Caps Rink Report with Tarik El-Bashir

The Capitals search for their new head coach is finally over. Peter Laviolette was named the new head man in Washington. Laviolette has 18 years of experience as a head coach most recently with Nashville for five and a half seasons, leading them to a Stanley Cup Final in 2017 before being fired in January. He has also won a Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006 and lead the Flyers to a championship game in 2010.

For this episode of the pod, Nick Ashooh and JJ Regan first get into some thoughts on the hire and if JJ thinks he is the right man for the job. Following that discussion, Alexa Shaw and Nick got the chance to talk to Capitals GM Brian MacLellan about the new hire, his expectations for the team under this new coaching regime and what Coach Laviolette brings to the table that the Caps have been missing these past two seasons.

After saying goodbye to MacLellan, we brought in the man himself, new Caps Head Coach Peter Laviolette to discuss what made him choose Washington, what we can expect going forward from this team, how happy he is to have Ovi on his team and not playing against him, plus you don't want to miss the story behind the bull mask press conference!

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Nick Ashooh and JJ Regan got together to do the only thing we as Caps fans can do this off season... speculate about who the next coach will be. Will MacLellan bring in the controversial hire in Mike Babcock or the highly sought after Peter Laviolette? Could it even be former Las Vegas head man Gerard Gallant? The guys will give thier opinions on which direction the team should go then Nick will bring in Senior Hockey Writer for Sportsnet Chris Johnston to talk about the possible candidate, in particular Mike Babcock, someone Chris has a relationship with. Chris talks about the way things ended in Toronto for Babcock and why he might be the best fit to take this team where they need to go.

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Jordan Giorgio, JJ Regan and Nick Ashooh got together for another edition of the Caps Talk Pod to talk about possible head coaching candidates for Washington's vacancy. The crew also looks ahead to what the Caps might possibly do in free agency this off-season.

After the discussion Nick got the chance to sit down 1-on-1 with former NHL right-winger now NBC Sports hockey analyst. They discussed who Anson thinks should get the Caps head coaching gig, if he thought the Rierden firing was warranted, who he has in the Stanley Cup Finals as well as the project he has been working on with NBC called Hockey Culture  a multi-platform content offering dedicated to bringing equality and inclusion to the sport of hockey.

Following the 1-on-1 discussion JJ blows his top when discussing why Holtby will leave Washington in free agency and Jordan confesses her secret love for the Tampa Bay Lighting.

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3 days after losing their playoff series to the Islanders and former Head Coach Barry Trotz, the Capitals relieved Todd Reirden of his coaching duties. Reirden's firing comes on the heels of back to back first round playoff exits after winning the Stanley Cup in 2018.

Jordan Giorgio, JJ Regan and NBC Sports Washington Play-by-Play voice Joe Beninati react to the news. They also get into potential head coaching replacements, what to do with Braden Holtby and if the age of the team will have any factor in who comes in as head coach. You'll also hear from General Manager Todd MacLellan on why the time was right to make the change, as well as an update on Ilya Samsonov's health and when talks about Alex Ovechkin's contract might begin.

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Jordan Giorgio, JJ Regan and Nick Ashooh got together one more time to finish out this 2020 Caps season and to discuss the Islanders 4-0 domination of the Caps in this game and throughout the series. With the season over the crew also looks to the off-season and what that might mean for some of the veteran players. Following that discussion Todd Rierden gives his final press conference of the 2020 season and discusses if he will be here or not next year.

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Something in the 2nd period of this game happened, a fire was lit under the Caps skates and it paid off, with a 3-2 win to keep their season alive. Jordan Giorgio, JJ Regan and Nick Ashooh got together to discuss what they saw from the most important game of the Caps season so far, and to look forward to Game 5 and the possibility of Washington doing the impossible in getting out of the 3-0 hole they have put themselves in. The crew goes over a 2nd period for the ages, how Ovi and his beautiful goatee saved the day and if this new fire that has been lit under the Caps skaters can will them to another victory on Thursday.

Also you will here Head Coach Todd Rierden's thoughts after the win and how much confidence he has in his squad going into a crucial Game 5.

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The Capitals find themselves in a place no team wants to be in -- Down 3-0 in a Best-of-7 series. Washington played better than they did in the previous 2 games, but that wasn't enough. A 2-1 Overtime loss puts them on the edge of elimination in the 1st Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 2nd straight season.

Jordan Giorgio, Nick Ashooh and JJ Regan recap everything that went wrong - from what looked like a lack of urgency, to the struggles in 5-on-5 play, to how the former coach is besting his former team.

You'll also hear from Todd Reirden about what went wrong - and what he hopes changes in Game 4 and (hopefully) beyond.

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Just like Game 1, things started good for the Caps in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference Playoff series with the Islanders. Alex Ovechkin's first goal of the playoffs less than a minute into the game gave Caps fans some hope.

Unfortunately, a rough stretch of play in the 2nd period sealed their fate, as New York takes a 2-0 series lead after a 5-2 win.

Jordan Giorgio, JJ Regan and Ben Raby break down the good (not much), bad (way more) and ugly (...) from the loss, and look ahead to a critical Game 3 Sunday afternoon. Can this be like the 2018 series vs. Columbus? Will we see Nicklas Backstrom in Game 3? How worried is the crew? Download and find out...

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Back at it again Caps fans, Jordan Giorgio, JJ Regan and Nick Ashooh got together after a heart breaking Caps loss where Washington looked to have everything in control mid-way through the 2nd period until a late run by the Islanders scoring 4 straight goals to take Game 1 of the series. As JJ says in the pod... "this one hurts" but it is nothing the Caps haven't faced before. Speaking of being hurt, Nicklas Bäckström was on the wrong end of a nasty hit by Anders Lee, the crew will debate whether the hit was dirty or not, why the Caps don't need to panic being down just 0-1 and Todd Rierden gives an "update" on Mr. Bäckström plus much more!

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With a 2-1 victory over Boston in their final game of the Round Robin stage, Washington earned the 3rd seed and a 1st round match-up against the New York Islanders. Jordan Giorgio and JJ Regan got together to discuss what they saw from the Caps during the Round Robin stage, and what they expect to see in the first round against New York. Following their discussion we hear from head coach Todd Rierden who gave an update on the John Carlson injury and Lars Eller's availability headed into Round 1. Finally, we couldn't go without mentioning the irony of Tom Wilson scoring a goal against David Pastrnak after Pastrnak put out a tweet calling Wilson "the best goal scorer in the league" a few weeks back...

Guess he was on to something...

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