18 – Number of Capitals who have represented their country at the Olympics since the NHL began sending players in 1998. Here’s the breakdown by year:
2014
Nicklas Backstrom (Sweden), John Carlson (USA), Martin Erat (Czech Republic), Marcus Johansson (Sweden), Alex Ovechkin (Russia)
2010
Nicklas Backstrom (Sweden), Tomas Fleischmann (Czech Republic), Alex Ovechkin (Russia), Alexander Semin (Russia), Semyon Varlamov (Russia)
2006
Olaf Kolzig (Germany); Alex Ovechkin (Russia); Ivan Majesky (Slovakia)
2002
Jaromir Jagr (Czech Republic), Sergei Gonchar and Andrei Nikolishin (Russia), Ulf Dahlen (Sweden), Dmitri Khristich (Ukraine)
1998
Olaf Kolzig (Germany); Sergei Gonchar (Russia); Peter Bondra and Richard Zednik (Slovakia); Calle Johansson (Sweden)
