Ted Leonsis went on "The Mike Wise Show" on 106.7 The Fan to discuss the Wizards' new jerseys, but the conversation inevitably shifted to the Washington Capitals and Bruce Boudreau's future. Leonsis tried to deflect the question of Boudreau's future long enough before finally admitting that it would be George McPhee's decision.
"It's George's call. George was asked that question," he said. "I think Bruce has the best record in the history in the NHL after his first 250 games. That's pretty good."
After that, Leonsis confirmed that McPhee would be back. Before that, here's what he said about Boudreau:
"They're under contract and they have my support. But as I said on my blog, I'm a fan too. I felt everybody's pain. But I do think the right way to do things is to not make any decisions out of emotion. Making a decision less than a week after you've been eliminated and swept out of the playoffs is bad ... I think what we have to do is just be honest with ourselves and take a look at what we accomplished, what was really good, what did the coaching staff do, how did the players do and let the fog and the pain go. We're not happy with where we are."
Co-host Holden Kushner then begged Leonsis to trade Alexander Semin, which Leonsis deflected with this response.
"I'm not an apologist for our players, but maybe if Semin isn't on our team, we don't get past the first round. That's why I just thinking having facts. The messages I've been getting from the fans, I'd honestly say about 60 or 70 percent of the emails are very, very gracious and supportive. The ones that give you advice are fantastic. But I chronicle them, and it's "Fire this guy. Trade this guy. Trade that guy, etc. And there's never the 'for what.' It's just 'trade him for a puck.""
Leonsis also said that Alex Ovechkin called him before heading off to Russia to the World Championships to apologize for his performance, say what he has been doing "isn't working and pledge to change his training regiment so that he would be in better shape next season. He said Ovechkin didn't do that last year, and in general, the tone of this year's playoff loss is different throughout the organization.
"Last year, I think everyone was mad. Last year was different than this year. This year, there was no one to blame but us, and we have to have that recognition."