Semyon Varlamov

The Colorado Avalanche have undoubtedly had a great start to their 2011-12 season.

The Colorado Avalanche are in a defining year for their organizations.

After one of the worst seasons in the history of the franchise, the Avalanche went out and made a lot of changes to bolster their goal-tending and the size and ability of their defense.

Training camp left many of us very excited at the prospect of the year as the team looked strong, healthy, fast and much more defensively sound than a year before.

The countdown to the start of the NHL regular season really begins to pick up now that teams are reporting back to duty for training camp.

Excitement has begun to pick up for each team for the 2011-2012 NHL regular season, and the Colorado Avalanche are no different.

The Avalanche are a team that have made a lot of changes over the summer in an attempt to make a jump in the standings.

It is no longer news that George McPhee, general manager of the Washington Capitals, did incredible work this summer during the first half of the NHL's free agency period. 

In fact, I'm surprised that we haven't seen more articles here on Bleacher Report or in other hockey blogs with titles such as "George McPhee Commits Grand Larceny" or "Capitals' McPhee is Most Brilliant General Manager in All of Hockey."

Unlike the 2010 first day of free agency, the Colorado Avalanche proved to be very active on July 1, 2011, making several moves and signings that will have a definite effect on the outlook of the team this coming season.

Before we talk about what happened today, let's give a brief review of what the Avalanche did leading up to free agency.

Since the beginning of March, the Washington Capitals have taken the NHL by storm by winning 13 of their last 15 games, solidifying their grasp on the top spot in the Southeast Division. Like many other successful teams in today's NHL, they've been winning with multiple goaltenders. However, unlike many other teams, they don't have a clear cut starting goalie entering the final six games of the regular season.  

Players who are under the radar often find opportunities to step their game up during these riveting, do-or- die games in the postseason. Let's be honest, all psychic powers aside, very few of us would have predicted that Martin Gelinas would score the series deciding goal in three different series during the Calgary Flames' 2004 magical Stanley Cup run, or that Fernando Pisani would be the 2006 playoff leading goal scorer.

The Washington Capitals have won eight consecutive games and everybody wants to crown them as Stanley Cup champions again.

Ovechkin has played well, recording 10 points in those eight games. They're getting solid goaltending from their third string goalie and their defense is shutting down opponents.

Everything seems dandy and sweet, right?

Wrong.

The Washington Capitals are on a seven-game winning streak and have won 10 of their last 12 contests. Many would believe that head coach Bruce Boudreau has a problem that every coach at any level of hockey would die to have.

The Washington Capitals have been streak busting lately while getting hot themselves. Tonight at home, they will have yet another shot to shut down a hot team when the San Jose Sharks visit the big phone booth in Washington, DC.