Interesting News from Washington

Maybe this was written on the wall and I just didn't see it because I was over at a Rangers fan's house writing "Red Rum" on this wall in dark red paint (true story). Anyway, I was looking through some of the internet's finest this morning and came a cross an article from the Washington Post that hit me with some rather surprising news - Mike Knuble is already slotted to play on Washington's first line:

In Philadelphia, Knuble screened goaltenders for Simon Gagne and Mike Richards. The Capitals have him penciled in on the top line with Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom.

"We just felt we needed someone else, a player on [the top] line in particular with Ovechkin and Backstrom, that will go to the net," General Manager George McPhee said after Knuble signed with Washington. "Mike's made his living there. . . . We replaced a 13-goal scorer (Viktor Kozlov) with a 27-goal scorer, and the team is better as a result."

Jimmny Crickets Mr. McPhee!

We'll see what Coach Bruce Bodreau has to say about that when he's actually putting the lines together, but it this was something Knuble anticipated then he made the right move for his career's sake, not just the money.
Knuble has made a living the past 6 years as a self-proclaimed garbage man. A garbage man that makes $3M a year, but nonetheless a garbage man. Last season Knuble's linemates, Mike Richards and Simon Gagne, had a 238 and 221 shots respectively. If you factor in that 74 of those shots actually made it to the back of the net, that means 385 shots hit the goalie in some way, shape, or form and did not go in, Maybe he caught them in his mit, maybe they bounced back out to the bottom of the slot and sat there doing their best impersonation of a Ruth Chris' steak. That's Knuble's territory.

Now I know I'm oversimplifying everything a great deal here, as Knuble had a bunch of deflections, slap shots of his own, and passes right on his tape that resulted in goals. But there shear fact that Alex Ovechkin had 528 shots on his own (56 resulting in goals) means that there is going to be a whole lot more garbage for Knuble to pick up. Backstrom, a pass first player, only had 174 shots but combined they created 624 rebound opportunities.

So things are looking good for Mike. One would think that there's almost no way his production will drop this coming season. Even if his age starts to catch up to him in 2009-10 you'd have to think that he'd still land somewhere around the 30 goal mark playing with those two. If he really does feel as strong and young as he says he does then there's a possibility that with Mike Green on the point he could be flirting with the 40 goal mark. And then you'll see the message boards and Flyers forums light up like Ricky Williams (used to).