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Officially, the NHL’s 2011-12 season will reach the midpoint point Monday with Game 615 between the Los Angeles Kings and the Washington Capitals, and it’s an inadvertent, if appropriate bit of scheduling, considering how both teams were involved in the major stories of the first half.

The Kings and Capitals both joined the ranks of teams purging their coaches. Six in all joined the hired-to-be-fired brigade, including Terry Murray in L.A., where he was replaced by Darryl Sutter and Bruce Boudreau, replaced in Washington by Dale Hunter.

Rarely has a year seen so many highly paid, high-end talents sputter off to singularly mediocre starts - Anze Kopitar in L.A., and Alex Ovechkin in Washington were just two players not providing very much bang for their bucks. How can you rationally explain why Eric Staal (Carolina), Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and...

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Related Topics: NHL, washington capitals, Los Angeles Kings