The Capitals clinched the President’s Trophy tonight without even taking the ice.
The San Jose Sharks were the last team with a chance to catch them and they lost in overtime to Colorado, 5-4. So Washington will finish with the NHL’s best record for the first time in franchise history. By the way – the last President’s Trophy winner to also take home the Stanley Cup was the Detroit Red Wings in 2008. The award has kind of a checkered reputation since winning ensures absolutely nothing in the playoffs. It was created in 1986 and since then seven President’s Trophy winners have taken home the Stanley Cup. Two others reached the Cup final. Five made their conference finals, five lost in the second round and four lost in the quarterfinals. So – pretty much anything goes.
That also means there really isn’t anything left for the Caps (51-15-12, 114 points) to accomplish before the Stanley Cup playoffs start late next week. Bruce Boudreau has said, though, that he doesn’t anticipate resting his top players much. Alex Ovechkin is still fighting for the NHL goals and points title. He’s not going to want to sit and I doubt Boudreau would do it anyway. When asked about this last week Boudreau said he doubted he’d even give 37-year-old Mike Knuble a day off, pointing out that a long practice is sometimes more taxing on his players than 17 minutes of ice time in a game.
Knuble almost certainly won’t skate at Wednesday’s optional – the day after the Caps complete a back-to-back against Boston and then Pittsburgh. He also won’t skate Saturday, the day after a night game against the Thrashers. Few of the big guns will skate either day. Maybe Boudreau was posturing. Maybe Nicklas Backstrom or Mike Green gets a day off this week. Didn’t sound like it, though. Also, remember that Washington can’t start its first-round playoff series until Thursday at the earliest. There’s a Wizards game at Verizon Center on Wednesday night so the Caps will have at least three days off next week to rest and prepare. As for preventing injuries – try talking to a hockey player about playing scared. Trust me, it’s a short conversation.
