Albert Einstein is often credited with saying “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler”. However, in researching the quote on Wikiquote, I discovered the full quote is actually:

The supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience.

I think it’s funny that the canonical quote on simplicity is actually a simplified version of a significantly more verbose quote.

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.

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: