Following the Capitals’ loss in game seven of the Eastern Conference semifinals last Saturday, the thoughts of many people immediately turned to Washington head coach Dale Hunter.  Would he be back?  Would he choose to come back, or would General Manager George McPhee make the decision for him?

Monday morning at Kettler Capitals Iceplex, we all found out.  McPhee announced at his end-of-season media availability that Hunter would, in fact, not be back as the head coach of the Capitals, deciding instead to return home to London, Ontario.  And that was that.

With Hunter’s departure, however, the Capitals don’t have a coach.  They need one, the sooner the better.  To set the stage for the appointment of the next coach, I’ve prepared a list of job requirements, or qualities, that I’d like to see in the next Washington bench boss.

The ability to fix Alex Ovechkin: As we all know, Capitals winger and captain Alex Ovechkin is a shell of his former self.  Ovechkin’s point output plummeted to 65 this year, down from 85 the previous season and 109 the season before that.  His corsi rating has also taken a nosedive, and it was the 7^th best out of the 11 forwards who played 50 or more games for the Capitals this year – against the second easiest competition on the team.  Goal scoring, since the lockout, has gone down, as have power play opportunities.  But the Capitals, and probably their success, are tied to Ovechkin because of his contract and his status as one of the faces of the NHL.  In all likelihood, he isn’t going anywhere, and no NHL team, particularly one that is as heavily invested in one as the Caps are in Ovechkin, can win when it’s star player isn’t doing what he’s supposed to.  This is a big problem, and “team play” or not, getting Ovechkin on track is an important, and difficult, task.

Read on to find out more needs!

On Saturday, June 2nd Capital Sports & Decor (formerly PS Game Gear) will be hosting Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby for an autograph event. The "super star goalie" (and our Conn Smythe Trophy winner) will be available from 1:00-3:00 PM at their Dulles Town Center Mall location in Dulles, VA. Autograph Tickets ($40) are available for purchase in the store now and are available online here.

Anyone going? Send us your recap/pictures and we'll post 'em up on the site!

As we announced yesterday, we the bloggers of Rock the Red will be awarding various accolades through the first part of the Washington Capitals' off season. Some will be real, some fictitious- but always entertaining. Today we hand out the Conn Smythe trophy.

The Conn Smythe Trophy is awarded annually to the "player judged most valuable to his team during the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup playoffs" and is selected by members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association at the conclusion of the deciding game of the Stanley Cup finals.  The current holder of the trophy is Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins. As a side note that you can use to win a bar bet with your friends, only three players have been awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy and the Hart Memorial Trophy (for most valuable player during the regular season) in the same year: the Boston Bruins' Bobby Orr in 1970 and 1972, the Montreal Canadiens' Guy Lafleur in 1977 and the Edmonton Oilers' Wayne Gretzky in 1985.

This year's nominations selected solely from members from the Caps' roster are:

Karl Alzner

King Karl stepped up this off season and became the defacto Captain of the Defense, leading all Caps skaters with 24:53 TOI/G. He lead by example, as seen by his 33 blocked shots (good for 5th in the NHL this post season) and did not commit a penalty in any of his 14 games. He carried DC in even strength play, being on the ice for only eight goals in five-on-five play (s/t to Japers' Rink for the stat), and was relied on heavily during the team's Penalty Kill, leading all skaters with 3:40 SH TOI/G. However, as much as people talk about his measurable defensive stats, we're more impressed with the things that don't show up as metrics: his defensive angles, his stick positioning and pokechecking, and his ability to pin guys along the boards without having to crunch them to do it. He looked calm beyond his years against two very good, skilled teams.

Jason Chimera

Chimmer's speed, grit, desire and determination were on full display this entire post season. He was second on the team with 4 goals and tied for third in points... all while skating a mere 13:42 a game. His career year in goals (20) and points (39) during the regular season seemed to carry into the NHL's second season, as his 14.3 Shooting % was the best among the Caps playing all 14 games. We were pleasantly surprised to see Chimera showing flashes of possessing great hands and with quality passing and quality shots on goal. 

Braden Holtby

The Holtbeast quickly became the darling of the NHL postseason. Making his first post season debut this year, he went 7-7 in 14 games with four of the losses in over time.  Holtby faced 459 shots in 921:56 of play time, which lead the NHL through the Quarter and Semi-Final rounds, and amassed a 1.95 GAA and .935 Sv% - and is just the third goaltender to best a .920 Sv % and 2.00 GAA (in a minimum of 13 games played) in the playoffs at 22 or younger (Brodeur 1994,95 and Roy 1986). Braden, in addition to becoming a father during the post season, was named a star in six of the team's 14 games- three being the games' First star. Holtby finished his first post season campaign without suffering back-to-back losses.

And the winner is...

Photo by John McDonnell/The Washington Post

Monday was a rainy day in Arlington, Virginia.

As light rain pattered across the giant glass window that serves as the entrance to Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Vice President and General Manager George McPhee strode around the corner and towards the throng of reporters waiting for him.

“Good morning,” McPhee said.  “Thank you for coming.”

“I imagine the first question will be about Dale Hunter.  This morning, Dale and I met at about 10 o’clock, and he let me know that he will not be able to return as the coach.  He’s going to head back to London.  I guess we’re all fathers and sons and husbands first before anything else, and if we have our priorities right in this life, then family comes first.  And Dale, he needs to go home.”

And just like that, it was over.

Dale Hunter’s reign as the head coach of the Washington Capitals was over after 169 days, 37 wins, and 37 losses.  It was over in less than a season.

But it’s over.  And that was the right call.  For club and for coach.

Dale Hunter did a tremendous job as the head coach of this team.  There is no doubt that he came in and changed the culture of the Capitals by holding everybody accountable for their play.  They were annoying, tough, and stubborn.  They were like Dale Hunter as a player.

"He had this club playing the way he played,” said McPhee.  “Home or road, winning or losing, healthy or hurt.  He had this team playing hard."

He got this team, his team, to buy in to his system.  And he put together a nice little run, winning seven playoff games and knocking off the Stanley Cup Champion Bruins before falling to the Rangers in seven games.

But the reality of the situation is that the Capitals lost.  They lost because the Rangers were better than them and because of lost opportunities, sure.  But they also lost because they were completely reliant on collapsing defense and a historically great run from a rookie goaltender; a performance like that from Braden Holtby nobody saw coming.  And, quite frankly, they got a little bit lucky, just as they got unlucky in game five against the Rangers.

“It’s tough to play that way sometimes,” said Troy Brouwer.  “Because one bounce can determine that game, no matter what you do through the course of those games.  Sometimes it’s hit or miss.  Over the course of the season, it’s tough to play playoff hockey for all 82 games and then continue it in to the playoffs.”

Continue reading for analysis from the players themselves.

The Washington Capitals announced today that Dale Hunter will not return to coach the team next season. The notice of Hunter's departure, although not entirely unforeseen, was abrupt- coming just two days after the Caps were eliminated from the playoffs by the New York Rangers in Game 7 Saturday night, and being relayed to General Manager George McPhee just a few hours before the press conference.

The timing was especially rough for the Caps defenceman Karl Alzner, whose second attempt to sell his Bowflex Treadclimber came one minute after Hunter's announcement was made and subquentially was burried in a sea of replies, retweets and comments by National and DC area media and fans surrounding the news.

At 12:10 PM:

One minute later, at 12:11 PM:

The poor guy can't catch a break in trying to sell some old gym equipment. If you're interested, hit him up but you'll need to provide your own form of delivery. He claims that it's because he doesn't have a truck - my guess is that he's still not trusting his dogs to be left home alone. 

The Washington Capitals announced Monday morning that head coach Dale Hunter will not return to the team to coach next season.  Hunter resigned on Monday after a meeting with Caps GM George McPhee and after speaking with his family about whether or not to return.  The OHL team that Hunter owns and used to coach, the London Knights, are in the Memorial Cup tournament, and Hunter will go back and watch from a suite.  "I'm a fan," he said.

"Im going home," said Hunter.  "To the team, to the farm.  To my family."

Lots more to come from Kettler over the next few days.  As always, follow me on Twitter here for news and updates.

Earlier today, we kicked off the 2011-12 Capitals Award Ceremony with the announcement of the Art Ross and Rocket Richard Trophies, two awards determined on tangible results throughout the season. We realize that since they are based on palpable stats, they might not be as glamous as some of the others yet to be unveiled and wanted to make good with our readers... so where we initially promised one per day, today we will present two in an act of good faith: The Plus/Minus and Green Jacket awards. 

Most are aware of the NHL's Plus/Minus Award, which is bestowed upon the NHL's "player, having played a minimum of 60 games [during the regular season] who leads the league in plus/minus statistics," but many are not familiar with the Green Jacket award. That's because mixed in with our presentation of actual NHL Awards (divied out to the 2011-12 Washington Capitals squad) the bloggers of Rock the Red have developed some awards of our own, which we will be sprinkling in occasionally. Anything to help a long offseason go by quicker, right?

The Green Jacket Award is the other end of the spectrum from the +/- Award, and is awarded to the NHL player, having played a minimum of 60 games in the regular season, who is the worst of the worst in the league in plus/minus statistics at the end of the regular season.  This year's league-wide Plus/Minus winner was the Bruins' Patrice Bergeron at +36, with the Green Jacket award going to the Islanders' (and former Capital) Milan Jurcina at -34.

And the winner is...