A few good nuggets from the Caps morning skate at Madison Square Garden, which just wrapped up about 30 minutes ago. Coach Bruce Boudreau said Jose Theodore will start tonight, but that “we might” play rookie Braden Holtby against Atlanta on Friday. Also, goalie Semyon Varlamov practiced and felt good on Tuesday. He stayed behind when the Bears went to Norfolk on Wednesday and took shots from the position players who didn’t make the trip. Varlamov got a full practice in today and another is set for Friday so “he might” start against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday, according to Boudreau.
Defenseman Mike Green, meanwhile, is a go for Friday’s game against Atlanta after his three-game suspension ends. “I can guarantee that,” Boudreau said. He could also gurantee that defenseman Karl Alzner will be a healthy scratch for the second game in a row tonight. Goalie Michal Neuvirth was apparently not hurt this week while playing at Hershey. “He practiced full yesterday and full today,” Boudreau said. “So he’s fine – honest to God.”
Boudreau got on a quote roll at the end of his media scrum:
Alex Ovechkin is closing in on 500 points for his career
“Five hundred points in five years. That’s pretty good. Who else has done that? Gretzky and Bossy and Lemieux – yeah, those guys were good.”
On tuning in to the trade rumours involving Atlanta star forward Ilya Kovalchuk
“Yeah, because I’m a hockey fan. I love listening to trade rumours. Unless he goes to New Jersey. I don’t know what everybody will have to give up for him. But as hockey people go – I was on the internet all day yesterday looking for scoops, phoning people. I felt like a reporter. [Did you get any scoops?] No my buddies weren’t phoning me back. But I got to believe something’s happening. It’s just a question of when.”
On facing new Rangers center Ollie Jokinen, acquired from the Calgary Flames early this week.
“We havn’t seen him much since he left Florida. It gives them another offensive center that when he’s on top of his game he was really good. But his first practice with them is probably the morning skate in [Los Angeles] or today. We’ll see how he fits in long term. If he’s ready to play he’s going to be really good. But we’ll see.”
