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Washington Capitals

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Washington Capitals
File:Washington Capitals.gif
ConferenceEastern
DivisionSoutheast
Founded1974
HistoryWashington Capitals
1974 - present
Home arenaVerizon Center
CityWashington, D.C.
Team colorsBlack, Blue, and Bronze
MediaComcast SportsNet
News Channel 8
WTEM (980 AM)
Owner(s)United States Ted Leonsis
General managerCanada George McPhee
Head coachCanada Glen Hanlon
CaptainUnited States Chris Clark
Minor league affiliatesHershey Bears (AHL)
South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL)
Stanley CupsNone
Conference championships1997-98
Division championships1988-89, 1999-00, 2000-01

The Washington Capitals are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C.. They play in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Franchise history

File:WSH 284.gif
The original Capitals logo, used from 1974-95.

Expansion trouble

Along with the Kansas City Scouts, the Capitals joined the National Hockey League as an expansion team for the 1974-75 season. With a combined 30 teams between the NHL and the rival World Hockey Association, both the Capitals and the Scouts had few players with professional experience and were at a disadvantage against the long-standing teams that were stocked with more experienced players. In their first season, the Capitals would set an NHL record for futility, losing 67 of 80 games, and only winning one on the road. The Scouts fared only marginally better.

The Capitals did not fare much better through the rest of the 1970s and early 80s. By the summer of 1982, there was serious talk of the team moving out of the U.S. capital, and a "Save the Caps" campaign was underway. Then two significant events took place to solve the problem.

Playoffs

First, the team hired David Poile as General Manager. Second, as his first move, Poile pulled off one of the biggest trades in franchise history on September 9 when he dealt longtime regulars Ryan Walter and Rick Green to the Montreal Canadiens for Rod Langway, Brian Engblom, Doug Jarvis, and Craig Laughlin. This move not only turned the franchise around, but the addition of these new players helped the team reach the playoffs for the first time in 1983. In addition, the Caps were also helped by the explosive goal-scoring of Dennis Maruk, Mike Gartner, and Bobby Carpenter. Although they were swept by the eventual and three-time-defending Stanley Cup Champion New York Islanders, their first ever playoff appearance helped the team remain in Washington.

The Capitals would make the cake for each of the next 14 years in a row, but every time it ended in heartbreak. In the late 1980s the Caps, though always a contender in the regular season, could never shake off their reputation for being "chokers" in the playoffs. Particularly painful was a loss to the Islanders in the 1987 Patrick Division Semifinal, a series which ended with the classic Easter Epic game. Despite a continuous march of stars like Gartner, Carpenter, Bengt-Åke Gustafsson, Mike Ridley, Dave Christian, Dino Ciccarelli, Langway, Larry Murphy or Kevin Hatcher, only once in that time period did the team ever get past the second round of the playoffs, a 4-game sweep at the hands of the Boston Bruins in the 1990 Wales Conference Finals. Gartner had been traded to the Minnesota North Stars in 1989.

Lost chances

By the mid-1990s, the Stanley Cup seemed to elude the Capitals. Despite having rising stars in right-winger Peter Bondra, defenseman Sergei Gonchar, and center/left-wing Joé Juneau, the team's core players were mostly aging. One of the team's darkest days came in a 1993 playoff series with the New York Islanders, when enforcer Dale Hunter was suspended 21 games for a late hit on the Isles' Pierre Turgeon after he had just scored the series-winning goal.

Then in 1998, Peter Bondra's 52 goals led the team, veterans Juneau and Adam Oates returned to old form, and Olaf Kolzig had a solid .920 save percentage as the Caps got past the Bruins, Ottawa Senators, and Buffalo Sabres (the latter on a dramatic double-overtime win in game Six) en route to the team's first (and to date, only) Stanley Cup finals appearance. However, the team was no match for the defending champs, the Detroit Red Wings, who won in a four-game sweep.

In 1999, the Capitals missed the playoffs. They went on to win back-to-back Southeast Division titles, yet both years lost in the first round to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Yet the Caps scored a major coup in the summer of 2001, landing five-time Art Ross Trophy winner Jaromír Jágr, one of the best players in the NHL in the 1990s, from Pittsburgh. Despite the new power, the Capitals failed to perform. In the summer of 2002, the Caps made even more roster changes, including the signing the highly regarded Robert Lang as a free agent, also from Pittsburgh.

The Capitals were back in the playoffs 2003, but disappointed fans again by losing in six games to the Tampa Bay Lightning after starting off with a two-game lead in the best-of-seven first-round series. The series is well-remembered for the three-overtime Game 6 at the then-MCI Center, the longest game in the building's history, which was eventually decided by a power play goal as a result of Jason Doig skating on the ice too early and warranting a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty.

In the early part of 2004, the Caps unloaded a lot of their high-priced talent in order to save money — not just a cost-cutting spree, but also an acknowledgment that their attempt to build a contender with high-priced veteran talent had failed. Jágr was traded to the New York Rangers, which was quickly followed by Bondra going to the Ottawa Senators. Not long after, Robert Lang was sent to Detroit and Gonchar to the Bruins. The Robert Lang trade marked the first time in the history of the National Hockey League that the league's leading scorer was traded in the middle of the season. The Capitals ended the year 23-46-10-6, tied for the second worst record, along with the Chicago Blackhawks.

File:Washington-alternate.gif
Washington's Home logo; two hockey sticks crossed behind the image of the United States Capitol, with stars flanking it, a hockey puck at the front, and the team's name emblazoned across the Capitol.

In the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, the Capitals won the Draft Lottery, and selected Alexander Ovechkin first overall. During the NHL labor dispute of 2004-05, which cost the NHL its entire season, Ovechkin stayed in Russia, playing for Moscow Dynamo. Several other Capitals played part or all of the lost season in Europe, including Olaf Kölzig, Brendan Witt, and Jeff Halpern. The Capitals' 2005 off-season consisted of making D.C.-area native Halpern the team's captain, signing Andrew Cassels, Ben Clymer, Mathieu Biron and Jamie Heward, and acquiring Chris Clark and Jeff Friesen via trade.

The Capitals finished the 2005-2006 NHL season in the cellar of the Southeastern Division again, with a 29-41-6 campaign, having 12 more points then the 2003-04 Season, good for 27th out of the 30 NHL teams. Yet the team played close in every game, playing in 42 one-goal games, although losing 2/3 of those games. Ovechkin's rookie season exceeded the hype, as he led all 2005-06 NHL rookies in goals, points, power-play goals and shots. He finished third overall in the NHL in scoring and tied for third in goals; and his 425 shots not only led the league, but also set an NHL rookie record and was the fourth-highest total in NHL history. Captain Monroe the ninth point total was the second-best in Washington Capitals history, and his goal total was tied for third in franchise history. Ovechkin won the Calder Memorial Trophy, beating out Pittsburgh center Sidney Crosby and Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf. Many longtime Capitals had career years, with Dainius Zubrus netting 57 points, Halpern having a career-best 33 assists, Matt Pettinger putting in a career-best 20-goal, 38-point effort and seven others on the relatively young team topping 20 points for the first time. Two notable landmarks were also hit by Capitals, as the team's longest tenured Capital, Olaf Kölzig, won his 250th game in goal and Andrew Cassels became the 204th player to play 1,000 games, although he did not finish out his season with the team. A notable first was that Washington area native Jeff Halpern was named captain of the hometown Capitals. At the 2006 trade deadline, March 8, Witt was traded to Nashville.

In the 2006 offseason, Halpern left the Capitals to join the Dallas Stars; Chris Clark became the Capitals' new captain. Alexander Semin returned to the organization, scoring a hat trick in the Second Game of the 2006-2007 Season. Richard Zedník returned to the Capitals in 2006-07 after a "disappointing" 16-goal, 14-assist 2005-06 in Montreal; the Capitals also signed former Philadelphia Flyers enforcer Donald Brashear.


Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses/SOL = Shootout Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Records as of January 20, 2007. [1]

Season GP W L T OTL/SOL Pts GF GA PIM Finish Playoffs
1974-75 80 8 67 5 — 21 181 446 1085 5th, Norris Did not qualify
1975-76 80 11 59 10 — 32 224 394 951 5th, Norris Did not qualify
1976-77 80 24 42 14 — 62 221 307 1231 4th, Norris Did not qualify
1977-78 80 17 49 14 — 48 195 321 1332 5th, Norris Did not qualify
1978-79 80 24 41 15 — 63 273 338 1312 4th, Norris Did not qualify
1979-80 80 27 40 13 — 67 261 293 1198 5th, Patrick Did not qualify
1980-81 80 26 36 18 — 70 286 317 1872 5th, Patrick Did not qualify
1981-82 80 26 41 13 — 65 319 338 1932 5th, Patrick Did not qualify
1982-83 80 39 25 16 — 94 306 283 1329 3rd, Patrick Lost in Division Semifinals, 1-3 (Islanders)
1983-84 80 48 27 5 — 101 308 226 1252 2nd, Patrick Won in Division Semifinals, 3-0 (Flyers)
Lost in Division Finals, 2-4 (Islanders)
1984-85 80 46 25 9 — 101 322 240 1161 2nd, Patrick Lost in Division Semifinals, 2-3 (Islanders)
1985-86 80 50 23 7 — 107 315 272 1418 2nd, Patrick Won in Division Semifinals, 3-0 (Islanders)
Lost in Division Finals, 2-4 (Rangers)
1986-87 80 38 32 10 — 86 285 278 1720 2nd, Patrick Lost in Division Semifinals, 3-4 (Islanders)
1987-88 80 38 33 9 — 85 281 249 1680 3rd, Patrick Won in Division Semifinals, 4-3 (Flyers)
Lost in Division Finals, 3-4 (Devils)
1988-89 80 41 29 10 — 92 305 259 1836 1st, Patrick Lost in Division Semifinals, 2-4 (Flyers)
1989-90 80 36 38 6 — 78 284 275 2204 3rd, Patrick Won in Division Semifinals, 4-2 (Devils)
Won in Division Finals, 4-1 (Rangers)
Lost in Conference Finals, 0-4 (Bruins)
1990-91 80 37 36 7 — 81 258 258 1839 3rd, Patrick Won in Division Semifinals, 4-2 (Rangers)
Lost in Division Finals, 1-4 (Penguins)
1991-92 80 45 27 8 — 98 330 275 1777 2nd, Patrick Lost in Division Semifinals, 3-4 (Penguins)
1992-93 84 43 34 7 — 93 325 286 1709 2nd, Patrick Lost in Division Semifinals, 2-4 (Islanders)
1993-94 84 39 35 10 — 88 277 263 2007 3rd, Atlantic Won in Conference Quarterfinals, 4-2 (Penguins)
Lost in Conference Semifinals, 1-4 (Rangers)
1994-951 48 22 18 8 — 52 136 120 1144 3rd, Atlantic Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 3-4 (Penguins)
1995-96 82 39 32 11 — 89 234 204 1553 4th, Atlantic Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 2-4 (Penguins)
1996-97 82 33 40 9 — 75 214 231 1652 5th, Atlantic Did not qualify
1997-98 82 40 30 12 — 92 219 202 1198 3rd, Atlantic Won in Conference Quarterfinals, 4-2 (Bruins)
Won in Conference Semifinals, 4-1 (Senators)
Won in Conference Finals, 4-2 (Sabres)
Lost in Finals, 0-4 (Red Wings)
1998-99 82 31 45 6 — 68 200 218 1381 3rd, Southeast Did not qualify
1999-00 82 44 24 12 2 102 227 194 994 1st, Southeast Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 1-4 (Penguins)
2000-01 82 41 27 10 4 96 233 211 1141 1st, Southeast Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 2-4 (Penguins)
2001-02 82 36 33 11 2 85 228 240 1043 2nd, Southeast Did not qualify
2002-03 82 39 29 8 6 92 224 220 1268 2nd, Southeast Lost in Conference Quarterfinals, 2-4 (Lightning)
2003-04 82 23 46 10 3 59 186 253 1282 5th, Southeast Did not qualify
2004-052 — — — — — — — — — — —
2005-063 82 29 41 — 12 70 237 306 1426 5th, Southeast Did not qualify
2006-07 48 20 21 7 47 149 168 768
Totals 2481 1043 1105 303 29 2418 7903 8331 43561 — —
1 Season was shortened due to the 1994-95 NHL lockout.
2 Season was canceled due to the 2004-05 NHL lockout.
3 As of the 2005-06 NHL season, all games will have a winner; the OTL column includes SOL (Shootout losses).

Notable players

Current roster

As of January 11, 2007. [1]

Goaltenders
# Player Catches Acquired Place of Birth
1 United States Brent Johnson L 2005 Farmington, Michigan
37 Germany Olaf Kolzig L 1989 Johannesburg, South Africa
Defensemen
# Player Shoots Acquired Place of Birth
2 United States Brian Pothier R 2006 New Bedford, Massachusetts
3 Canada Lawrence Nycholat L 2005 Calgary, Alberta
4 Canada John Erskine (IR) L 2006 Kingston, Ontario
6 Canada Jamie Heward R 2005 Regina, Saskatchewan
26 Canada Shaone Morrisonn L 2004 Vancouver, British Columbia
44 Canada Steve Eminger R 2002 Woodbridge, Ontario
47 Canada Bryan Muir (IR) L 2005 Winnipeg, Manitoba
52 Canada Mike Green R 2004 Calgary, Alberta
Forwards
# Player Position Shoots Acquired Place of Birth
8 Russia Alexander Ovechkin LW R 2004 Moscow, USSR
9 Lithuania Dainius Zubrus - A C L 2001 Elektrenai, USSR
10 Canada Matt Bradley RW R 2005 Stittsville, Ontario
15 Canada Boyd Gordon C R 2002 Unity, Saskatchewan
16 Canada Brian Sutherby - A C L 2000 Edmonton, Alberta
17 United States Chris Clark - C RW R 2005 South Windsor, Connecticut
18 Canada Matt Pettinger LW L 2000 Edmonton, Alberta
20 Slovakia Richard Zednik (IR) LW/RW L 2006 Banska Bystrica, Czechoslovakia
21 Canada Brooks Laich C L 2004 Wawota, Saskatchewan
24 Canada Kris Beech C L 2006 Salmon Arm, British Columbia
27 United States Ben Clymer LW R 2005 Bloomington, Minnesota
28 Russia Alexander Semin LW R 2002 Krasnoyarsk, USSR
38 Czech Republic Jakub Klepis C R 2004 Prague, Czech Republic
87 United States Donald Brashear LW L 2006 Bedford, Indiana

Team captains


Hall of Famers

Retired numbers

Langway and former team owner Abe Pollin are the only Capitals figures honored on the Washington Hall of Stars, a series of banners honoring D.C. sports figures on the right-field wall at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium.

First-round draft picks


Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history. Figures are updated after each completed NHL regular season.

Note: Pos = Position; GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; P/G = Points per game; * = current Capitals player

Player Pos GP G A Pts P/G
Peter Bondra RW 961 472 353 825 .86
Mike Gartner RW 758 397 392 789 1.04
Michal Pivonka C 825 181 418 599 .73
Dale Hunter C 872 181 375 556 .64
Bengt-Åke Gustafsson RW 629 196 359 555 .88
Mike Ridley C 588 218 329 547 .93
Calle Johansson D 983 113 361 474 .48
Dennis Maruk C 343 182 249 431 1.26
Scott Stevens D 601 98 331 429 .71
Kevin Hatcher D 685 149 277 426 .62

NHL awards and trophies


Franchise individual records

Facilities

In fall 2006, a twin sheet ice skating rink opened atop the Ballston Common Mall in Arlington County, Virginia. The new rinks, the Capitals Ice Center, are the Washington Capitals practice facility. [2]

References

  1. ^ Hockeydb.com, Washington Capitals season statistics and records.
  2. ^ Capitalsicecenter.com, Capitals Ice Center

See also
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