Tonight's Caps Game Live on the Web

This just came across my news reader:

Washington Capitals will face the Philadelphia Flyers in preseason exhibition tonight. Bummed that the game is not being televised? Never fear, WashingtonCaps.com is broadcasting the game via broadband off their website. However it is restricted to the Washington area only.
[Caps Live Via Web - Puckhead's Thoughts]

Wow! I mean, I still can't watch the game <grumble grumble> and it is still pre-season, but this is pretty significant. More details in the press release:

The Washington Capitals exhibition game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. will be broadcast live on WashingtonCaps.com through the use of B2 Networks. This will mark the first time in NHL history that a game can be viewed exclusively via broadband.

The game can be seen free of charge on the Capitals’ website, WashingtonCaps.com. Fans will need a high-speed internet connection and Windows Media Player 9 or higher. Capitals’ radio network play-by-play announcer Steve Kolbe will call the game with Mike Vogel, senior writer from WashingtonCaps.com, providing analysis. Due to NHL broadcast restrictions, the game can only be viewed by fans living within the Capitals broadcast area.

B2 Networks is a provider of secure international television and video broadcasting systems, pay-per-view and billing systems. During the past 12 months, B2 has broadcast more than 3,000 hockey games from all levels including the championships from four leagues. B2 is the digital distribution rightsholder for the United Hockey League, American Hockey League, ECHL and USHL, along with baseball’s Northern League. B2 recently broadcast the National Lacrosse League championship to fans on four continents.
[Capitals Preseason Game to be Broadcast on WashingtonCaps.com via B2Networks]

The Caps and their owner are aggressively pursing avenues outside of the main stream media (which for the most part ignores hockey). First, they come up with Guidelines For Issuing Press Credentials To Bloggers and now this.

Of all the major sports, hockey seems to have the most to gain from both the HD revolution and media decentralization. Hockey is so fast and the puck is so small, you spend most of your time tracking the puck when watching in standard definition. In HD, you don't have to watch the puck, you can watch the play. This isn't to say that other sports aren't gorgeous in HD, but the difference in the experience between SD and HD just isn't as significant for other sports. As for media decentralization, the reason hockey has the most to gain is because it has the least coverage in the mainstream media today. So there's no where to go but up.

However, the NHL broadcast restrictions stuff has got to go. Come on Ted, you're a "pioneer of the Internet and new media". Get those guys at the NHL to wake up and embrace the new media! How come EVERY game isn't available this way?

Hawkeye on NHL 07

For those who don't keep a close eye on my Xbox playing habits, I picked up NHL 07 last night. There are two hockey franchises for the Xbox 360: EA Sports and 2K Sports. I've been a 2K fan for several years, but I didn't think much of their last effort on Xbox so I never bothered to pick the 360 version. Of course, EA Sports skipped the 360 last year so I've been without next-gen hockey since I bought my next-gen console.

Now there's a new version of both major hockey franchises, just in time for the opening of training camps. Each has had an entire year to innovate, and it's interesting to see where each title has spent that time. 2K Sports has created "Cinemotion", which is an entirely new presentation system which is more like an "interactive hockey movie" than a TV broadcast.

EA Sports spent their time on an entirely new control scheme called "Skill Stick". Basically, while the left thumbstick still controls player movement, the right thumbstick controls the player's stick. It's taking time to get used to - hey I've only had the game a few hours - but so far I really like it. I was playing the XBLM Demo and scored on a sweet spinorama move with the skill stick. That pretty much hooked me on the spot. Most of the reviewers have singled out the skill stick as the reason for the generally favorable reviews. 

Plus, EA picked Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin for their cover athlete. Barring awful reviews, I pretty much decided to pickup NHL 07 as soon as I heard that.

Ted's Hockey Math

My new pal :) Ted Leonsis does the hockey math on the re-acquisition of Richard Zednik.

So, if my math is correct, we will have Zubrus on our first line, Zednik on our second line and Gordon (who will most likely play for the Caps and Hershey next season) in exchange for Jan Bulis, Trevor Linden and a second and a third round pick.  That is a pretty decent set of deals.

Actually, Ted's math isn't quite right. We got Linden as a part of the original Zednik trade, then traded him for the 1st round pick we used on Gordon. And of course, we started with Zednik, so that's a wash. So the actual math goes Zubrus and Gordon for Bulis, a 2nd round pick (not sure who the Canucks got with that pick) and a 3rd round pick in next years draft. On paper, Bulis and Zubrus are close to a wash - Bulis had 20 goals and 40 points last season, Zubrus has 23 goals and 57 points. So that breaks the trade down to a 1st round pick (i.e. Gordon) for a 2nd and a 3rd. Not bad, but not mind blowing either.

That being said, it's nice to have Zed Head back in a Caps jersey. Hockey is played on ice, not paper. I'd rather have Zubrus and Zednick than Bulis and Linden any day.

Losing Halpern to the Stars

Yesterday, the Dallas Stars signed the Capitals captain Jeff Halpern to a four year contract worth around $2 million a year. My mom (even more rabid a Caps fan than I am if you can believe it) thought this was a mistake, but I'm not so sure. As reported by the Washington Post, the Caps are stocked w/ checking-line forwards. They apparently offered Halpern $1.5 million a year for two years. Sure, Halpern is a fan favorite - he grew up a Caps fan in Maryland - but $8 million seems like a lot to tie up in a checking forward / face-off specialist.

In the "old" NHL, you often saw teams throw crazy money (typically the same teams every year) at marginal players, hoping they would be the last puzzle piece to put them over the top and help them win the cup. Now with the salary cap, I think it's going to shift from dollars to contract length - plus all teams will have a chance to be involved, not just the same five teams year after year. Players want longer contracts and teams want shorter contracts (go figure). A team in the Stars' position - Dallas won their division last year but were bounced from the playoffs by the Avalanche - is more willing to tie up long term money for short term gain than a team that's rebuilding as the Caps are.

So while I'm sad to see Halpern go, I think it's a good move in the long term for the Caps. As much as I'd like the Caps to be competitive next year, I'll believe it when I see it.

Meeting Ted Leonsis

By coincidence when I was in DC last spring, I got an email from Ted Leonsis, Vice Chairman of American Online and owner of the Washington Capitals. Long time DevHawk readers might remember that I called Ted "an abomination to the sport of hockey" in the wake of trading Peter Bondra in the "Great Caps Fire Sale of 2004" (Jagr, Lang, Nylander, Gonchar and Bondra). So I was somewhat surprised that wrote that he wanted to meet me since I blog a lot about the Caps. As I was in town, we arranged a meeting on short notice. I gotta say, it's much easier to call someone an abomination on your blog than to their face. :)

 I got to spend an hour chatting about hockey - both from a game and ownership standpoint. Not that I'm likely to own a hockey team any time soon, but it was cool to hear about. I agreed with the owners during the lockout before Ted's hockey team math lesson, but it was useful to see all the numbers laid out. We also spoke about Web 2.0 and new media to some extent. I guess it's not surprising that a vice chairman of AOL is acutely aware of the changing face of the media - hence his reaching out to bloggers, even ones that have said bad things about him.

Anyway, expect to see more hockey coverage on these pages in the future. And significantly less owner name calling, unless we trade Calder Trophy winner Alexander Ovechkin: