Sidney Crosby is just one Penguin skating for $8.7 million a year. His and five others' salaries account for $34.2 million a year, leaving $1.3 million each for the 17 others. (Steve Babineau/Getty Images)
Much has been made about Chicago's hockey revival this season.
But it's happening in Washington, D.C., too.
With the NFL's Redskins missing the playoffs and the NBA's Wizards and MLB's Nationals both disasters, fans are jumping on the Capitals' bandwagon.
Chicago has turned things around with exciting youngsters such as Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.
Washington has taken a similar road with young stars Alex Ovechkin, 23, Mike Green, 23, and Alexander Semin, 24.
The Capitals had the franchise's best record after 40 games (26-11-3) before slipping a little lately, including two straight losses.
The club, however, already has more sellouts at home (11 in 21 games) than last season (eight).
TV ratings are up 130 percent, according to the Washington Post. Merchandise sales have risen 40 percent.
The Capitals haven't been disappointing the home fans too often, either. They are 18-2-1 at the Verizon Center, the second-best home record to the Sharks' 19-0-2.
Camp fires up Flames
The Calgary Flames were a .500 team and appeared to be headed nowhere in mid-November following a 6-1 thumping in San Jose.
That game, however, proved to be a "reality check," forward Michael Cammalleri told the Calgary Herald.
The team returned home from California and coach Mike Keenan held what amounted to a mini-camp over the next four days at a city facility called the Westside Recreation Centre.
What's happened since has become known around Calgary as the "Westside Story."
The Flames are 16-4-3 in their last 23 games while playing much better defensively to emerge as a contender in the West.
The turnaround was complete when they wiped out the Sharks, 5-2, a week ago.
"Midseason changes don't really happen too often and they're tough to (implement)," defenseman Adrian Aucoin told the Herald. "It was just a few little tweaks here and there."
Round 3 on hold
Calgary's Andre Roy and San Jose's Alexei Semenov dropped the gloves twice in a game last week. They did more dancing the first time, but threw some punches the second.
Still, the referees gave them minor penalties both times.
Roy was insulted no fighting major was called so he looked over to Semenov and, according to the Calgary Herald, said, "Again, Alex?"
Semenov's response: "No, I need to play for a while. Maybe in the third period."
Round 3? Maybe next time.
Ice chip
When Ottawa's Jarkko Ruutu sunk his teeth into an opponent's finger last week, it brought back memories of an all-time great quote from Czech Jaroslav Pouzar , a former Edmonton Oiler, who once said in classic broken English after being bitten: "He think me hamburger."
NHL NHL You can reach Dave Dye at dave.dye@detnews.com">dave.dye@detnews.com.
Rich man, poor man (relatively, anyway)
The Pittsburgh Penguins simply aren't the same team that went to the Stanley Cup Finals. They lost several key players, including Marian Hossa.
The Penguins now rely heavily on their stars and don't have a strong enough supporting cast.
It's something all teams with elite talent must be concerned about in this salary-cap era.
The Penguins have committed $34.2 million per year in cap space to six players through at least 2012-13.
The cap is currently at $56.7 million. It is expected to remain around that amount for next season, but could take a drop after that, perhaps significantly if the economy doesn't turn around.
Based on a 23-man roster and the current maximum salary cap, the Penguins can spend an average of about $1.3 million per player each season to fill out their team:
Here's what the Penguins are committed to financially in their high-end players:
| Player6 | $3.8 million | $22.8 million | 2013-14 |
Dave's top five
Dave's bottom five
Ryan express
Anaheim's Bobby Ryan scored at 19:14 of the second period and 0:16 and 1:35 of the third period in a game last week. Here are the three fastest hat tricks for a rookie in NHL history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau:
| Player | Team | Time | Date | Opp. |
| Harry Oliver | Boston | 1:25 | Jan. 11, 1927 | Chicago |
| Carl Liscombe | Detroit | 1:52 | March 13, 1938 | Chicago |
| Bobby Ryan | Anaheim | 2:21 | Jan. 8, 2009 | Los Angeles |
First for the show
Despite being a finalist for the Vezina Trophy (top goalie) for the last three years, Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers was selected as an All-Star for the first time. He is one of 14 first-timers:
West:
G Jean-Sebastian Giguere, Anaheim; G Niklas Backstrom, Minnesota; D Shea Weber, Nashville; D Dan Boyle, San Jose; F Patrick Kane, Chicago; F Jonathan Toews, Chicago; F Dustin Brown, Los Angeles.
East
G Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers; G Carey Price, Montreal; D Mike Komisarek, Montreal; D Mark Streit, New York Islanders; F Thomas Vanek, Buffalo; F Zach Parise, New Jersey; F Jeff Carter, Philadelphia
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