we'll hear from gm, ernie grunfeld. is he safe?up in sports, next. >>> and now, 9 sports with dave owen. the best sports in town. >> welcome back to the verison center. the firing of flip saunders comes as a surprise of no one. not all of it was his fault, but immediate changes had to be made and they were made today. general manager, ernie grunfeld making the announcement this afternoon that the saunders era is done. he added, quote, players were not responding and developing as much as we'd like. he made the firing recommendation last night. >> we have to get consistency throughout the lineup and everybody is responsible for this, including the players. we thought it was time to do some different things to take advantage of the talent and the talent of the players on the team. >> flip's overall record in two plus seasons, 51 wins, 130 losses. 2-15 this year and 0-7 on the road. randy whitman takes over. he coached before. but he is also a good friend with flip and says it's an emotional day for him. >> is this a happy day? no. by

a lot of people think that ernie grunfeld might be next. he drafted most of the players on the roster. randy whitman takes over but after four coaching changes in four years, how secure should ernie grunfeld be? >> we have to get consistency throughout the line-up. and everybody is responsible for this including the players. we all felt like maybe it was time for a different voice and to maybe try to do some different things to try to take advantage of the talent and the talent of the players on the team. >> alex ovechkin says he will not be skating in the all-star game. he's suspended for three games for this hit on sunday. wasn't penalized in the game. in his absence, the team has been talking about others stepping up to wit, this was matthew perrault. >> speed and energy. these guys are going -- trying to give them the puck. >> he got it back. he scored in a variety of ways! a hat trick, first career for the young man. caps getting the win over the bruins, 5-3 last night. that's going to do it for your morning sports. i'm dave owens, hav

coach flip saunders and team president ernie grunfeld are looking for ans. so nash there are none. point guard and leader john -- answers. so far there are none. point guard and leader john wall has become increasingly frustrated. he called out flip saunders after the first game. clearly issues inside the verizon center and while the meeting today might not have been scheduled with the players, it was necessary. >> everyone has a part here. the sense of entitlement that's here sometimes is -- i've never seen before. >> we all had a good talk and said our piece. hopefully all the guys took it in and didn't take it to be sensitive or two them or something they didn't want to hear because everything said in here today is something that needed to be said and needs to be done. >> one player who may help the wizards tomorrow night against the knicks is rookie john wesley. the team's first round pick missed all six games in the regular season. he's got a hip scenario, but did he participate in the three- on-three drills today and he believes his closer to making his nba debut. >> i'm not

grunfeld worked in this with flip? >> it reminds me of the bill parcels. and ernieing the groceries and flip had to cook them. >> you said earlier when you first came in, you don't think he's going to last through the season or this might be his last season as gm of the wizards? >> that's something they'll need to pull the trigger on. you can only affect so much change when you put in one coach in replacement of another. you need to bring in someone better than ernie grunfeld, that can bring in better players and talent. >> change may be necessary. wholesale changes might be necessary here at the verison center when it comes to the wizards. pleasure to meet you and looking forward to working with you in the future. >> we have wizards and caps news as well. that's why we are behind the ice. back to you in the studio. >> thanks dave. still to come, a big step forward for efforts to bring metro to dulles international airport. >> i'm scott broom in washington. coming up, nine wants to know what more can police agencies do to track crooks using gps devices now that the

the wizards lack of effort and penchant for getting blown out left ernie grunfeld with no choice. >> i don't know if the players were responding the way we thought they should have been for the first quarter of the season, and we felt like a different voice was needed to do some things a little different. and maybe to play a little bit of a different style than we had been playing. >> is this a happy day, no. a good man walked out the door today and it's always hard. >> if i didn't think that this team had any positive ahead of it, i would have walked too. i believe that this team does have a lot of positive. i'm not the miracle maker here. we've got to change our outlook on how we play, can't live with it if you're going out there and going through the motions. knowing that i'm a young guy and they're supposedly supposed to develop me, i'm going to get this no matter what kind of effort on the floor. that's got to change. >>> randy whittman the wizards interim head coach. he was part of that staff, so it's going to be interesting to see how these young players respond to him. they h

. >> i think you got to get rid of the guy who assembled this team is ernie grunfeld. he has been the gm of three teams. he has put together this awful team. i don't want him in charge of trying to form plate a good squad. >> something had to be done on the coaching front. you can't keep trotting out a team that is 2-15 and showing your fan base that you are not willing to make some sort of move to shake things up. >> it is a small step but it is a step that had to be made and what will happen the rest of the year, randy whit map will suffer through a nine or 10-win season. he will probably be gone next year and they'll have to regroup. >> i don't think randy whitman is the answer. his career head coaching record in the nba, 100 wins, 207 losses. >> very good player. and below average coach. >> he represents the old regime. that is the problem. any time you have anybody on the staff. he was part of that 50-150 record that flip had accomplished here in d.c. so i don't expect much change at all. >> let's talk about hockey. the caps won last night. the big story, alexande

saunders had a year left on his contract but team president ernie grunfeld said it was time for a changenow, fans are asking if grunfeld will be the next to go. whitman will lead the wizards for the rest of the season. >>> on the ice last night, the caps hosted the bruins, tied at 3 in the third period. matthew perrault scored the go- ahead goal. his third of the game. his first career hat trick. d.c. tops boston 5-3. the caps move back into first place in the southeast division. they're off until next week for the all-star game. >>> let's start with a clean slate and some hope. we're less than four weeks away from pitchers and catchers reporting for spring training. and today, we'll get to meet the nationals newest pitcher. the team will introduce gonzalez at a press conference this afternoon at nationals park. the all-star left-hander was traded here from oakland. he signed a deal to be here in d.c. through the 2016 season. >>> well, the team won't be introducing prince fielder any time soon. cbs sports reports fielder will sign instead with the detroit tigers. the deal, nine years and