he nearly flattened Chara yesterday.
It’s safe to say that opponents and teammates are looking over their shoulders at Bourque — his reassignment was a very close call, and he’ll certainly be an early call-up in case of player injury or poor performance.
I never really liked the idea of a player (or in this instance; players) that don’t make a team due to either salary restrictions or waiver status. That seems to be the case for both these kids. It’s a shame…but does reflect the depth of the system right now. Hopefully dominoes will fall in the correct places in the next few weeks to get these guys back up where they belong.
Am I crazy for not being a fan of Jurcina. I’d rather have him out and Alzner in.
Anyone else feel this way?
I think a little time in the AHL will only help Alzner. It will get him used to playing at a different level. I am not a fan of throwing our guys, especially D, into the fire.
This means that the Hershey Bears are going to be stacked and loaded with top prospects.
As one who had been guaranteeing Alzner on the opening night roster, I’m pretty disappointed. He is clearly not 7th out of 7 defensemen, but we all know that. The rules are what they are, he’ll be in DC to stay by December.
Regarding Alzner, I think MulletMan is on target regarding a little AHL seasoning being helpful. That said, I think Mac is also correct in that we’ll see Alzner in DC again soon, likely for good.
Just as I had expected, Alzner and Bourque are in Hershey. Fear not, they’ll be up sooner rather than later, and a little time to dominate in the AHL is never a bad thing. This was the right move but sometimes doing the right thing means doing the unpopular thing.
This is one Bears season ticket holder who is happy with these decisions.
Take a look at that roster again. Not one forward or defenseman under six feet. We have a large and quick team. Should be exciting.
So what does that mean for Pothier? Does that mean he is closer than I thought he was? Or is there some reason that he has to be on the opening night roster and then he goes on IR or something?
I can definitely see what’s going on… and sending the boys up north to Hershey at the front of the lines will help develop them as players far faster than keeping them here and having them be fourth or so in line. I’m sure they will all be back soon!
As for Pothier, he is listed with a # after his name, as a non-roster injured player. He’s on LTIR, and by all accounts I’ve seen, he’s not going to be playing any time soon. 😦 Head injuries suck… 😦
I don’t think sending those guys to Hershey was a bad decision necessarily but I just have to say for the record that I can’t stand Erskine and there is no way he’s better then Alzner and I’m not a huge fan of Jurcina play either…I don’t know why those two are still here.
Wow. That looks strangely like last year’s team, only healthier.
Likely there is middle ground to the reality of the decision to send Alzner to Hershey. True, he’s just turned 20 and played in the WHL last year. Also true, he had a good camp. However, please don’t tell me that Erskine & Jurcina are better players? Alzner has a large contract. Face it – these days, it’s all about staying under the salary cap.
It’s nobody’s fault. We have a good team and that is expensive.