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Hey, Brooks Laich and actress Julianne Hough got engaged

By James O'BrienAug 22, 2015, 7:30 PM EDT
16 Comments

Actress/dancer/famous person Julianne Hough and Washington Capitals forward Brooks Laich announced that they got engaged on Aug. 18.

source:

Their caption reads:

We are overwhelmed with joy and excitement to share with you our recent engagement! #fiancé #love

Hough is the champion of the couple at the moment, as she’s part of two winning teams on “Dancing with the Stars.” She apparently was dating Ryan Seacrest before meeting Laich, according to Fox 411.

Sorry everyone, but you won’t get a better photo of Hough’s engagement ring, as you’ll instead need to settle for this description via People Magazine:

“The ring is over five carats and oval-shaped,” a source tells PEOPLE. “Brooks called Lorraine because he wanted to find the most perfect diamond that was truly beautiful and shined so bright — just like Julianne. Brooks and Lorraine worked together for months to find a ring that reflected Julianne’s grace and elegance. It’s very clean, very elegant, very beautiful and the diamond is the highest quality. It just shines gorgeous.”

Hough also got a new haircut to celebrate the occasion.

This has been a great summer for Laich, 31, in various ways. He told the Washington Post that he’s excited to work on skills rather than just rehabbing this summer, and now he can also work on wedding plans.

So, let’s throw down the gauntlet: where do Laich – Hough rank among the hockey celebrity couples?

Important stuff.

(H/T to Eye on Hockey)

Johansson on brink of big raise, but his role with Caps might decline

By Ryan DadounJul 29, 2015, 7:49 PM EDT
12 Comments

Marcus Johansson had his arbitration hearing today and whatever ruling gets handed down by Friday afternoon, it’s likely to be a substantial boost from his 2014-15 salary of roughly $2.2 million, but will he earn his next sum?

That’s open for debate and it doesn’t have as much to do with Johansson as it does with the changing makeup of the Capitals as Chuck Gormley argued for CSN Washington:

With Ovechkin and Andre Burakovsky slotted as the Caps’ first- and second-line left wings, and T.J. Oshie and Justin Williams slotted as their first- and second-line right wings, Johansson figures to start the season as a third-line left wing with centers Brooks Laich or Jay Beagle and right wing Tom Wilson.

His power-play time (2:55 per game last season, fourth on the club) could also dip because of the additions of Oshie and Williams.

And yet Johansson did record 20 goals and 47 points last season after finishing with 44 points in his previous campaign, so he could very well get somewhat close to his asking price from the arbitrator. Given that, Gormley wondered if the Capitals might end up walking away from Johansson’s contract. They would have the option of doing so provided that the arbitrator’s assigned salary is more than $3.8 million.

Keep in mind that Washington only has about $5 million worth of cap space to begin with and that’s excluding Justin Peters, who will presumably start the 2014-15 campaign in the minors, so the financial flexibility gained from a walk-away would be noteworthy.

At the same time, ending up with nothing in return for Johansson would be a tough pill to swallow. While a contract in the neighbor of $4 million isn’t ideal for someone playing on the third line, he would still have value to Washington in that role.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that Johansson and the Capitals can still agree to terms on their own before the arbitrator’s ruling.

Related: Arbitration looms, but Johansson not worried about future with Caps

Glencross accepts responsibility for Game 5 mistake

By Dhiren MahibanMay 9, 2015, 4:50 PM EDT
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A costly mistake by Curtis Glencross led to Ryan McDonagh’s overtime winner in Game 5 sending the series back to Washington for Game 6 on Sunday night.

Glencross’ cross-ice pass in the neutral zone was picked off by Jesper Fast leading to the game-winner.

“It’s disappointing, obviously,” Glencross said per CSN Washington. “They picked off a hard pass across the ice out of the air and came back and unfortunately they put it in the back of the net.”

Glencross scored his first career playoff goal in the third period to open the scoring. The goal snapped a 19-game drought. The euphoria was short lived however.

McDonagh took a drop pass from Derek Stepan at 9:37 of the extra period and beat a screened Braden Holtby for his second of the playoffs.

“(Brooks Laich) was all alone wide,” Glencross said of his pass attempt. “If I make a pass like that he’s gone in [alone] pretty much.”

Glencross expects his team to take better advantage of opportunities on Sunday at the Verizon Center.

“That’s hockey,” Glencross said. “We didn’t seal it up and when it goes to overtime it’s a game of mistakes and they got one. We’ll be good next game and we want to finish it off in six. We’ll have short-term memory, come back on Sunday and take the series.”

Now the Isles are upset at Brooks Laich, too

By Mike HalfordApr 23, 2015, 11:27 AM EDT
56 Comments

Things have reached a fever pitch in the Isles-Capitals series.

In the wake of Tom Wilson’s huge Game 4 hit on Lubomir Visnovsky — one that knocked New York’s veteran d-man out of action — the Isles expressed major frustration, with Kyle Okposo calling Wilson “an idiot.”

Now, they’re apparently upset with another Caps forward as well.

From Newsday:

The Isles, already upset over losing Visnovsky, were further incensed when audio of Caps forward Brooks Laich’s radio appearance on a Washington station surfaced on social media.

The NHL’s Player Safety department was informed of Laich’s comments, though such things usually warrant only a talking-to, not a fine or suspension. Wilson did not hear from player safety regarding the hit, so he will be in the lineup for Game 5.

In the interview, Laich said “What [the hit] did was Visnovsky got put out of the game and that puts them down to five ‘D’ in the second period.” Laich then added, “it’s a quote-unquote good penalty to take.”

Game 5 of the series goes tonight at Verizon. Needless to say, it’s going to be heated.

Caps’ Laich: ‘We looked like a slow team’ against Isles

By James O'BrienApr 15, 2015, 11:16 PM EDT
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The numbers say that the New York Islanders ran away with Game 1 against the Washington Capitals in a 4-1 win. Apparently the eye test said the same thing to the Capitals.

Or would you call it the odometer, instead? Brooks Laich ranked among the Washington players who believed that the Isles skated his team out of the Verizon Center, as the Washington Post’s Alex Prewitt reports.

“The result is that we looked like a slow team,” Laich said.

Several Capitals expressed that belief, according to CSNWashington.com’s Chuck Gormley.

Speed wasn’t the only concern, mind you. There were more generic worries about “compete level” and likely other cliches you’d expect after a fairly one-sided bout.

On the bright side, the Caps aren’t overreacting to a tough loss, either.

The outlook for a long series wouldn’t seem so optimistic if Washington doesn’t put a better effort forward in Game 2 on Friday, though.