My apologies for not writing recently. I know it's been quite a month of signings and the new schedule, so here are my thoughts as we get into the slowest part of the hockey calendar.First of all, the free agent signings by the Caps were fantastic. They did not have a lot of money to do a lot of things, especially with some big contracts they still have (Nylander/Theodore), but getting Mike Knuble to fill the first line wing spot and adding Brendan Morrison for second line center filled big time needs.Knuble gives us that tough guy in front of the net to score some garbage goals and Morrison is a very low risk signing. When healthy, Morrison has been a great player. If he is back to his usual self, he could really thrive on a line with Alex Semin and whoever they decide to put on the other wing. Plus, they got both of these guys on the cheaper side, so there is very low risk.The schedule came out and there are some tough games early, but it seems pretty fair. There are no late season epic road trips and there are some great matchups. I'm thrilled that the Caps will finally return to Joe Louis Arena in Detroit for an early season game and I'll be bringing the family to that one with Caps jersey on and my 2 1/2 year old son wearing his Ovechkin shirt. Should be a blast. Obviously you read my thoughts on the decision to leave the Caps out of this year's Winter Classic. Instead of going through that again, I'll publish a comment that I just received from a Flyers fan regarding my post:First of all, Flyer's TV ratings are much better than the Capitals. The Capitals are a boring team to watch, it's not all about Ovechkinplaying great. People want to see a team play hard and win. No oneoutside of the little DC area cares to watch the Capitals....withoutAO, the team would be AHL level...Now where do I begin with this one. First of all, whenever you put an apostrophe between "Flyer" and the "s", you are an idiot. It's not FLYER'S, it's FLYERS.Second, any true hockey fan enjoys the Capitals way of playing. They are a very exciting team that goes end to end and they have a lot of skill. The line that without Ovechkin, team would be AHL level is ridiculous. Sure they would not be as good a team, but they have a Norris Trophy finalist who scored 30+ goals this year in Mike Green plus budding superstar Nicklas Backstrom and a 40+ goal scorer in Semin.So try again "Flyer's fan", but thanks for writing!Back to the Caps. I'm sure many fans would have liked for the team to add a veteran defenseman and while that still may happen, I think they can stand pat and be fine. There are 2 big time prospects nearly ready for fulltime NHL duty in Karl Alzner and John Carlson and there is no reason the Caps needed to take on a lot of salary by signing a free agent defenseman. They are very deep and most of those guys will continue to improve as time goes on. If it's determined that they need someone, I think George McPhee will make a move at the trade deadline next season.So I think the team is pretty much set. I know they'd still like to get rid of Michael Nylander and perhaps there will be a taker later this summer. I don't see him sitting all next season. I do know that if they are not able to deal him, he's likely to be bought out following the season for salary cap purposes. The only thing left for the Caps to look at this offseason is the upcoming contract extensions for Backstrom and Semin. I'm sure they won't be finished before the season starts with salary cap issues, but I'd like there to be progress and perhaps some announcements during next season. It's extremely important that the team is able to keep those 2 guys.That's all I have for now. Thanks for reading and Go Caps!