We are now officially in hockey’s off-season, that time
between the first week of the unrestricted free agent period, when the best
offerings on the buffet are picked over, and the first week of training camp,
generally devoted to rookie development.
In other words, we are going to be stuck for subject matter
for the next couple of months. You might recall that we tortured your senses last summer with a look at which Capitals fit in what
spaces in the periodic table of the elements.
In this summer's slow spot in the calendar we are going to look at something a bit more
hockey-related, the best of the Capitals through the alphabet. First up, Team “A”…
Regular Season (with Capitals): 5 seasons, 331 games, 55-98-153, plus-39
Playoffs (with Capitals): 5 seasons, 36 games, 2-11-13, minus-1
The National Hockey League has had two players named “Greg
Adams” dress for games, both of whom were left wingers. One played in 17 seasons covering more than
1,000 regular season games with five teams, plus another 81 playoff games over
ten post-seasons, including a Stanley Cup final run. The other one played for the Capitals.
Not that the Greg Adams who played for the Caps had a bad
run. An undrafted player out of Canadian
juniors (Victoria Cougars of the Western Hockey League), Adams was signed as a
free agent by the Philadelphia Flyers in 1979.
After being traded to the Hartford Whalers in 1982, he came to the Caps
in October 1983 in a trade for Torrie Robertson.
In his first two seasons in Washington he played
intermittently, dressing for 108 of 160 games, posting eight goals and 26
points. In 1985-1986, though, Adams was
matched with Alan Haworth and Craig Laughlin in what would become perhaps the
most famous line in Capitals history, ‘The Plumbers Line,” a name given to them for
their hard working, grinding style of play and also as a play on the term “plumbers,”
which had relevance to Washington, a reference to the “plumbers” of the Nixon administration
of the early 1970’s. Adams
played in 78 games that season, recording a scoring line of 18-38-56, plus-24,
all career highs.
Adams followed that 1985-1986 career year with a solid
14-goal, 44-point season over 67 games in 1986-1987, but slipped to just 27
points in 1987-1988. He was traded after
that season to Edmonton for the rights to left winger Geoff Courtnall. Adams played only 49 games in Edmonton before
being traded to Vancouver late in the 1988-1989 season. He was waived by the Canucks after that
season and was picked up by the Quebec Nordiques to start the 1989-1990
season. Playing just seven games with
the Nordiques, Adams was traded in December to the Detroit Red Wings, with whom
he finished the season in what would be the last of his career.
Regular Season: 1 season, 11 games, 4-3-7, plus-3
Playoffs: 1 season, 9 games, 1-5-6, plus-4
This came down to a battle of the Jason’s – Allison and Arnott. We took Arnott on the basis of his late-season
contributions in the 2010-2011 season after being acquired by the Caps at the
trading deadline from the New Jersey Devils.
Arnott’s arrival in Washington had been widely rumored in
the run-up to the 2011 trading deadline. The Devils were falling out of playoff
contention, and the Caps had the perennial problem of filling a second line
center role. When the Devils agreed to a
deal that included center David Steckel and a second round 2012 draft pick, the
Caps had their man.
Having the reputation as a leader and as a big-game
performer, Arnott displayed both early with the Caps. In his first game with Washington, it was his
feed from the corner to Brooks Laich to the top of the crease that led to a
game-tying goal against the New York Islanders in the final minute. The Caps won, 2-1, in the overtime
session. Two nights later, in his second
game, it was Arnott’s goal with less than five minutes remaining in regulation
that broke a 2-2 tie against the St. Louis Blues in a 3-2 Caps win.
As to his leadership abilities, he was given the nickname
the “Semin Whisperer” for his perceived ability to bring out the more skilled,
less “enigmatic” attributes of then Capitals winger Alexander Semin. While this might have been more perception than reality,
perception has its place from time to time.
In nine playoff games with the Caps in 2010-2011 Arnott
recorded points in five contests and was "even" or better in all nine games. It
helped the Caps dismiss the New York Rangers in five games in the opening round
(Arnott was 1-2-3, plus-2), but it could not keep the Caps from being swept in the
second round by the Tampa Bay Lightning (0-3-3, plus-2 in four games). Following the 2010-2011 season Arnott signed
as an unrestricted free agent with the St. Louis Blues.
Regular Season: 1 season, 46 games, 11-4-15, minus-26
Playoffs: none
As you can tell, the letter “A” is not especially kind in
the historical record of right wingers in the Capitals organization. Only three such players skated on the right
side in franchise history, all of them in those difficult early seasons in the
1970’s.
Atkinson had the best numbers of any of the three right
wingers eligible for our “Team ‘A’” squad, 11th among forwards
in scoring and tied for fifth in goals in his lone season with the Caps during the inaugural
1974-1975 campaign despite playing in only 46 games. Getting to Washington was a long and winding
road for Atkinson. He was drafted sixth
overall by Detroit in the 1966 amateur draft, but was shortly thereafter traded
to Boston. Boston sold his rights to
Hershey in 1970 but was then claimed by St. Louis immediately thereafter in the
intra-league draft. That December he was
waived by St. Louis and claimed by Buffalo.
Failing to cement a place there, he was taken by Dayton-Houston in the
general player draft of the World Hockey Association in February 1972. He remained with the Sabres, though, but he
was left exposed in the 1974 expansion draft and was claimed by the Capitals.
That season with the Capitals was noteworthy for two things
for Atkinson. First, he was called a “snail” by general manager Milt Schmidt after one game, upon which he was demoted to
the Richmond Robins. By the time he was
recalled, Schmidt was gone (replaced by Max McNab), but the Caps were still
struggling. Atkinson finished the season
with the club, but in the other noteworthy thing with respect to that season,
it was Atkinson’s last in the NHL. He
played one more season of professional hockey, that with the Toronto Toros of
the WHA.
Regular Season: 3 seasons, 160 games, 9-33-42, plus-9
Playoffs: 2 seasons, 5 games, 0-1-1, minus-2
There were four defensemen eligible to be named to “Team A,”
and three of them were named “Andersson” (or a variation thereof). Peter Andersson was the most accomplished of
the three. Andersson’s story is one of
overachievement in a way. He was drafted
in the ninth round out of Sweden – 173rd overall in the 1980 NHL
draft – although his draft class was quite deep (Andy Brickley, drafted dead
last and 210th overall, played in 385 NHL games).
Andersson made the jump from Sweden to the Caps in 1983. He skated in 42 games in his rookie season
and finished seventh in points among Caps defensemen (10). He followed that up with another ten-point
season in 1984-1985 in 57 games on a squad that finished with its second
consecutive 100-point season. His third
season was perhaps his best with the Caps, 6-16-22 in 61 games in 1985-1986. However, on a team that would finish with its
best franchise record to date (50-23-7), he was second worst in plus-minus,
suggesting he was something of a defensive liability (this was long before
Corsi or Fenwick measures). He was
traded late in that season to Quebec for the Nordiques’ third round draft pick
in the 1986 draft, used to select goalie Shawn Simpson.
Andersson finished up that 1985-1986 season with the
Nordiques, but it would be his last in the NHL.
He returned to Sweden after that season and continued to play in
European leagues and represent Sweden in international competition (including
the 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics) through the 1994-1995 season.
Regular Season: 6 seasons, 345 games, 7-55-62, plus-10
Playoffs: 4 seasons, 31 games, 1-4-5, minus-2
Karl Alzner is the only current Capital to make “Team A.” He happens to be the only player eligible for Team A who
is still playing in the NHL (Keith Aucoin remains an unrestricted free
agent). Alzner has more games logged as
a Capital than any other member of Team A, despite being only 25 years old. Part of what is viewed as Washington’s top
defensive pair, the “defensive” defenseman to partner John Carlson’s more
two-way game, Alzner is third among current Capitals defenseman in total games
played with the franchise (behind Mike Green and John Erskine).
Alzner is one of only nine players (four defensemen) to have
played in all 294 games of the past four seasons. He has done so averaging more than 20 minutes
of ice time a night over each of those four seasons. Given the nature of his game as a “defensive”
defenseman, his offensive numbers might not shine, but he did finish third in
assists among defensemen in three of those four seasons, suggesting that he
does get involved in the offensive end of the ice from time to time.
With Alzner being a player of recent vintage, he has a
history in the emerging “fancystat” era.
As such, his recent 5-on-5 possession metrics are not especially impressive
(below 50 percent Corsi-for in his last three seasons), and in terms of
performance he has regressed. In the
latter respect his goals-for percentage at 5-on-5 is well below 50 percent in
his last two seasons, and his goals for percentage relative to the team’s
percentage when he is not on ice is in negative territory.
By objective measure, he has slipped in the last couple of
seasons. In a way, his progress has
mirrored that of the Caps, a team that has teetered on the edge of the playoffs
in each of the last three seasons. However,
he was a top-five draft pick, has played in almost 400 regular season and
playoff games, much of it on the top pair of a playoff-worthy team. He is worthy of a spot on our hypothetical “Team
A” in Capitals team history.
Regular Season: 1 season, 8 games, 0-7-0, 6.90 GAA
Playoffs: none
Team A had better score goals, because its goalie is both
inexperienced and had his struggles with the Caps. Okay, so John Adams is the only goalie in Caps
history who would qualify for “Team A.”
Adams was an undrafted goaltender who played with the Port Arthur North
Stars of the Thunder Bay Junior A Hockey League, the Dayton Gems of the
International Hockey League, and the Oklahoma City Blazers of the Central
Hockey League before seeing NHL action. There was an odd detour
along the way, though. In 1970, while
with the Dayton Gems, he was recalled to the Boston Bruins, who held his
rights. He did not play a game during
his recall, but the Bruins happened to win the Stanley Cup that season. The Bruins chose to have Adams’ name engraved
on the Cup despite his having yet to appear in an NHL game.
That first NHL appearance would not come until the 1972-1973
season when Adams made 14 appearances for the Bruins, going 9-3-1 with a 3.00
goals against average. That would do it
for Adams’ career with in Boston; he was traded to the San Diego Gulls of the
Western Hockey League the following summer.
After spending a year in California, Adams was purchased by the Caps in
July 1974, just in time for the Caps’ inaugural season. He ended up with two more sweater numbers
worn (30 and 32) than wins (zero) with Washington. Not
that this was especially unusual for that season. The
Caps suited up three goalies in 1974-1975, two of them (Michel Belhumeur being
the other) failed to get a win. For
Adams it was his one and only season with the Caps, and it was his last year in
the NHL.
Adams did have that one season with the Caps, though, which
is good enough for him to get the call for “Team A” in Caps franchise history.
And there you have it… “Team A” in our first look at
all-franchise teams by the alphabet for the Washington Capitals.
1 comment:
This should be pretty entertaining. Thanks!
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