Washington Capitals: If Players Were Presidents -- Jaromir Jagr

By April 1865 the Civil War in the United States was approaching the end.  Decimated and exhausted, the Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee surrendered to the Army of the Potomac under General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9^th.  After more than four years of war, it was time for reconstruction.  But not until there was one more thunderclap in the course of the war.  Five days after Lee’s surrender, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theater in Washington.  The vacancy in the office of the chief executive would be filled by Andrew Johnson, who barely a month earlier was Military Governor of Tennessee and had just taken the oath of office as Vice President.  He now found himself in the position of serving as the Nation’s 17^th President.

Johnson was suddenly in a difficult position.  A Southerner (born in North Carolina) and a Democrat (Lincoln was a Republican), he did not seem a natural fit to succeed Lincoln under the unique circumstances confronting him.  He came to Washington as something of an outsider and from the start was treated as such by a hostile Congress.  It made for a difficult presidency that would culminate in Johnson’s impeachment in 1868.  Although he was acquitted by a narrow margin his presidency was effectively over.  Although he ran for renomination as a Democratic candidate for President in 1868, he was roundly defeated, and his last days in office were bitter, his successor Ulysses S. Grant refusing to ride to the Capitol with Johnson for the inauguration ceremony and Johnson refusing to attend at all.

Although he came to Washington under other circumstances, there was a player who came to the Capitals as something of an outsider, if not from the “other side,” whose performance never quite measured up to his promise or the demands of his position, who ultimately inspired scorn and ill feelings in Capitals Nation, and who would be ushered out of town when the relationship between the player and the club, including its fan base deteriorated beyond repair.  If Andrew Johnson has a parallel among players who have worn the Capitals jersey, that player is Jaromir Jagr.

Andrew Johnson was a man of considerable political talent.  He began his political pursuits as a political organizer in Tennessee, eventually winning election as a town alderman in Greenville, Tennessee.  In the midst of debate over a new state constitution, Johnson’s prominent role led to his being elected mayor. From there his rise was steady, moving on to the Tennessee House of Representatives.  Later he parlayed his position as a presidential elector in the election of 1840 into winning a seat in the Tennessee Senate.  From there it was up to the next rung of the political ladder, winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1842.  Johnson served in that position for ten years before being persuaded to run for Governor of Tennessee.  He won office in 1852, but the position holding little power (he could not veto legislation, for example), he ran for U.S. Senate in 1856 and, as a perceived champion of farmers, common workers, and states’ rights – essentially a “Jacksonian Democrat,” a reference to fellow Tennessean Andrew Jackson – he won election. 

It was all prelude to the election of 1860, one in which Johnson eyed the ultimate prize, the Presidency, as a candidate who could unite warring factions of the Democratic Party split over the slavery question.  The fissures in the party were too wide for Johnson to bridge.  Much too wide.  At a nominating convention that featured nine candidates winning delegates, the party took 57 ballots to finally settle on Stephen Douglas.  Stalled there, he would be named Military Governor of Tennessee by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, and it would be a useful office to put him in position to get Lincoln’s eye as a possible running mate in 1864.  As a southerner “War Democrat,” Johsnon had appeal to Lincoln, and in one of the oddities in American political history, Lincoln and Johnson became running mates in 1864, not as “Republican” and “”Democrat,” but as running mates on the ticket of the “National Union Party,” comprised of factions of the Republican Party.

The Lincoln-Johnson ticket won election, and a month after taking office, Johnson found himself elevated by fate to the Presidency.  With the Civil War winding down after the surrender by the Confederacy, Johnson found himself presiding over reconstruction in the absence of Congress, which was not in session.  Governing by “proclamation” proved difficult, especially when Congress returned to session at the end of 1865.  A group of “Radical Republicans” were bent on changing the direction Johnson pursued.  It resulted in efforts to refuse to seat any Senator or Representative from states of the Old Confederacy, a series of bills that Johnson vetoed (subsequently overridden by Congress), passage of a significant civil rights bill, establishing military rule in the South, and passing the Tenure of Office Act, a technical bill that sought to restrict the President’s authority to remove certain executive officers without approval of the Senate.  Johnson vetoed the bill, but Congress overrode the veto. 

That bill would serve as the basis for a move against Johnson in 1868.  What brought it on was Johnson suspending Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, one of the “Radical Republicans,” pending the next Senate session.  When the Senate reconvened,  it rejected the suspension, but Johnson moved to appoint a replacement for Stanton nonetheless.  Johnson’s action was intended to serve as a test case to be presented to the Supreme Court, but the House of Representatives moved to impeach Johnson, the first impeachment of a sitting President.  Eleven articles of impeachment were reported, and the Senate acquitted Johnson by a single vote on three of those articles.

The impeachment took its toll, on both Johnson and the Republican Party.  No Republican senator voting against impeachment ever served in elective office again.  The whole episode inspired a movement to abolish the Presidency itself, that Johnson’s impeachment proved that the office had become too powerful.  As for Johnson, his relationship with Congress was beyond repair.  He sent a government reform proposal to Congress to limit presidential terms and provide for direct election of the President and senators, but it was never taken up by Congress.  Congress sent a bill to the President requiring prompt reporting of ratification of the 14^th Amendment to the Constitution granting citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States.  Johnson vetoed the bill.  By the time Johnson left office in 1869, government had become dysfunctional, damaged by conflicts of personality and policy, making for a difficult reconstruction period in the post-Civil War era.

By the time Jaromir Jagr came to the Capitals in July 2001, he was a notorious figure in Capitals history as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins.  It was a reputation largely earned as a Cap killer in the post season.  In his career as a Penguin, no player scored points in more games (33).   In 42 postseason games against the Caps, Jagr was 20-32-52, plus-20.  Four of his 20 goals were game-winners; he had six power play goals and two shorthanded goals.  He might have played in the shadow of teammate Mario Lemieux for much of his career in Pittsburgh, but against the Caps he was the player who as often as not placed the dagger in Caps’ postseason hopes.

Things were not all unicorns and accordions in Pittsburgh, though, at the end of the 2000-2001 season.  The Penguins were in an aging arena, the financial situation was dire, and Jagr was entering the last year of his contract with the promise of a very large payday coming in free agency.  The team was concerned about Jagr for other reasons.  He had already requested a trade twice, he was reported to have odd off-ice habits, and he finished the season with a shoulder injury.  He was described as “sullen,” and the teams clearly seemed to want to grant his request for a trade and turn the page.

The New York Rangers were widely thought of as being the leading, if not the only candidate to serve as a trading partner with Pittsburgh for Jagr’s services.  However, on July 11, 2001, the Penguins pulled the trigger on the trade, but not to the Rangers.  Pittsburgh sent Jagr and defenseman Frantisek Kucera to the Caps for three prospects – forwards Kris Beech and Michal Sivek, and defenseman Ross Lupaschuk – and future considerations (cash).  The Rangers tried to put the best spin on not getting the prize,  but failing to make the deal was a shock.

Jagr arrived in Washington to great hoopla.  When he recorded a goal and an assist in a 6-1 win over the New Jersey Devils in his debut with the Caps on Opening Night 2001, and when the club announced on October 18^th that it signed Jagr to a contract extension, it looked as if the club might finally achieve the success that long eluded it. Things started to sour quickly, though.  Jagr missed seven of the Caps’ first 17 games with leg injuries, and despite the fact that he was 5-3-8 in the ten games he did play over the Caps’ 17 games to open the season, the Caps were just 6-9-2 (4-4-2 in games in which Jagr played).

It really never got much better for the Caps or Jagr in the 2001-2002 season.  Jagr was producing at about a point-per-game pace, but it was not what was expected of the five-time Ross Trophy winner (most points).  Meanwhile, the Caps struggled to get to the .500 mark.  On March 16^th they were 27-31-10-1 and sitting in 11^th place in the Eastern Conference, four points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the last playoff spot in the East.  The Caps closed with a rush from that point, going 9-2-1-1, and Jagr went 4-11-15, plus-5, but it was not enough for the Caps to reach the postseason.  They finished two points behind the Canadiens for the last playoff spot in the East.

The failure to reach the postseason cost head coach Ron Wilson his job, and the job of leading the Caps was given to Bruch Cassidy, a first-time NHL head coach.  The change in head coach did not inspire Jagr to improve on his previous year’s numbers.  They were certainly adequate for most NHL players – 36-41-77 in 75 games – but he fell in the scoring rankings from a tie for fifth in the 2001-2002 season to a tie for 19^th in 2002-2003.  And, when his scoring dried up after the first two games of the Caps’ opening round playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning (games the Caps would win) on their way to a six-game loss to the Bolts, it became evident that Jagr was not the key to unlock the safe where postseason success was kept.

When the Caps started the 2003-2004 season 3-11-1 in their first 15 games, any lingering doubt that the team as constructed would be successful was gone.  Jagr was 4-6-10, minus-3 in those first 15 games, and the problems were rippling through the organization.  Trade rumors about Jagr were in full bloom. 

Things only got worse for the Caps.  Cassidy was relieved as head coach in mid-December with the Caps holding an 8-18-1-1 record.  Things did not get better under new head coach Glen Hanlon.  His club did not win consecutive games until early January, but by that time any realistic hope the Caps would reach the postseason were gone.  On January 23^rd, with the Caps carrying a 14-27-5-2 record and sitting 14^th in the 15-team Eastern Conference, the team traded Jagrto the New York Rangers for forward Anson Carter.

Andrew Johnson’s career in politics did not end with his term as President in 1869.  He ran unsuccessfully for both U.S. Senate and for a U.S. House seats, but ran for the Senate once more in 1875.  He served only five months, though, when he suffered a stroke and passed away on July 31, 1875.  Despite what he viewed as vindication his election to the Senate provided, it would do little for his place in history.  He is generally considered among the Nation’s worst presidents. 

As for Jagr, his career hardly ended with his trade to the Rangers.  Since leaving the Caps he has appeared in 633 regular season NHL games and another 155 games in the KHL.  His 588 points scored since leaving Washington by itself ranks in the top-40 among active scorers in the NHL.  In Washington, though, his stay is largely regarded as equal parts disappointing and atrocious.  His name does not inspire fond memories among Capitals fans.

Of Andrew Johnson it is written that “when…he gained the highest power, he proved incapable of using it in an effective and beneficial manner.”  The same might be said of Jaromir Jagr who, as the highest paid player in the game at the time, could not perform in “an effective and beneficial manner.”  In that respect there is much in common between these two individuals.

Washington Capitals: If Players Were Presidents -- Rod Langway

By the time Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office as 16th President of the United States in March 1861, the country was beset by turmoil and conflict that could have torn the nation apart.  It is no stretch to believe that he was exceptionally qualified and uniquely positioned to lead the Nation through its most difficult moments.

The Washington Capitals had their long night of the soul, of sorts, in the early 1980’s.  An expansion franchise that averaged only 20 wins per season over its first eight years

The years before his presidency are the stuff of high school history classes.  Born in a cabin near what is now Hodgenville, Kentucky; raised in what is now Spencer County, Indiana; striking out on his own after his family moved to Illinois.  He was lacking in formal education, but he was a voracious reader.  Eventually gaining admission to the Illinois bar and practicing law.

As it turned out, his career timeline tacked closely with that of the nation.  He entered public service in 1834 as a newly-elected member of the Illinois House of Representatives; Alexis de Toqueville’s “Democracy in America” was published a year later.  In his eight years as a member of the Illinois House, the U.S. House passed a resolution barring discussion of antislavery petitions (the original “gag rule”).  Lincoln was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1846, the year the Mexican-American War started and the year in which the Wilmot Proviso was introduced in Congress, banning slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican War (it failed but deepened divisions over slavery).

Lincoln fulfilled a pledge to serve only one term in the U.S. House, but remained active in politics while practicing as a lawyer in Illinois.  He ran for the Senate in 1854 (unsuccessfully), but he was a key figure in the establishment of the Republican Party, dedicated to the antislavery movement.  In 1858 he ran for the Senate once more in a campaign that featured a series of debates with his Democrat opponent Stephen Douglas held over a two month stretch that would become among the most famous debates in American political history.

Although Lincoln lost his Senate race with Douglas, the campaign and the debates were, for Lincoln, a prelude to the presidential election of 1860.  After two presidencies – those of Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan – characterized by northern incumbents sympathizing with Southern views on slavery, the country and its political parties were badly fractured along regional lines.  The Democrats were hopelessly split on the question of slavery, and a new party, the Constitutional Union Party made up of former Whigs, made for a four-way race. Lincoln won the popular vote with less than 40 percent of the votes cast, but he won solidly in the North while the other three candidates split the border and Southern states, giving him an electoral vote majority.

From the day of his election until Lincoln’s inauguration, seven states in the South seceded from the Union.  Four more left the Union in the three months following his taking office.  Barely a month into his administration, the Battle of Fort Sumter triggered the civil war that had been brewing for years.  And thus began the Civil War, Lincoln assuming executive control over the war’s strategy and management.  For the next four years the war would dominate the national landscape and his attention as President.

Lincoln’s ultimately successful prosecution of the Civil War is well-chronicled, but it was not the extent of his achievements.  He signed legislation creating the first income tax in American history, he signed legislation creating a national banking system, he signed the Morrill Land Grant Colleges Act to provide grants for agricultural colleges in each state.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture was established under his administration.  The first celebration of Thanksgiving as a national holiday was proclaimed by Lincoln in 1863.  He made five appointments to the Supreme Court.  Only George Washington, Andrew Jackson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, all of whom served at least two full terms.  West Virginia and Nevada were admitted to the Union during Lincoln’s presidency.

While dwarfed in the larger scheme of things by a national conflict on the slavery issue in the mid-18th century, the Washington Capitals were suffering a growing crisis of their own in the early 1980's that threatened their existence.  Getting an NHL franchise to start play in the 1974-1975 season was a coup for the region and for team owner Abe Pollin.  Things soured quickly, though, as the team set a record for futility in their inaugural season (8-67-5, fewest wins (8) and fewest points (21) in a full NHL season (minimum: 70 games).  They did not get much better in the seven seasons to follow, and the club was at a crossroads after the 1981-1982 season.  Pollin, who claimed to lose $20 million since the club started play (about $50 million in current dollars) and was seeing far too many empty seats at Capital Centre to his liking, threatened to move, merge, or dissolve the Capitals.

Pollin had four criteria to be met to get him to call off the threat.  The club had to achieve a season-ticket base of 7,500, the team had to record sellouts in their first ten home games of the season, arena rent had to be reduced, and the county tax rate on tickets had to be cut to virtually zero.

The response was a “Save the Caps” campaign  It was successful, but not completely so.  Three of the four demands were met, the 7,500 season ticket goal left unmet.  But the success of the effort, and bringing in local investors, gave the Caps a hope of remaining in the region.  What might have gone under the radar was the club hiring David Poile as general manager.  Poile wasted no time in putting his stamp on the club and made a move that might have saved the franchise as we have come to know it.  In early September 1982, Poile traded Ryan Walter and Rick Green to the Montreal Canadiens for Doug Jarvis, Craig Laughlin, Brian Engblom, and a 25-year old defenseman who already had more than 250 games of NHL experience and played for a Stanley Cup winner: Rod Langway.

Langway was installed immediately as team captain, replacing the departed Walter.  For the Caps it was a winning move.  They finished with a 39-25-16 record, including a 14-game unbeaten streak, and their 94 standings points was a 28 point improvement from the previous season.  For the first time in club history, the Caps reached the playoffs.  Langway won the first of his two Norris Trophies as the league’s top defenseman.  Odd thing about that; he won the Norris having posted the worst plus-minus he would record for any of his 13 seasons appearing in more than 50 games (even).  He had a worse plus-minus than any of the defensemen finishing in the top-ten in voting, and no defenseman receiving votes scored fewer goals.   Perhaps more important, attendance at Capitals games increased by almost nine percent per game.

The following season, the Caps reached the 100-point mark for the first time in team history and reached the playoffs for a second consecutive season.  Langway won his second straight Norris Trophy, becoming the sixth defenseman in NHL history to win the Norris more than once, joining Doug Harvey, Pierre Pilote,  Bobby Orr, Denis Potvin, and Larry Robinson.

Langway would serve as captain for ten seasons with the Caps before he handed the “C” over to Kevin Hatcher mid-way through the 1992-1993 season.  Over those 11 seasons he spent with the club, the Caps won an average of 42 games per season and reached the playoffs each year.  On the ice his style of play could be summed up as an old school approach that emphasized simplicity, or as he put it, “to prevent goals and get the puck out of our zone, that's all. And that's all I try to do. There are other players for flash, that's fine for them. But I'm on a team that has disciplined..”  That disciplined style became the signature of the Capitals in the Langway era.  They lacked the flash of the Edmonton Oilers and the star power of a Wayne Gretzky, but it was a club that gave an honest effort night-in and night-out that was very difficult for opponents to play against.

The effort was appreciated, at least as far as attendance reflected it.  Year-over-year attendance increased in eight of the 11 seasons Langway was in Washington, eventually reaching a high-water mark of 17,251 per game in the 1989-1990 season, more than 50 percent higher than average attendance in the year before Rod Langway arrived in Washington.  

More books have been written about Abraham Lincoln (more than 15,000) than any other person in history except for Jesus Christ.  It is just one measure of his place in American history.  Rod Langway is not a deity in the history of the Washington Capitals franchise, but it is no stretch to state that his arrival in Washington and his play for over a decade in a Capitals sweater saved the franchise, allowing it to get a foothold in the region when it could have ended up in Tacoma or Regina or merged with the Colorado Rockies as part of the Rockies’ move to New Jersey and rebranding as the Devils, or perhaps dissolved altogether.   In that sense, Rod Langway was the central figure to help guide the Caps through the most difficult period in franchise history, not unlike what Abraham Lincoln did on a far larger scale in a difficult period of the Nation’s history.

Washington Capitals: If Players Were Presidents -- Alexandre Volchkov

If you are a fan of ranking of Presidents in American History, one name always seems to show up at or near the bottom of those lists: James Buchanan.  In an era where every question of a political nature seems to inspire argument and conflict, there seems to be a clear consensus that James Buchanan was just about the worst President in American history.

If you are looking for similar consensus among fans of the Washington Capitals, you might find it in the history of the draft.  If you were to ask yourself, “who was the worst draft pick in the history of the Capitals?” you would probably get a lot of agreement on one player: Alexandre Volchkov.

Buchanan certainly displayed early promise, graduating with honors from Dickinson College, although he also displayed a streak of contrarian behavior, almost expelled from Dickinson for poor behavior before graduating.  His career progress thereafter was steady and conventional.  After a year in the Pennsylvania militia, he was elected under the Federalist Party banner to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, where he served one term.  He then began his climb up the ladder at the Federal level, winning election to the United States House of Representatives, where he served as Chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary and was an impeachment manager in proceedings against U.S. District Court judge James Peck (he was impeached but was acquitted by the Senate).

Buchanan left the House in 1831, but less than a year later he was appointed Minster to Russia by President Andrew Jackson, a position he occupied for a little more than a year.  It was not the end of his steady rise through electoral politics.  After returning to the United States and becoming a Democrat (the Federalist Party by this time defunct), he was elected to the Senate to fill a vacancy.  After winning election to his own terms twice, he was appointed to by President James K. Polk to become Secretary of State.  Polk would later nominate Buchanan to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court, but Buchanan declined that nomination.  He served as Minster to the Court of St. James under President Franklin Pierce.

It was Buchanan’s last appointed position before the 1956 election.  Not that he was keenly interested in the Democratic nomination for President.  He never formally declared a candidacy.  But he was strongly supported by his home state Pennsylvania delegation.  That support, the lack of support for sitting president Franklin Pierce in his pursuit of re-election, and a multi-candidate field allowed Buchanan to collect the highest vote total in the first nominating ballot.  The Democrats appeared to learn little from the 1952 election, though, and failed to provide a majority to Buchanan.  He did win each of the first 15 ballots, but failed to achieve that majority as Pierce and Stephen Douglas traded off support, and Lewis Cass gained a handful of delegates. Douglas couldn’t put a dent in Buchanan’s lead, either, and withdrew, leaving the nomination to Buchanan on the 17^th ballot.

If the Democrats made a mistake nominating Franklin Pierce on the 49^th ballot of the 1852 convention, taking 17 ballots to nominate Buchanan was no improvement.  Sure, he won in the general election, but that might have been the worst part.  Except for the fact that in literally his first act as President – delivering his inaugural address – he pledged not to run for a second term.  Except for thinking the whole Kansas-Nebraska territory fight was trivial and would be decided by the Supreme Court anyway.  They did… that would be the Dred Scott Decision, one of the most notorious decisions in Court history.  Except for the Panic of 1857, Buchanan’s response to which was ineffective.  Except for the growing sectional conflict over the slavery question that was pushing the country to civil war.  Except for the first shots in that civil war being fired at Fort Sumter with the lame duck Buchanan about to leave office.  Buchanan was happy to leave the mess to his successor, Abraham Lincoln.

Meanwhile, Alexandre Volchkov was a hockey player of considerable potential.  Arriving in North Amerca after a brief stint with CSKA Moscow in the now defunct International Hockey League, he joined the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League in Canadian juniors.  He was a hit…sort of.  In his first season with the Colts – 1995-1996 – he recorded 36 goals in 47 games and led the team in points (63), but all that scoring was for a club that finished 28-31-7.  The goal scoring did get the attention of the Caps, though, who took him with the fourth overall pick of the 1996 entry draft.  To that point in NHL history, only three Russian-born players had been drafted higher – Alexei Yashin (second overall in 1992), Oleg Tverdovsky (second in 1994), and Andrei Zyuzin (taken two picks before Volchkov in the 1996 drafrt).

Volchkov played another season in the OHL, scoring 29 goals in 56 games with Barrie.  It appeared that his production would outlive the stories about his attitude problems that preceded his selection by the Caps,  but when he turned pro in the 1997-1998 season, his production started drying up.  Skating with the Portland Pirates of the AHL, he went just 2-5-7 in 34 games.  He followed that up by going 4-11-15 in 52 games split between Portland and the Cincinnati Cyclones of the IHL.  He actually got a call-up to the Caps late in the 1998-1999 season but did not appear in a game. 

Volchkov would get his NHL debut early in the 1999-2000 season.  After impressing some in the organization in training camp,  he got his break in Phoenix against the Coyotes.  Perhaps the Caps, who started the 1999-2000 season with a sluggish 2-3-1 record, scoring only 16 goals in the six games, were looking for a spark.  Volchkov skated 11 minutes without recording a point in a 2-2 tie.  Volchkov played in the next two games of the western road trip, in Los Angeles against the Kings and in Anaheim against the Mighty Ducks, but he failed to record a point in either game, both of which the Caps lost by 5-2 scores..  If the Caps were to get a spark, it would not come from Volchkov. 

Less than four months after his short, but unimpressive turn witht eh Caps, Volchkov was traded to the Edmonton Oilers for a fourth-round pick in the 2001 entry draft.  The Caps traded that pick along with defenseman Alexei Tezikov to the Mighty Ducks in March 2001 for defenseman Jason Marshall, who played just five games for the Capitals before moving on as a free agent at the end of the 2000-2001 season.

As for Volchkov, he finished the season with Anaheim’s AHL affiliate in Hamilton, ending his career in North America.  He played in 39 more games in Russia over three seasons before his hockey career came to an end at the age of 26.

James Buchanan had a rather distinguished career before taking office as the 15^th President of the United States.  However, in assuming the Nation’s highest office he came into a difficult situation and failed by any reasonable measure to make it better.  In most respects, he left the office – and the Nation – in far worse shape than when he entered it.  That he is widely considered the worst President in American history is not surprising.  

As for Alexandre Volchkov, the Capitals have had 12 top-five overall draft picks in club history.  Only one – Volchkov, taken fourth overall in the 1996 entry draft – failed to appear in at least 350 games in the NHL.  In fact, he failed to appear in five games.  If you consider that the Caps got only five games out of Jason Marshall as a product of Volchkov’s trade to Edmonton, the Caps realized a grand total of eight NHL games over out of a fourth overall draft pick.  That this draft pick should be regarded as the worst in Caps history, often cited among the biggest busts in NHL draft history, is not surprising.  James Buchanan and Alexandre Volchkov, each capable in their own way, but whether because of temperament, character, or disposition, they were ill-suited to occupy a role at the top of their respective professions.  In that respect, these two unfortunates are linked in this walk back in history.

Washington Capitals: If Players Were Presidents -- Martin Erat

Franklin Pierce was nominated by the Democratic Party to be its candidate for President in the election of 1852.  He was not their first choice.  Or their second.  Or their third, for that matter.  But eventually, he became their nominee, a compromise choice in a badly-splintered convention.  The “compromise” candidate won election later that year, but it soon became evident that the deal the Democrats made was a poor one, even though they won the White House.  And if there is a similar circumstance involving a player coming to Washington in a deal that might have looked promising at the time, only to turn into a disaster, one need look no further for an example than Martin Erat.

About that “compromise.”  We just noted that Pierce was not the first choice of the Democrats at their nominating convention in Baltimore in early June of 1952.  Not only was he not the party’s first choice, he received no votes from the delegates assembled.  Lewis Cass, who was the party’s nominee in 1848, led all those receiving votes (four individuals in all), but he failed to obtain the majority needed for nomination.

On the second ballot, Pierce again failed to receive a vote, and Cass won the balloting once more, but again failing to obtain the majority necessary to win the nomination.  Same on the third ballot.  And the fourth.  And the fifth.

It went this way for 19 ballots, until James Buchanan won the most votes on the 20^th ballot.  Pierce still had yet to receive a single vote.  Buchanan won the next nine ballots without obtaining a majority, until he dropped behind James Buchanan on the 30^th ballot.  Pierce still had not received a single vote.

Finally, on the 35^th ballot, Pierce was put forward as a compromise candidate, but the delegates were luke-warm in their support.  He received 15 votes, while Cass was back in the lead but not with a majority.  The voting continued.

After 48 ballots, the last of which was won by William L. Marcy, but not with a majority, the delegates finally just said, “ah, f**k it,” and nominated Pierce on the 49^th ballot with near unanimity (282 of 296 votes).

Pierce won the general election handily, 254 electoral votes to 42 for Winfield Scott of the Whig Party, but then the 14th President of the United States had to govern.  He started out as both a friend and a foe of political patronage, advocating non-partisan standards for the civil service while trying to please party colleagues interested in the spoils of electoral victory.  Barely a year after his inauguration, he signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, a bill meant to strike a balance between pro- and anti-slavery interests in the establishment of the Kansas and Nebraska territories, but managed to satisfy neither side.  It led to a shooting war in the territories that lasted into the Civil War, known as “Bleeding Kansas.” 

It would not be the end of troubles in the Pierce administration.  He lost control of a good portion of his diplomatic corps, who joined in supporting the Ostend Manifesto, a document advocating the purchase of Cuba from Spain by the United States.  It was a proposal right out of “The Godfather,” an offer Spain couldn’t refuse, since the proposal suggested that failure to agree to terms would result in a declaration of war on Spain to take control of the island.  The proposal was a dud in the United States, costing Pierce a good portion of support in the North, which objected to expansion of slavery into Cuba.  His first term one of turmoil, not only would Pierce fail to win re-election to a second term, the Democrats did not nominate him for President in 1856.  After 19 ballots at the nominating convention, the Democrats selected James Buchanan unanimously as their candidate.

There were some successes under Pierce – the Gadsden Purchase (what would become parts of New Mexico and Arizona), improvements in internal management of government operations – but the fissures created between North and South over the slavery question deepened and widened under Pierce.  A candidate who was thought possible of bringing North and South together became a President who could do no such thing, and today he is regarded among the worst Presidents in American history.

And that brings us to the sad saga of Martin Erat, Washington Capital.  The 2012-2013 season certainly was not an easy one for the Capitals.  The Caps were in upheaval the previous season, having relieved Bruce Boudreau as head coach in favor of former Capital player and captain Dale Hunter, who left the club at season’s end to return to his London Knights in Canadian juniors.  Then, the league missed the first three months of the 2012-2013 season to a labor-management dispute, only to return to an abbreviated schedule without the benefit of a full training camp, a situation putting new head coach Adam Oates in a difficult position.

It was a struggle for the Capitals, who were at .500 (17-17-2) as late as April 2^nd.  On April 3^rd, looking for something to kick start their home stretch and perhaps add some veteran experience for the postseason, the Caps traded former 11^th overall draft pick Filip Forsberg to the Nashville Predators for Martin Erat and prospect forward Michael Latta.  For all of Forsberg’s potential as a high draft pick, then General Manager George McPhee said, “I wanted to help this team now.”  Erat, in his 11^th season in the NHL and more than 750 regular and postseason games on his resume, was the player on whom McPhee settled to provide that help.

On paper it looked like a good fit.  With Alex Ovechkin playing right wing under Adam Oates, the left side needed more production.  Erat being a left-handed shot, and Oates having a borderline obsession for players playing on their “handed” side, he was a fit to fill that need.  Erat came to the Caps having scored more than 15 goals in each of his previous eight seasons, averaging 21 per 82 games over that span. 

Things started poorly for Erat and the Caps, though.  In his second game he sustained a lower body injury and missed the next three contests.  Upon his return he scored his first goal as a Capital, the game-winner in a 5-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, and he had points in consecutive games.  It did not last.  He went without a point in his last four regular season contests, going 1-2-3 overall while averaging less than 14 minutes in the nine games in which he appeared. 

It did not get better for either Erat or the Caps in the 2013 postseason.  After failing to record a point in any of the first three games of the opening round series against the New York Rangers, he injured his left wrist late in the first period of Game 4, a game the Caps lost, 4-3, denying them a chance to take a 3-1 lead in games in the series.  Erat missed the final three games of the series, the Caps losing in seven games to the Rangers.

If his first taste of action in a Capitals uniform was bitter, the second was toxic.  Erat opened the 2013-2014 season with the Caps getting little ice time, logging fewer than ten minutes in each of his first four games.  Not that he gave much of an indication he deserved more.  He went without a point in his first seven games and did not score his first goal until his 50^th game of the season.  As if to add insult to injury, that goal was an empty netter in a 3-0 win over the New Jersey Devils.  It would be the last goal he would score for the Caps.

By that time, Erat had already soured on his Washington experience and requested a trade.  Not soon after that goal against the Devils, he renewed the request.  Finally, the disgruntled player and disappointed club parted ways, Erat being traded to the Phoenix Coyotes with AHL prospect John Mitchell for another AHL prospect, Chris Brown, and defenseman Rostislav Klesla.  The defenseman was packaged with goalie Michal Neuvirth shortly thereafter and shipped to Buffalo for goalie Jaroslav Halak, who was viewed as an upgrade to Braden Holtby, who Oates had nearly ruined with his meddling in the goalie’s style and approach. 

Franklin Pierce looked like a decent choice on paper to serve as the Nation’s chief executive, but in practice he was a disaster, taking office at a difficult time in American history and making it worse.  It turned out to be a very bad decision made by the Democratic Party to nominate him after a contentious nominating convention that lasted dozens of ballots.  Martin Erat looked like a decent choice to provide experience and punch in a lineup that needed it down the stretch and in the postseason, but he was in and out of the lineup with injuries, became unhappy with the way he was being used, and was a focal point in a situation that was worsening with the Caps.  It turned out to be a very bad decision by team management to bring him on, especially at the cost of a highly-regarded prospect who has gone on to considerable success in Nashville.  It is arguably the worst trade in the McPhee era of the club.

It is not hard to see that Franklin Pierce and Martin Erat share more than just having been short-term residents of Washington, D.C.

Washington Capitals: If Players Were Presidents -- Jeff Schultz

In the pantheon of American Presidents, Millard Fillmore occupies the figurative equivalent of a broom closet.  Consider what the first paragraph of his entry at whitehouse.gov says…

“In his rise from a log cabin to wealth and the White House, Millard Fillmore demonstrated that through methodical industry and some competence an uninspiring man could make the American dream come true.”

Talk about damning with faint praise.  How many Presidents will you find the adjective “uninspiring” applied to them?  Or merely possessing “some competence?”  And so it is with the 13^th President in American history, a man generally regarded among the worst of those who trod the halls of the White House.  It brings to mind a Washington Capital who was drafted by the club after a rather impressive improvement in his second year of Canadian juniors, but who left the club unappreciated and unloved in many quarters of Capitals Nation.  That would be defenseman Jeff Schultz.

Born in upstate New York to a family of nine children (he was second oldest and the oldest son), Fillmore might have followed a career as a cloth-maker.  When he was 14 he began his apprenticeship in that field and was diligently pursuing his training in that field when he began to study law.  Finding that pursuit more to his liking, he completed his training and was admitted to the New York bar at the age of 23.

That was the first step in a steady climb up the political ladder.  First elected as a New York state assemblyman in 1828, he advanced to the United States House of Representatives four years later.  He served four non-consecutive terms in that body before trying his hand at running for Governor of New York.  He failed, but then went on to help found the University of Buffalo (today a school in the State University of New York system of colleges).  It set the stage for his return to politics, winning election as the first elected Comptroller of the state of New York.  It was not the most exciting of positions, one that includes auditing government operations, reporting on state finances, and similar areas of concern. 

Even in what was quite frankly a dull posting in state office, Fillmore had a certain attractiveness as a national candidate in the election of 1848.  By this time, slavery was a fault line of politics with sides chosen up of “pro” and “anti” points of view.  With Zachary Taylor, a Virginia slaveholder, heading the Whig ticket for President, the party looked for balance and found it in Fillmore as candidate for Vice President.  Taylor won a relatively close three-way race and began a term that would be consumed by the slavery debate.  As part of his constitutional duties, Fillmore presided over constant Senate debate on the subject, a task that would prepare him for the unexpected death of Taylor in his second year in office and Fillmore’s elevation to the presidency in July 1850.

The slavery question dominated Fillmore’s agenda.  In an abrupt departure from his predecessor’s preferences, Fillmore advocated for a compromise package pushed in Congress, what would be known as the “Compromise of 1850.”  The five bills making up the Compromise were signed into law by Fillmore in September of that year.  It came at a price, though.  Northerners of his own party were in vehement disagreement with elements of the Compromise, especially the Fugitive Slave Act, and that opposition was enough to deny Fillmore the nomination of the Whig Party for President in 1852.  The cleavage in the party damaged the Whigs in the general election, and their candidate – Winfield Scott – won only four of 31 states and only 42 of 296 electoral votes.

Fillmore ran again in 1856, this time as a member of the Whig-American Party, but the Whigs had long since dissolved into what would become the Republican Party and a small remnant under whose banner Fillmore ran.  He finished a distant third in voting, managing less than three percent of the national vote and just eight of 296 electoral votes (Maryland was the only state he won).

That slow steady climb up the ladder, followed by a fall perhaps more a product of circumstance than his own shortcomings is something that might apply to Jeff Schultz as well.  As a 16-year old first year defenseman with the Calgary Hitmen in the Western Hockey League, Schultz played in 50 games with numbers that would not impress anyone – two goals, three points, a minus-6.  He had as many points as teammate Andy Rogers in twice as many games (hold Rogers’ name in your mind; we’ll get back to him in a moment).

However, the following season Schultz appeared in 72 games, went 11-24-35, plus-28, leading the team’s defensemen in goals, assists, and total points, while his plus-28 was third best among all Hitmen skaters.  It was a line on his resume that got the attention of the Capitals, who made Schultz the 27^th overall pick of the 2004 entry draft (three spots ahead of Rogers, who never would play in the NHL and has been out of hockey for six years) and the sixth defenseman taken in that draft.

That began Schultz’ slow, steady climb up the Caps’ organizational ladder.  After two more years in Calgary with the Hitmen, Schultz joined the pro ranks in 2006-2007, splitting time between the Hershey Bears of the AHL (44 games) and the Caps (38 games).  Those 38 games with the Caps were not particularly noteworthy, but for one thing.  Schultz recorded only three assists in those 38 games, but he tied Milan Jurcina for the best plus-minus among Caps defensemen that season (plus-5).  The following season he set a personal best in goals (five) and shooting percentage (13.9 percent), marks which still stand.  Two seasons later, as part of the juggernaut that won the Presidents Trophy and established the 2009-2010 team as the most successful in the regular season in club history (121 points), Schultz finished with a career high in points (23) and was a plus-50, the first time a defenseman finished plus-50 or better since Chris Pronger did it for the St. Louis Blues in 1999-2000 (plus-52).  It is worth noting that Pronger won both the Norris (top defenseman) and Hart (most valuable player) trophies that season.  For Schultz, it meant a four-year contract extension with an average annual value of $2.75 million.

Still, there always seemed to be something in Schultz’ play at odds with fan perceptions of what he should be like as a player.  Roughly the same size as Pronger (6’6”/230 pounds), Schultz was not nearly as fierce or as physical a player as Pronger.  He played like a defenseman half a foot shorter and 30 pounds lighter, more angles and position than force. 

The next season Schultz, caught between what worked for him and a sizable portion of the fan base who thought him insufficiently tough, experienced a severe drop in production – one goal, ten points, and a plus-6.  He was sixth among defensemen in average ice time.  It didn’t help that he sustained a broken thumb that cost him nine games at mid-season.  It was the beginning of a quick slide for Schultz, one that would be much shorter than his climb up the ladder.  In 2011-2012 he appeared in just 54 games for the Caps, posting six points, the fewest he had since his 38-game rookie season, and he was a minus-2, the first time in his NHL career he found himself on the “minus” side of the plus-minus ledger.  After the 2012-2013 season, one in which Schultz appeared in just 26 games (0-3-3, minus-6), he was placed on waivers by the Caps and subsequently bought out of the last year of his contract.

For both Fillmore and Schultz, things seemed to work out after leaving Washington.  Fillmore went on to retire to Buffalo where he married a wealthy widow and helped found the Buffalo Historical Society.  He also served as commander of a home guard regiment in upstate New York.  By the time of his death in 1874 he was widely regarded as Buffalo’s leading citizen. 

After being bought out by the Caps, Schultz was picked up by the Los Angeles Kings, and after spending a full season in the AHL with the Manchester Monarchs, he had spot duty with the Kings in 2014-2015.  He even appeared in seven postseason games for the Kings that season as Los Angeles went on to win the Stanley Cup, his name now engraved on that trophy, a permanent fixture in its history.

Millard Fillmore and Jeff Schultz are men of modest beginnings who climbed the ladder to considerable heights in their respective professions.  Both experienced an unfortunate fall from those heights, as much a matter of circumstance as anything else – the issues pressing on Fillmore’s administration, perceptions of what sort of player Schultz should be.  They recovered a measure of harmony in new surroundings, although neither could be said to have a renowned reputation in Washington long after their departures.  In that sense it is reasonable to look at Millard Fillmore and Jeff Schultz and see things in common between them.

Washington Capitals: If Players Were Presidents -- Bob Kelly

Zachary Taylor served just 492 days as America’s 12^th President.  Before that he served more than 40 years in the United States Army, from New Orleans to Green Bay and in battle from the War of 1812 to the Mexican-American War in the 1840’s.  A warrior who saw action in some of the most significant engagements in early American history who then served his last days in Washington in abbreviated civilian service does not immediately bring to mind a connection with hockey.  Ah, but that’s not to say there isn’t such a connection.  And there is a Washington Capitals of years gone by who does come to mind.  Bob Kelly.

Taylor was born in Virginia but was raised in Kentucky and did not have the benefit of much formal education.  He did, however, receive his commission as an officer in the United States Army at the age of 24, and just a few years later was earning a reputation as a skilled officer in the War of 1812.  He achieved command of his own after the war and was eventually promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1819 at the age of 34.  In 1837, he received the brigadier general star and commanded troops in the Second Seminole War, out of which he would earn the nickname, “Old Rough and Ready,” a product of his willingness to share hardships of field duty with his troops.

The reputation he earned as a commander led to Taylor being sent to Louisiana in 1844 to protect the Republic of Texas from attack from Mexico in advance of its annexation by the United States.  A year later he was in Texas in anticipation of conflict.  After hostilities broke out, Taylor was involved in some of the most important battles of the Mexican-American War: Palo Alto, Monterrey, Buena Vista.  His successes that contributed to victory made him a favorite in some quarters to stand as a presidential candidate.  Self-identified as a member of the Whig party, his was an appeal crossed party and regional lines.  His war record had appeal in the North, while his ownership of slaves had appeal in the South.  His war record cemented his status as a credible national candidate, and he ran for President under the Whig banner in 1848.

The election of 1848 was not a military conflict, but it was a hard-fought one nonetheless.  He won a three-way race, defeating Democrat Lewis Cass and Free Soil candidate (and former President) Martin Van Buren.  Taylor won 47 percent of the national vote to 43 percent for Cass and 10 percent for Van Buren.  Taylor capture 163 electoral votes to 127 for Cass (146 needed to win).

It was a short-lived victory for Taylor.  At an Independence Day celebration at the Washington Monument (then under construction) he consumed some of the foods and beverages offered.  Shortly thereafter he began complaining of digestive problems, eventually diagnosed with “cholera morbus” (what today might be called gastroenteritis, unrelated to “cholera”).  Despite treatment, the fever he contracted worsened, and he died on July 9, 1850, not quite 500 days into his Presidency.

Bob Kelly was something of a warrior in his own right.  A pugnacious player in junior hockey (245 penalty minutes in 107 games over two seasons with the Oshawa Generals), he was taken by the Philadelphia Flyers in the third round of the 1970 amateur draft.  Kelly’s style fit right in with a club whose philosophy was evolving into one that would earn the club the nickname, “Broad Steet Bullies.”  He joined the club in the 1969-1970 season and, by his standards before and after that season, played rather sedately (70 penalty minutes in 76 games). 

That changed the next season.  With Fred Shero taking over behind the Flyer bench for the 1971-1972 season, the evolution of “Flyer Hockey” was underway.  Kelly finished third in penalty minutes on the club that season and was fifth in points for a club that was yet to have much success in terms of wins (26).  But the marker was put down, and two seasons later, Kelly and the Flyers were Stanley Cup champions.  In that regular season, Kelly was one of seven Flyers to log more than 100 penalty minutes, a league high. 

Kelly and the Flyers repeated as Stanley Cup champions, the 1974-1975 season being one in which the Flyers increased their team penalty minutes by more than 12 percent.  The odd thing about that was that the club had only six players with more than 100 penalty minutes in the regular season, but Kelly and Ross Lonsberry could have made it eight had they just managed one more penalty (each finished with 99 minutes).

Kelly was not a player to let up in the postseason, either.  In 101 career postseason games with the Flyers, he recorded 172 minutes in penalties.  In the nine playoff seasons he participate in with Philadelphia, only Dave Schultz (363) and Andre Dupont (306) had more postseason penalty minutes. 

By the time Kelly completed his tenth season in Philadelphia in 1979-1980, he ranked third in club history in total career regular season penalty minutes (1,285), behind only Schultz (1,386) and Dupont (1,505).  He richly deserved the nickname, “Houndog.”  However, despite scoring more goals (15) than his career season average and recording more assists (20), and still being under 30 years of age, he was traded to the Capitals for a third-round pick in the 1982 draft.

Despite coming to a club with far less success in its brief history than the Flyers, Kelly posted career highs in goals (26), assists (36), and points (62) in the 1980-1981 season in Washington.  The personal success would not last.  The start of the following season saw his playing time drastically reduced as the Caps went to a younger lineup.  After appearing in 16 games (no goals, four points), the Caps and Kelly came to an agreement to terminate Kelly’s contract.  And with that, Kelly retired from the NHL.

Zachary Taylor enjoyed a long career as a soldier, one that by military standards was quite successful.  The man known as “Old Rough and Ready” then came to Washington and succumbed to a digestive ailment, not the sort of end one would have envisioned for one of his history.  Bob Kelly was one of the most famously ornery of the Broad Street Bullies over a ten year career in Philadelphia.  "Houndog" then came to Washington and yielded to a youth movement in just his second season here, not the sort of end one might have expected for a player who was still only 31 years old.  In those respects, Zachary Taylor and Bob Kelly share a certain common history that links them in this tour through the Presidents and Capitals history.

Washington Capitals: If Players Were Presidents -- Al Iafrate

James K. Polk, the 11^th President of the United States, had been called “the least known consequential president” in American history.  The youngest man ever to assume the office to that point in American history, his ability to move his party’s agenda was almost unparalleled in his single term as President.  Restoring an independent Treasury, reducing tariffs, continuing the westward expansion to acquire California, New Mexico, and a large portion of what is now Oregon were completed in his administration.  The Department of the Interior, the first executive agency added since the early days of the new Republic, was established under his watch.

But there was something…well, unique about Polk that transcended his accomplishments as President.  A unique, some might say daring quality of style about him.  I don’t know.  What do you think…

Polk was a man decades ahead of his time, and not just as an administrator.  He would bring to Washington a sense of style that would not be duplicated for more than a century.  But it was worth the wait for one of the most distinctive, unique, and perhaps even beloved characters in Washington Capitals history.  And that brings us to defenseman Al Iafrate.  He might be the least known consequential defenseman in team history.  Once a fourth overall draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs, he developed into a formidable offensive defenseman in his seven seasons with the Leafs, eventually posting 21 goals and 63 points in 1989-1990, what would be his last full season with Toronto.

Things were not going well for him off the ice, though, and after a slow start to the 1990-1991 season he requested a trade.  The request was granted in January 1991 when the Caps sent center Peter Zezel and defenseman Bob Rouse to Toronto for Iafrate.  He would become a hit.  In four years in Washington, Iafrate scored 58 goals, including a career high 25 in 1992-1993.  His 66 points that season were also a career best, and he finished sixth in the Norris Trophy voting for the league’s top defenseman.

The consequential nature of his stay in Washington is two-fold.  First, despite appearing in just 256 games with the Caps (22nd among defensemen in team history), his 58 goals in a Caps uniform ranks him eighth among defensemen in team history.  His 176 points ranks tenth on that list.  His 11 postseason goals for the Caps is tied for fourth in team history (with John Carlson) despite his playing in fewer than half the playoff games of anyone ahead of him on that list.  And, he had a reputation for having one of, if not the hardest shots of his generation, regardless of position.

But there was more, a certain style that hearkened back to another era…

Clearly, if there was one Capital who channeled our 11^th President, linked by the timeless mullet, it could be none other than Al Iafrate.

Washington Capitals: If Players Were Presidents -- Jeff Halpern

John Tyler was the tenth President of the United States.  And an unlikely one he was, at least in the timing of his assuming the office.  He succeeded William Henry Harrison upon his death on April 4, 1841, just one month after Harrison was inaugurated.  It was not the easiest transition to make for Tyler.  Quite the opposite, Tyler took office in a very difficult period of American history, and in that regard, he might be compared to a Washington Capital who was named captain during a difficult period in franchise history: Jeff Halpern.

Tyler was the first President to have been born after the United States Constitution was ratified, having been born in 1790 (the Constitution was ratified in 1788).  Born in Virginia and educated at the College of William and Mary, he studied law and was admitted to the bar of the Commonwealth of Virginia at the age of 19.  It was politics that would be his future, though.  He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates at age 21 and served there for five years.  That would be but the first step on a path that would lead him to the White House.  That path took him to the United States House of Representatives, where he served for four years. 

Finding service in the House unsatisfying, he returned home to practice law, but it didn’t take.  He returned to the House of Delegates, and two years later was appointed Governor by the legislature (Virginia did not have popular election of governors at the time).  After serving a second one-year term in what was a constitutionally weak office he was appointed to the United States Senate.  He served nine years in that position, often finding himself at odds with members of his own party, including President Andrew Jackson, mostly over economic issues such as tariffs and infrastructure initiatives.  The conflicts between Tyler and his colleagues grew to the point at which remaining in the Senate was an untenable position.  He resigned his seat in February 1836 to return to private life once more.

That didn’t take, either, and he was on the national ticket as a candidate for Vice President under the Whig Party banner.  He lost that election, but in 1840 he would be elected Vice President with William Henry Harrison at the top of the winning ticket.

Jeff Halpern was the first Capital to have been born in Maryland.  Opportunities for developing as a hockey player in Maryland being somewhat difficult to find, he ended up in New Hampshire where he attended preparatory school and developed his hockey talents.  From there it was on to Princeton University where he played for four years.  After posting 50 goals in 69 games for the Tigers over his last two seasons, he was signed as a free agent by the Capitals in March 1999.

Halpern made the parent club out of training camp for the 1999-2000 season and became a reliable two-way player.  He earned Calder Trophy votes as the league’s top rookie in 2000 (finishing 12^th), and twice in his first four seasons he received votes for the Selke Trophy as the league’s top defensive forward.  Over his first five seasons with the Caps, Halpern played in more games than any other Capitals (368) and scored 76 goals (fourth over that period).  Only Peter Bondra scored more game-winning goals (29) than did Halpern (14), and only Bondra had more shorthanded goals (10) than Halpern (7). 

However, things were not going well during this period, either for the Caps or, as it turned out, the league.  The Caps engaged in a slow slide out of a group of competitive teams.  Finishing with 44 wins and 102 points in Halpern’s rookie season, the Caps would win only 23 games and finish with 59 points in 2004-2004.  Off the ice, labor-management troubles led to a lockout that left the league dark for an entire season.  When the differences were settled, the Caps returned the ice for the 2005-2006 season with Halpern as the 12th captain in team history.

John Tyler’s tenure as President was rocky, to say the least.  It started early with a veto of a banking bill, the result of which was the Whig Party expelling Tyler as a member and much of Tyler’s cabinet resigning.  Later, a tariff bill was met by a veto, and the result of that action was the first impeachment resolution against a sitting President introduced in the House of Representatives.  Vetoes, exercised rarely by Presidents before Tyler (with the notable exception of Andrew Jackson, who vetoed 12 bills), were a common theme in the Tyler administration.  He vetoed 10 bills in his almost four years in office and became the first President to have a veto overridden, that of an appropriations bill on Tyler’s next to last day in office in 1845 (he dropped out of the race for re-election the previous August). 

Jeff Halpern’s tenure as captain for the Capitals was rocky in a different sort of way.  Coming out of the 2004-2005 lockout, one could not know just how bad the Caps would be, but folks knew they would be bad.  The club sold off most of its aging assets in the last season before the lockout and, even with rookie Alex Ovechkin making his debut with the club, it was a young team thin on talent.  On a team that won just 29 games and finished with 70 points, Halpern was solid, though.  In 70 games he averaged 20 minutes a game in ice time for the first time in his career, and he was third on the team in points (44) having to play a scoring line role instead of a two-way defensive stopper role for which he might have been better suited.

Despite his turbulent tenure, Tyler did enjoy what were viewed as successes with far-reaching consequences, such as approval of the annexation of Texas, expansion toward the Pacific Ocean, and treaties with China and Canada, the latter settling a matter of some dispute over where the border between Maine and Canada was located.

In his year as Capitals captain, Jeff Halpern served as a veteran influence over a young Capitals squad that included Ovechkin, Brooks Laich, Mike Green, Boyd Gordon, and Tomas Fleischmann, players who would make contributions to the club in their climb back to competitiveness after Halpern left the following season to sign as a free agent with the Dallas Stars.

Two individuals presiding over difficult times, coming upon their offices in somewhat unconventional ways, representing “firsts” in their respective histories, John Tyler and Jeff Halpern are the latest pair linked in this trip down memory lane.

Washington Capitals: If Players Were Presidents -- Curtis Leschyshyn

No President in American history served a shorter term of office than did its ninth President, William Henry Harrison.  Elected in 1840, sworn in on March 4, 1841, Harrison served 31 days before he became the first American president to die in office.  There can be but one Capital who can compare to Harrison.  No, not Alexandre Volchkov, who played in just three games for the Caps, but who was a member of the organization from his being drafted fourth overall in 1996 until he was traded in February 2000.  No, not Jonas Johansson, who from the time he was traded to the Caps in October 2003 until he left the organization in 2007 played in only one game for the Caps.

No, the Capital who gets the call here can only be Curtis Leschyshyn. 

Both had very short stays in their respective “offices” in Washington – Harrison for 31 days as President and Leschyshyn for a week as a Capital, but it isn’t as if they didn’t have long and steady climbs before getting to their respective posts.  Take Harrison.  Born in 1773 in what would become the Commonwealth of Virginia, he became Secretary of the Northwest Territory at the tender age of 25.  Less than a year later, barely eligible for the office, he became a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the Northwest Territory as an at-large member.  He served only a year in that position before assuming the duties of Governor of the Indiana Territory, a position he held for almost 12 years.

Then, Harrison returned to the national stage, returning to the House of Representatives in a special election to finish the term of John McLean (no, not that John MacLean), who was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.  After returning to Ohio to serve in the state senate and losing an election to return to the U.S. House of Representatives, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served for three years before being appointed minister to Gran Columbia. When he was recalled at the end of the President’s term of office, his public service appeared to come to an end after more than 30 years in various positions. 

Life as a private citizen did not take though, and he returned to public service in county government in Ohio.  In 1836 he ran for President, losing to Martin Van Buren, but in 1840 he ran again, defeating Van Buren in a rematch.  And thus was set in motion a series of events that would result in the shortest presidential tenure in American history.  Harrison, who had just turned 68 years old, the oldest ever to take office until Ronald Reagan was inaugurated in 1981, wanted to convey a sense of strength, calling to mind his history at the Battle of Tippecanoe.  Pride and weather conspired against Harrison on Inauguration Day, though.  On a cold, snowy day in Washington in March 1841, wearing neither hat nor coat, he rode on horseback to the Capitol and delivered what is still the longest presidential inaugural address in American history at one hour and 45 minutes.  To that he added attendance at several inaugural ball, and while it is unlikely that the activity was a direct cause of the pneumonia that he developed three weeks later, it was still a difficult way to begin an administration.  And, just 31 days into his administration, Harrison passed.

Curtis Leschyshyn suffered no similar misfortune upon arriving in Washington, but his path here was a winding one of its own.  After two seasons with the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL in Canadian junior hockey, Leschyshyn was taken by the Quebec Nordiques as the third overall pick in the first round of the 1988 NHL entry draft.  He jumped right into the NHL, dressing for 71 games in the 1988-1989 season.  It was a difficult one for the Nordiques, who won only 27 games.  Leschyshyn was second worst on the team in plus-minus that season (minus-32), with some guy named “Sakic” finishing behind him (minus-36).

That rookie year would be a high mark of sorts for Leschyshyn in his early career.  His games played dropped in each of the next three seasons with Quebec, and he eventually split time between the Nordiques and the Halifax Citadels in the AHL in 1991-1992.  The slide was arrested after that, Leschyshyn appearing in 275 regular season and 26 postseason games over the next four seasons, winning a Stanley Cup with the franchise after it relocated to Colorado as the Avalanche in 1995-1996.

Never a particularly prolific defenseman at the offensive end of the ice, Leschyshyn started a bit slowly in the 1996-1997 season, going without a goal in his first 11 games.  At that point, he was an undercard player in a multi-player deal between the Avalanche and the Capitals.  In early November, he and the rights to left winger Chris Simon were traded to Washington for Caps forward Keith Jones, and a first and a fourth round pick in the 1998 entry draft. 

About that “to Washington” thing.  Actually, he never really made it “to Washington.”  At the time, Caps General Manager David Poile said, “With Leschyshyn, well, you can never have enough defensemen. With Sylvain Cote being out and Nolan Baumgartner now having surgery {for a dislocated shoulder} and out four to six months, we felt some of our depth was gone." He added that Leschyshyn would “"definitely…be [with the] Capitals for a while." 

“A while” was seven days.  Leschyshyn joined the Caps for road games in Florida against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers, not registering a point and finishing even in the plus-minus numbers.  Then, the defensemen that the Caps could not have too many of and who would be with the Caps for a while was traded to the Hartford Whalers for center Andrei Nikolishin.  Of the deal, Poile said, “"I knew going into the Simon trade that we were going to have too many defensemen but I said we made the deal for a good player and now that asset has turned into a quality forward for us."  He could have had a future in politics, that one.

Leschyshyn did not suffer the end Harrison did; he finished the season with the Whalers and played another seven seasons with the Whalers (later the Carolina Hurricanes), the Minnesota Wild, and the Ottawa Senators.  But in his blink-of-an-eye stay with the Caps, never having actually dressed for a game in Washington, Curtis Leschyshyn bears a striking similarlity in his tenure to that of President William Henry Harrison.

Washington Capitals: If Players Were Presidents -- Dennis Maruk

Before Martin Van Buren was elected the eighth President of the United States, he earned a number of nicknames.  Perhaps the best known of them was “The Little Magician,” a nickname bestowed upon him to reflect his stature (he stood five feet, eight inches tall) and his activity in political matters across the country.

Hockey does not have elegant nicknames as what one finds in politics as much as it has clever ones (at best).  Most nicknames in the sport are some derivative of the players last name, usually with a “ie” or “er” appended, but sometimes a simple, but descriptive one sneaks through.  And that brings us to the Washington Capital who might best be paired with Van Buren – “Pee Wee” himself, Dennis Maruk.

Van Buren’s spent his early career in politics as both leader and follower.  He started as a lawyer in New York, a leader of the “Albany Regency,” helping dispense political favors.  It was the first of several stepping stones on his path to the presidency.  The next of those was his election to the United States Senate by the New York state legislature (this was before popular election of senators).  It was there that he became a supporter of Andrew Jackson in his bid for the presidency.  In return for that support, Jackson appointed Van Buren Secretary of State.

At this point, Van Buren’s career took a turn.  He became perhaps Jackson’s closest advisor in a Cabinet that was dividing its loyalties into a Jackson camp and one aligned with Vice President John C. Calhoun, a man with presidential aspirations of his own.  Van Buren proposed a solution to that problem by offering, along with Secretary of War John Eaton, to resign so that the Calhoun faction would be forced to do likewise.  It worked out for Van Buren, who would be given a recess appointment by Jackson as Minister to Great Britain.  He failed to gain Senate confirmation for a permanent appointment, but it hardly slowed his progress.  He would become Vice President in Jackson’s second term as President.  After serving one term as Vice President, he was elected to the Presidency in 1840 to succeed Jackson.

Dennis Maruk has his own winding path on his way to Washington.  It started as a second round pick of the California Golden Seals in the 1975 Amateur Draft.  Having earned a reputation as a prodigious goal scorer in Canadian junior hockey (159 goals in 191 games over three years with the London Knights), he jumped right into the NHL with the Golden Seals for the 1974-1975 season.  Maruk finished that season second among rookies in goals scored, recording 30 in 80 games to the New York Islanders’ Bryan Trottier’s 32 in 80 games.  He finished third in the voting for the Calder Trophy that season (top rookie) behind Trottier and Islander goalie Glenn Resch.

When the franchise relocated to Cleveland the following year, Maruk brought his goal scoring talent with him.  In two seasons with the Barons, Maruk scored 64 goals in 156 games.  Those two seasons would mark the end of the Cleveland franchise, it being merged with the Minnesota North Stars following the 1977-1978 season.  While this was going on, though, the Capitals were putting Maruk in their sights as a trade target.  In October 1978, with Maruk having played just two games for the North Stars, the Caps had their man. 

In 1837, Van Buren reached the pinnacle, sworn in as eighth President of the United States.  The new job came with its headaches, though.  Barely a month into his Van Buren’s administration, financial and economic problems emerging before Van Buren assumed the Presidency came to a head.  Banks in New York City suspended redemptions of promissory notes at full value.  Thus, the “Panic of 1837” began.  The Panic was the beginning of an economic slowdown that lasted for much of the next decade.  Van Buren would be a casualty, losing in his bid for re-election in 1840 to William Henry Harrison.

In 1978, Maruk arrived in Washington to play for a franchise that won just 60 games over its first four seasons.  And it was not as if they started the 1978-1979 season reversing the trend.  When Maruk was acquired, the Caps were 1-2-1, scoring 12 goals, a light volume for the era.  Maruk injected a measure of goal scoring – he had his third 30-plus goal season in his fourth year in the league – and the Caps had their “best” season in franchise history.  However, “best” should not be equated with “good.”  Washington finished 24-41-15 and 63 points.

It would be a recurring theme in Maruk’s career in Washington.  “Pee Wee” was a “little magician” with the puck.  In 343 games over five seasons with the Caps, Maruk led the club in total goals (182 to 157 for Mike Gartner over the same period), assists (249 to 163 for Ryan Walter), and points (431 to 318 for Gartner).  When he scored 60 goals in the 1981-1982 season, he became just the seventh player in NHL history to accomplish the feat, and it was just the 12^th such occurrence in league history.  His 76 assists that season remain a team record for a single season, as is his 136 points that season.

But the club remained anchored to the lower reaches of the league standings. In Maruk’s five years in Washington, the Caps went through four coaches and finished with 70 or fewer points four times, averaging just 72 points per season, an average lifted by a 94-point season in 1982-1983.

Upon leaving the White House, Van Buren returned to his birthplace, Kinderhook, New York.  He made efforts to return to politics, seeking the Democratic Party nomination in 1844 (he lost, largely due to his opposition to the immediate annexation of Texas) and was nominated for the Presidency by two minor parties in 1848.  However, he never held public office again.

After the 1982-1983 season, one in which he scored barely half (31) of the 60 goals he scored in 1981-1982, Maruk was traded back to the team that sent him to Washington – the Minnesota North Stars – for a second round pick in the 1984 draft.  Maruk played another six seasons in Minnesota, but he never reached the 30-goal mark again.

The connection between Martin Van Buren and Dennis Maruk even extends to the medium on which Maruk played his career -- ice.  Van Buren has a mountain in Antarctica named for him.  It is just a reflection of how much (or how far we will go to make) a connection there is between the First Residents of Washington and the players who have contributed to the history of the city’s hockey team.