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That Time When the Caps Had an Ace up their Sleeve

As noted in last week’s Throwback Tuesday post, the expansion Capitals’ roster was so bad that less than two months into that woeful campaign, general manager Milt Schmidt was begging for help. He didn’t get much in the way of aid (or, presumably, sympathy).

But on February 10, 1975, he was able to trade Denis Dupere and his amazing mustache to St. Louis for Stan Gilbertson and Garnet “Ace” Bailey. Gilbertson would be flipped to Pittsburgh the following December, but Bailey hung around through the end of the 1977-78 season. When he left for WHA Edmonton, Bailey was fourth in franchise history in games played, goals and points, but had an even bigger impact on the fledgling organization than those marks would indicate.

We all know how tough those first seasons were for the Caps. But with Ace Bailey around, they were a little more bearable, especially when it came to dealing with head coach Tom McVie. Ron Lalonde recalled an early morning in Vancouver when Bailey helped his teammates catch some Z’s:

And that’s not the only time that Bailey, um, did his own thing in the face of McVie’s tough conditioning regimen:

As difficult as things were for the Caps on the ice, they were no picnic off of it either, as the team constantly faced monetary limitations and restrictions… something that sometimes played out in the transportation they used, the commercial flights used by the teams back then a far cry from the comfortable chartered-jet travel to which today’s NHLers are accustomed.

Caps Hall of Fame radio broadcaster Ron Weber recalled this Bailey anecdote:

All in all, Ace Bailey was the perfect player for those early Caps’ squads (and speaking of perfect fits, if you have $99,000 lying around, you can buy yourself a game-worn Ace Bailey Caps sweater) – and the relationship was mutually beneficial, as Bailey got opportunities he probably wouldn’t have gotten on too many teams.

As Joe Pelletier notes:

Bailey’s leadership – and antics – didn’t stop when he left Washington, either, as he headed to WHA Edmonton, where he mentored a 17-year-old who would go on to make something of himself in the NHL:

It wasn’t all pranks, of course:

And a bit more Gretzky on Bailey:

Lastly, AHL President Dave Andrews summed up Bailey’s impact:

And yes, that’s the past tense that Andrews used in describing his friend. As you likely know, Bailey, along with fellow Kings scout Mark Bavis, was on United Airlines Flight 175 on September 11, 2001 (a flight which has another connection to Capitals history).

Ace Bailey was a good Capital on some bad Capitals teams. More importantly, Ace Bailey was a good human being. And through the Ace Bailey Children’s Foundation, that legacy lives on.

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