Former Capitals Update
by MyFriendCorey on Feb 3, 2011 11:26 PM EST
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PrintIt’s a frustrating time for Washington Capitals fans right now with how the team is under performing. So, I thought it would be a fun idea to take a look at how some of the recent former Capitals are doing to lighten the mood a little. I’m only going back the past two seasons since I didn’t want to make this post too lengthy. I'll also see if the team is better off with them gone or not. The folks at Nucks Misconduct deserve credit for the idea.
Fedorov’s in his second year with the KHL’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk, who are currently in 5th place with the KHL’s Eastern division. He has 7 goals and 21 points in 44 games this season, definitely not bad considering his age. I do miss having Feds on the team. I miss his leadership and he seemed like a good mentor for Ovechkin and Semin. However, would he fill the void as the team’s second line center? Maybe. His point production in the KHL doesn’t blow me away but you can argue that he would be a better option than Mathieu Perreault right now even if he is getting up there in age. He just turned 41 last December. If he stuck around for another year or two, how much of a difference would it make? I was actually kind of bummed when I heard him and Viktor Kozlov would be leaving for the KHL after the 2008-09 season. On that note...
Viktor Kozlov
Kozlov missed some time with the Salavat Yulayev Ufa of the KHL last season but this year, he’s managed to stay healthy this year and has 16 goals and 30 points in 45 games. Likely to finish with a similar point total he had in his first season with Washington (54) only with more goals. Kozlov was nice to have on the top line but I do believe that Mike Knuble is an upgrade over him and has done a better job of getting to the net to score. The goals aren't coming as much as they were last season but I still stand by this statement.
Now here’s someone I don’t miss at all… Jurcina’s constant turnovers, sketchy defensive play and overall inconsistency made him one of my least favorite players on the team, especially during the 08-09 season. He scored his first regular season goal in awhile with the Blue Jackets last season, was traded back to Washington, quickly placed on the IR due to a sports hernia, was picked up by the New York Islanders this summer and is on the IR again. He’s playing top 4 minutes in New York and is having a pretty decent season according to the numbers (relative rating of 1.03, 3 goals, 9 points), but that could change when he’s back to playing 20+ minutes a night. I'll admit that I gave him more crap than he deserved when he was in Washington but he wouldn't be more than a depth defenseman on this team right now.
Doing about the same as he did in Washington as a stay-at-home d-man in Buffalo. He’s having a very "Morrisonn-like" year for lack of a better word. 1 goal, 3 points but the -6 rating is probably new to him. What’s strange to me is he only has 16 penalty minutes. Could be Lindy Ruff’s doing.
The former Washington captain has 5 goals and 14 points as a 3rd/4th liner for the Columbus Blue Jackets and scored his 100th goal earlier in the season. Definitely happy for him. It’s too bad that him and the Blue Jackets are drifting out of the playoff picture after a strong start to the season. It’s always tough to see your captain go but I understand why he was traded (bad contract, make room for Ovechkin getting the C) and we got Jason Chimera in return for him, who has been a pretty solid contributor to the team.
Currently playing in Ligue Nord-Americane de Hockey, which is a low-level hockey league in Quebec. There’s not much else to go after you get traded to Atlanta and they buy out your contract shortly after. Not much use in the league for an enforcer who isn’t even good at that job. Here’s what surprises me; he has 16 goals and 29 points in this league but I think it’s your job to score in these leagues no matter who you are from what I've read. The Caps enforcer is now DJ King and he’s been just about as useful as Brash so far and no that’s not a compliment.
Chris Bourque
No longer in Hershey and playing hockey for HC Lugano in Switzerland. This was after he was released from his $1 mil contract with HK Atlant Moscow of the KHL after a poor start. He has 11 goals and 27 points with Lugano so maybe there is a league for him outside of the AHL.
Backing up Marc-Andre Fleury in Pittsburgh and getting a lot more starts this season due to MAF’s early season struggles. He signed there last season and then took a paycut to stay with them. Yep, Johnny is dead to me.
For a good part last year, I thought he solved our problem at 2nd line center after playing well to start the season. Yeah, that didn’t last long. Aside from that, I have no ill feelings towards him and he’s having a good season in Calgary (8 goals, 28 points). Two points away from matching his total from last year.
Didn’t quite make the impact we hoped he would after we traded for him at the deadline last year. He was supposed to be re-signed as a stop-gap for Johansson but the contract situation didn’t work out and he’s now with the Phoenix Coyotes as their 2nd line center where he has 7 goals and 23 points. Would we have been better off if we kept him this season? Possibly, but I'm not going to assume anything.
Now here’s something that’ll make Washington fans mad. Corvo has as many goals as Mike Green this year, and 4 more points. Ouch. He’s also a -6 so that will remind us a lot of the 2nd half of last season where McPhee's gamble on Corvo didn't work out well. I still think trading for him was a bad idea, especially since he didn’t prove to be a "big minute defenseman" in Washington.
Playing with the Swiss elite league and that’s all I really know. He fits in the same category as Morrisonn and Jurcina even though I liked him.
Has only played 7 games as part of the Rochester Americans, which is Florida’s AHL affiliate. He was supposed to be the 2nd line center here when he was signed but he hasn’t been the same since tearing his rotator cuff and that was clear in his last season in Washington. Either way, I don’t think I need to say much here other than it’s good that him and his contract are gone.
Traded to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Scott Hannan where he was moved back to winger and had 21 points in 22 games. He is out for the rest of the season with pulmonary emboli. I didn’t like him in Washington as a center because he was playing out of his natural position and was very ineffective (i.e.bad) as a result. Here’s hoping Flash has a quick recovery because I really hate to see him have to call it quits early due to that.
Playing for the Oklahoma City Barons in the AHL. The Hershey Bears miss him for sure. The Caps, not so much.
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A couple of Notes...
1) Nylander – He’s only played 7 games due to a severe injury (broken neck). He is possibly done for the year if not his career. Despite any feelings for him, it sucks when a player has to retire due to a traumatic injury. He’s not the first Cap (technically, he was on loan to Rochester, the Caps were paying a bunch of his salary) to have this. In recent years, Dimitri Mironov, Trevor Halverson and Pat Peake all come to mind.
2) Brent Johnson… he’s also turned into quite the pugilist. Olie taught him well…
3) Speaking of Olie, nothing on him in the article?
Washington Capitals 2009-10 = Quebec Nordiques 1994-95
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I was looking at players over the last two seasons
Kolzig was with the Lightning at the time, sadly.
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by MyFriendCorey on Feb 4, 2011 4:37 PM EST up reply actions
Nylander is done for the year, but the few reports I’ve seen state that he will be able to return to professional, full contact hockey. The issue will be if he wants to return, and who is going to a flier on a late-30s player who missed all but 7 games of a season. But the break itself should be of little to no concern. It was a terrible freak accident and he’s incredibly lucky to be walking, but it’s not like he’s at risk to re-fracture his neck just walking around. it’s amazing what they ca do with vertebrae these days.
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Fun post. I take issue with this quote, though:
I still think trading for him was a bad idea, especially since he didn’t prove to be a “big minute defenseman” in Washington.
To be clear, this sentence has no definite logical structure. It’s rather unfair to criticize a trade when you have available information that wasn’t there before the trade was made. I was never thrilled with the acquisition, but I think a good number of people (here) thought gaining defensive depth was a good thing for the playoffs. It didn’t work out, and that sucks, but it doesn’t invalidate the trade itself, unless you were railing against it from Day 1.
Corvo trade
I was for getting defensive depth at the time but I thought trading for someone who is known more for his offensive skillset was a bad idea. That and Corvo wasn’t getting top 4 minutes on a lot of nights if I remember correctly. However, when the trade was made, he did look like an upgrade over Pothier/Morrisonn/Sloan/Erskine/etc so I digress.
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by MyFriendCorey on Feb 4, 2011 4:36 PM EST up reply actions
Corvo was, and clearly still is, a big minute eater for the Canes. Too bad he looked like he didn’t give a shit wearing a Caps jersey
Release the Mackan!
by Killer_Carlson on Feb 5, 2011 1:04 AM EST up reply actions
I firmly believe that Belanger would have been a good vet to have anchoring the second line giving the team consistency down the middle while the MJ90 & MP85 built up their games to the 2C level. That said, because we didn’t keep Belanger, we were able to bring on Matt Hendricks, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed what he has brought to the team. Between Hendricks and Erskine, I don’t know why we have King on the roster at all.
Nylander comes off the books at the end of the season, right?
Oh, and Brent Johnson, no goalie is ever getting in a fight with him ever again. Or any other player, probably. That’s a mean left he’s got.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
I love Hendricks.
He has been a great addition to the team, especially for a fourth liner. I wouldn’t mind it if we kept him next year for a low cost. As for the King issue, we traded for him before we acquired Hendricks and needed an enforcer so I understand why the move was made. I think we might waive him eventually since he’s a healthy scratch on most nights and Hendricks does everything he does and more. Doesn’t make much sense to keep someone on the roster if you’re not going to play him.
I think DP is just made of glass.
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by MyFriendCorey on Feb 4, 2011 6:45 PM EST up reply actions
I’d rather have Delly instead of king though, funny about the Brent vs. Rick fight was that it looked like Rick was smiling the whole time even after getting knocked down
by washfan29 on Feb 5, 2011 3:43 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I stand corrected.
I guess skaters are willing to get into a fight with Brent Johnson, looking at the Pens-Isles rematch tonight that resulted in 307 total penalty minutes. Absolutely incredible.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
I’d be somewhat surprised if Bourque stays in the Swiss league. He probably likes Lugano a lot more than the KHL (all reports I had heard were that he was, for the most part, miserable there), but is it on par with the AHL for competition? It looks like it might be a wash for pay, with most guys in the 100k range?
Speaking of which, the site that had Lugano’s 6-5 result that I went to look at, is spotting the Caps 1.5 points against the Penguins. /rodneydangerfield
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I think this post would be better without all the pot shots to former players that you didn’t like or don’t like now. Talk about where they are and what they are doing now instead of how they did “X blah” formerly on the Caps.
Maybe some more research on the guys that no one has a lot of easily accessible information on too so it’s more useful.
If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.
What are former Caps up to?
I would argue that the Caps are probably in better shape with their current line-up, than with these players:
Sergei Fedorov – I love Feds. I’m in the tank for Feds and if he’d come back for $1.5M, I think you jump on that with both feet. If it takes more money than that, you need to look at younger legs.
Kozlov – Still love Koz, think Knuble has been a better fit, night in, night out.
Jurcina – Big shot, stone hands. Better off with the guys on the team now.
Morrisonn – No shot, stone hands. Better off with the guys on the team now.
Clark – Good heart and soul guy, with a heavy contract. Better off with the guys on the team now.
Brashear – Big Don, when he first arrived, was very valuable, because he still could play in his own end and not hurt the team. The problem is, by the end of his time in Washington, time had caught up with his body and he is a 40 year old guy that beats people up for a living. You’re comparing apples to oranges between Brashear and King. When Brashear was King’s age, he was an intimidating presence, would chip in the odd goal, make room for the players around him and not hurt the team in his own end. King just beats people up for a living. He’s too much of a liability defensively, which is why he never dresses unless there is a heavyweight in the other team’s line-up.
Bourque – Might have made it in the NHL 25 years ago, but in the bigger, faster NHL doesn’t have the size, skill or speed to get it done.
Johnson – I like Johnny, but we’re not really missing him now are we (although he is cheaper than all three of the kid goalies)?
B. MO – Was never a fan of the original signing. Better off with the younger guys on the team now.
Belanger – I really liked this trade last year, but he’s not quite good enough to be a second line center and he’s better than a third line center. Great human sacrifice type, which this team really misses, but not the answer on the second line.
Corvo – Zero impact. Better off with the guys on the team now.
Pothier – There are times when this team misses his ability to NOT cough up the puck at a critical moment. I would have kept him (or brought him back for depth) for Sloan money.
Nylander – Feel bad for the injuries he has endured, but he was a bad signing from Day One. He had no idea what his own end of the rink looked like. He spent most of his time here sulking. He wouldn’t play Hanlon’s system and he couldn’t play Boudreau’s system. Take $19.5M and enjoy the time off.
Flash – Don’t care. Didn’t work hard enough when the going got tough. Miss his output, but there is no output when the teams tighten up into playoff mode.
Giroux – Can’t skate at the NHL level. Better off with the guys on the team now.
…and one guy who missed the list, but should be remembered:
Quintan Laing – This is a guy who would do anything, give up body parts, you name it, to play in the NHL. Hard work got him there, but ultimately, he just didn’t have the hands or wheels to stick. Had a great work ethic that is really missed these days. Couldn’t get a contract last summer. Signed by the ECHL Victoria Salmon Kings in November, loaned to and now Captain of your Abbottsford Heat of the AHL. He’s largely credited with turning their season around through grit, determination and leadership.
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