The schedule is out, folks – you can check it out here. Some things of note…

- The Caps, as revealed yesterday, will play the Jackets, Kings and Predators home and home; they’ll face all the other Western Conference teams only once. Um…woo.

- Big ticket nights: Pittsburgh comes to town February 22 and March 8. Buffalo visits December 30 and April 3. On January 6 and February 24 we’ll renew acquaintances with the Flyers. You want home ice advantage? Get those tickets as soon as possible and if you don’t…you have no right to complain about the other team’s fans.

- An odd twist this year – the Caps will begin and end their season on the road. In fact their final three games will be on the road, facing the Thrashers, Lightning and Panthers to end the season.

- Cristobal Huet will be back in town to watch the Southeast Division banner raised on October 11, and Olie Kolzig makes his return November 10 with the Lightning. Maybe it’s just me, but it would have been nice to have a division rival in town to rub in that banner-raising…it still stings a little that we had to see Atlanta do it last year.

- For the third straight year the Caps will host the Thrashers in a pre-Thanksgiving bout. Two years ago it was the line brawl…last year it was Hanlon’s last gasp. What theatrical moment should we expect this season?

- The traditional New Year’s Day game is against Tampa. January 1 in the District – Olie’s probably used to that, he might forget he left.

- Western Conference teams visiting DC this year (other than Columbus, Nashville and LA): Blackhawks, Canucks, Blues, Oilers, Avalanche and the defending Stanley Cup Champs.

- Longest home stretch: 5 games, February 18-26. Longest road trip: 5 games (twice), November 15-24 and March 16-24.

- 11 sets of back-to-back games – that’s five fewer than last year, if anyone’s counting. The other good news here is that the bulk of them come early in the season, with 9 of the 11 falling between October and January, one set in February and one in March. Although considering how the Caps rose to the occasion last year when the schedule appeared the toughest, maybe that’s a bad thing? Oh, well. We’ve still got that late 5-game road trip to provide some drama.