Montreal Meeting: Jurcina, the Bus

Milan Jurcina was singled-out by Coach Bruce Boudreau after the Caps' 5-4 loss to Les Habitant Saturday night for obvious reasons. With about 30 seconds left, the puck (and Jurcina) resided right in front of the net and the tall Slovak didn't clear it.

"He couldn't find it, and didn't do anything to find it," Boudreau said after the game. "He could have cross checked [Kostitsyn]. Anything. If you can't find the puck, don't just stand there. Cross-check him so he can't get the puck. Don't look in your feet."

The play was a virtual reprise of R.J. Umberger's goal on Friday night as the Caps' got shut out by Steve Mason and the Columbus Blue Jackets (again), 3-0. And the double-error on Jurcina certainly isn't the first time during his career with the Caps (or this season) that he's made a major gaffe or took an ill-timed penalty. And while there's plenty of blame to go around for the two losses -- most notably the fact that the Caps played way too loose against a hot team with tons of offensive firepower -- the bottom line is that Jurcina has been under performing since he arrived from Boston on Feb. 1, 2007.

In 148 career regular-season games with the red, white and blue, the man who dons No. 23 has five goals, 22 assists, 92 penalty minutes and a plus-four rating. This season, "Juice" has the lowest plus/minus ranking (minus-3) among the Caps' regular defensemen and, along with Shaone Morrisonn (minus-1), are the only two blueliners with a minus-ranking. (Since-demoted Sami Lepisto was minus-three in seven games.)

With Tom Poti eligible to return from the long-term injured-reserve list later this week, and the Caps needing to make room so Karl Alzner can stay with the big club, finding another home for Jurcina might be a good place to start. Jurcina is a restricted free agent after this season and has about the same base salary as Alzner (whose bonus money nearly doubles that figure).

It wouldn't solve all of the Caps' problems, but trading Jurcina is a must.