With Michael Nylander supposedly on his way out of town in the near future, now’s as good a time as any to look back at his time in D.C. – the ups, the downs and the circles.
November 1, 2002 – Chicago trades Nylander and a 2003 3rd round pick (which the Caps used to select Stephen Werner) to Washington for Chris Simon and Andrei Nikolishin.
October 2, 2003 – Nylander breaks his leg in a preseason practice when Nolan Yonkman “crashed into him.” He’d return to the lineup in late February, 2004 and play three games for the Caps.
March 4, 2004 – The Caps trade Nylander to Boston for the a 4th round pick in 2005 (used on Patrick McNeill) and a 2nd round pick in 2006 (used on Francois Bouchard). Nylander’s final stats for his first tour of duty in Washington:
July 2, 2007 – TSN.ca reports that the Edmonton Oilers have signed Nylander. But Oilers VP of Communications Allan Watt tells us that it’s not a done deal, and later in the day the Capitals confirm that Nylander is theirs (pleasing at least one blogger). Meanwhile, Jaromir Jagr is unhappy with the Rangers’ decision to let his pivot walk, so that’s an added bonus.
July 3, 2007 – The Oilers file a complaint with the League (and get snippy with bloggers).
July 4, 2007 – Some reaction from Canadian bloggers and our own look at the man behind the man at the center of the controversy. Also, the League responds to the Oil’s complaint.
July 5, 2007 – Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe gets his side of the story out there.
July 6, 2007 – The wheels seem to have come off Lowe’s wagon.
July 8, 2007 – A bitter Canadian town lashes out at the most powerful city in the world.
October 5, 2007 – Nylander makes his second debut with the Caps and scores a goal against Atlanta. The playmaker has now skated with four of the most prolific scorers in team history: Peter Bondra, Jaromir Jagr, Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin.
November 23, 2008 – The Caps relieve head coach Glen Hanlon of his duties and replace him with Bruce Boudreau and his much more up-tempo, north/south offense. Spoiler alert: this won’t end well.
January 15, 2008 – Nylander’s season is over as his torn rotator cuff requires surgery. His line on the year:
October 5, 2008 – Turns out that, contrary to popular belief, Nylander’s decision to bail on Edmonton wasn’t his wife’s doing at all.
October 10, 2008 – Nylander is in the Caps opening night lineup and racks up a pair of goals and four helpers in the team’s first six games of the season. He’d go 25 games before scoring another goal.
April 15, 2009 – Nylander plays in the Caps first two playoff games (both losses), then is scratched for the next nine before getting one final game in a Caps uniform on May 9 (another loss). His final line for 2008-09:
May 29, 2009 – Nylander-to-Avangard (KHL) rumor.
July 19, 2009 – Shortly after the Chicago Blackhawks fire GM Dale Tallon, speculation that Nylander was at the root of that firing.
August 3, 2009 – Nylander tells a Swedish paper that Bruce Boudreau “told me I wasn’t good enough.”
October 1, 2009 – Nylander-to-Lokomotiv (KHL) rumor.
October 16, 2009 – Nylander-to-Lugano (SWI) rumor.
October 21, 2009 – Nylander agrees to go to Grand Rapids of the AHL on a conditioning stint, where he’d rack up five assists and a shootout goal in five Griffins wins.
Novemebr 7, 2009 – The Caps place Nylander on waivers. He clears. His final career stats as a Washington Capital:
November 10, 2009 – TSN’s Bob McKenzie tweets “Nylander heading to Russia”… then back-pedals.
November 10, 2009-present – We wait… and wait… and wait…