Doughty living up to the hype, buy Holtby, Versteeg hurt and more…

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If you want to know who to buy and sell for the second half make sure you pick up the Mid-Season Guide due out January 12th. Only $9.99!

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I think I say this every year but I'm over the Winter Classic. It's no longer novel. And the actually quality of the games is disappointing. This year was fairly exciting, what with Troy Brouwer scoring the winner with little time left on the clock but overall it wasn't great. The wrinkle with the glare this year was interesting, in as far as it led to a long goal by Patrick Sharp and multiple situations where players were blinded but if I wanted to watch an obstacle course I'd flick on Wipeout.

Of course, there's tons of pageantry surrounding the event to help try and draw in a broader demographic but Super Bowl the Winter Classic is not.

Here's a question for you: who is more washed up Billy Idol or Brad Richards? Honest question.

I mentioned Sharp above, on top of the goal he scored he also fired 10 – yes 10! – shots on goal. Safe to say the "shoot from anywhere" directive was in full effect.

Kris Versteeg left the contest after blocking a shot with his hand. No word on the severity but I fear we are looking at a break here, which would mean losing about a month. We shouldn't be totally surprised, injuries derailed Versteeg's time with the Panthers as well.

It might be a blessing for Versteeg owners as it's an excuse to cut bait. I argued that Versteeg could remain productive with Sharp returning to the lineup but that hasn't been the case. Versteeg scored just five points in the previous 11 games despite having maintained a chunk of his minutes. One missing component was getting bumped to the second power play unit but with only four power-play points this season power-play scoring simply wasn't a big factor anyway. What really happened is Versteeg's luck ran out but that doesn't mean there aren't some juicy minutes up for grabs here.

Sharp will probably jump up from the third line at even strength but the question is who will grab the second unit power play time. Yesterday it was Bryan Bickell who might be in for a nice boost.

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Two assists for Mike Green despite skating just 14:59 yesterday. You can see that he is losing minutes to the rest of the Capitals' blueliners as the season wears on. He hasn't lost his gig on the top power play unit though, which is most important. We'll warn you to jump ship if that time ever comes.

What's interesting is that just five of Green's 20 points have come on the power play. Over the previous three seasons 46% of his points came with the man advantage. I take that to mean there's reason to expect more from Green going forward, especially considering how lethal that Capitals power play is.

Braden Holtby is a serious buy for me right now. He's 9-1-3 in the last 13 with some very solid underlying numbers. I think the Capitals will go on a nice run in the second half and that Holtby's going to be one of the best goalies to own for your stretch run.

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