Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Latest Caps News

General Manager George McPhee announced early today that the Washington Capitals recalled Mathieu Perreault, Steve Pinizzotto and Patrick McNeill from Hershey. These moves were made to expand the options of players because of the early exit of Hershey in the AHL playoffs.
Perreault is the only one of the three Bears who has played in a red sweater this year for the Caps. He suited up for 35 games logging 14 points (7 goals, 7 assists). I don’t think he will get any time unless there is an injury, but he represents a quick and agile center that will be up to the task if called upon. We all remember Perreault’s two goal performance vs. Ottawa in December that helped prevent the Caps losing their ninth straight game.
McNeill, a defenseman for the Bears, has played for the Bears the past four seasons. If he were to be called up it would be his first career NHL game. He was a late round pick in the 2005 draft by Washington and doesn’t have any NHL experience, so this could be his chance to prove something. However, I doubt he will get the call because of Dennis Wideman and Tom Poti are on their way to recovery. Sean Collins and Tyler Sloan are also among other defensemen who have yet to get a game sweater in the post season this year.
Pinizzotto has played for the Bears on and off for four years. He plays right wing and also has never played in a NHL game in his career. Pinizzotto was signed as a free agent in 2007 by Washington. I doubt he will get the call either because the Capitals are so deep at the forward position currently. Jay Beagle and DJ King were healthy scratched as forwards for each one of the first round games. Eric Fehr was scratched for three games and then played the final two. It will be interesting to see who gets the final forward spot when Mike Knuble comes back into the lineup.

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