Washington Capitals: One and Done -- The Onesies, Part II: The 1990's

In our second installment of the group of Washington Capitals for whom their only game with the Caps would be their only game in the NHL, we take a look at two players whose lone appearance came in the 1990’s.

Tyler Larter

The fourth round of the 1987 NHL entry draft was an interesting one.  Three players who would eventually play for the Caps were drafted in that round.  Joe Sacco was drafted 71^st overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs and made his way to the Caps late in his career, dressing for three seasons (1999-2000 through 2001-2002).  Kip Miller was taken by the Quebec Nordiques with the next pick and found his way to Washington for the last two seasons of his career (2002-2003 and 2003-2004).  Terry Yake was taken 81^st overall in the fourth round of that draft, playing for four franchises before settling with the Caps in the last two seasons of his career (1999-2000 and 2000-2001).  Among them, they played 399 regular season games for the Caps and 1,590 regular season games in the their respective NHL careers.  And there was Mike Sullivan, taken 69^th overall by the New York Rangers, who dressed for 709 regular season games with four teams.  None of them were the Caps, but Caps fans remember him vividly as the current coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Center Tyler Larter was taken by the Caps 78^th overall in the fourth round of that draft after completing a successful third season with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League.  In 1986-1987 he exceeded the combined total of goals he scored in the previous two seasons (29 in 124 games) and almost matched his combined point total of the previous two seasons (95), going 34-59-93 in 59 games.  In the season after he was drafted by the Caps, he improved again, going 44-65-109 in 65 games with the Greyhounds. 

Larter turned pro following that 1987-1988 season in the OHL, moving up to the Baltimore Skipjacks in the AHL the next season.  In 71 games he went 9-19-28, but he also logged 189 penalty minutes, what would be a career high for him at any level of hockey.  His offensive production improved to start his second season in Baltimore, enough to earn him a call-up for a game on Long Island against the New York Islanders in early February.  It was a difficult night for the Caps, who fell behind, 3-0, in the first 27 minutes.  They crawled back within a goal twice, but New York scored an empty-net goal in the last minute for a 5-3 win that broke a three-game Caps winning streak.  Larter did not record a point, finishing minus-1 with two shots on goal. 

Two days later, he was returned to Baltimore, where he finished the season 31-36-67 in 79 games.  He added another five goals and 11 points in 12 postseason games for the Skipjacks.  That would be the beginning and end of his NHL journey, but he was not done traveling.  In May 1991 he was traded to the Winnipeg Jets with forward Bob Joyce and defenseman Kent Paynter for forwards Craig Duncanson, Brent Hughes and Simon Wheeldon, none of whom ever dressed for the Caps.  Larter would be claimed off the Winnipeg roster by the Minnesota North Stars in the 1991 expansion draft. 

And here there is a bit of an odd connection with the Caps.  Larter was taken by the North Stars with the pick immediately preceding that of the San Jose Sharks.  The Sharks took former Capital Bengt-Ake Gustafsson with that pick, a player who had last played in the NHL in 1989 with the Caps.  Of the 20 players taken in that expansion draft, four never played in the NHL again.  Larter, Gustafsson, Jeff Madill (drafted by the Sharks from New Jersey), and Guy Lafleur (drafted by Minnesota from Quebec).  Larter would later be traded back to Winnipeg by Minnesota, but he would spend the remainder of his career in minor league hockey and Europe, leaving the sport after the 1993-1994 season with the Whitley Warriors in Great Britain.

Ken Lovsin

Ken Lovsin took a bit of an unconventional route to his lone NHL appearance.  After a couple of college seasons in Canada, he was taken in the 1987 NHL supplemental draft (sixth overall by the Hartford Whalers).  Of the 20 players taken in that draft, only six would reach the NHL, Lovsin being one of them and the only one of the six to appear in just one NHL game. 

He would never move up the development ladder with Hartford and was signed by the Caps as a free agent in July 1990. He was a late reassignment out of training camp to the Baltimore Skipjacks in the AHL, but he received a holiday present of sorts in late December.  Lovsin got a sweater for the Caps in their December 26^th meeting against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Capital Centre.  This is where the “of sorts” part of that present comes into play.  The Caps were lit up for five goals in the first 12:04 of the game and never really made a contest of it in a 7-3 loss that extended a winless streak to six games (0-5-1) and that would go on to reach eight (0-7-1), the Caps’ longest of the 1990-1991 season.

Lovsin did not record a point in that loss to Pittsburgh and was minus-2 with two shots on goal.  He returned to Baltimore where he completed the 1990-1991 season (8-28-36 in 79 games) and played the 1991-1992 season (11-24-35 in 77 gamers).  That would be all for his career in North America, though.  He did play in Sweden for a season with Mora IK and represented Canada internationally in 1993 and 1994 before his career ended at age 27.  Your odd Ken Lovsin fact is that he is one of seven Capitals to wear the number “37,” the last of whom was Capitals icon goalie Olaf Kolzig.

Next, we’ll take a look at the trio of one-gamers who made their appearance in ‘The Rebuild.”

Photo: Jerry Wachter/Getty Images

Washington Capitals: One and Done -- The Onesies, Part I: The 1970's

We have taken a look at five players who dressed for one game with the Washington Capitals on their respective NHL journeys: Rod Seiling, Shawn Cronin, Ryan Stanton, Chris Ferraro, and Barrie Moore.

But there is another group of nine skaters for whom their single appearance with the Caps was their only NHL game.  This group of “onesies” span the entire history of the club, from Brian Stapleton’s lone appearance in the 1975-1976 season, the Cap’s second season, to Garrett Mitchell’s lone appearance in the 2016-2017 season:

As a group, these nine players left no obvious footprint in Caps history, but even if it is just one game, it is the realization of a dream just about any kid had when they were still learning how to skate.  Who were these players?  Let’s start with two who took their turn with the Caps in the 1970’s.

Brian Stapleton

As one might expect of a player who would dress for only one NHL, game, right winger Brian Stapleton was not drafted by any NHL club.  After spending three years at Brown University, he joined the Fort Wayne Komets of the IHL, posting a respectable 14-19-33 scoring line in 69 games.  It was enough to get the attention of the Caps, who offered him a three-game tryout in October 1975.  Despite improving on his numbers skating with the Dayton Gems in the IHL in 1975-1976 (he would go 26-34-60 in 74 games with the Gems), he would not get a chance to pull on a Caps sweater until Game 73 of the season.  By that time, the Caps’ sophomore season in the NHL was a lost cause.  They had yet to win consecutive games in the first 72 games of their schedule (in fact, had yet to post consecutive wins in their entire short history to that point), posting a 9-54-9 record before hosting the Kansas City Scouts in late March. 

Kansas City was not much better.  You could argue that despite their 12-49-11 record heading into their game with the Caps, they had become the inferior team.  They had not won a game since February 7^th against, you guessed it, the Caps, and they had not won a road game in the entire 1976 portion of their schedule to that point, going 1-27 with seven ties.  It looked as if the Scouts would make it two in a row over the Caps and break a 19-game winless streak, carrying a 5-2 lead in the third period.  But the Caps scored three goals in rapid succession to tie the game, and fittingly, 5-5 is how the game ended.  The Scouts would go on to finish the season without a win over the remainder of their schedule, going 0-21 with six ties in their last 27 games.  Stapleton did not record a point against Kansas City and was a minus-2.  He would return to the minors for one more season, going 20-46-66 in 68 games with Dayton before his pro hockey career ended at the age of 25.  Stapleton did have one remarkable aspect of his career.  He was the first alumnus of the Brown University hockey program to reach the NHL.

Alex Forsyth

Capitals fans will remember Dennis Maruk as being one of the most prolific goal scorers in club history.  In 343 games with the Caps, Maruk scored 182 goals, including a 50-goal season in 1980-1981 and a 60-goal season the following year, the first player in club history to hit the 50 and 60 goal marks for a single season. What Caps fans might not remember is that the team selected center Alex Forsyth three spots ahead of Maruk, taken by the California Golden Seals, in the 1975 amateur draft.  The pick seemed to have merit, Forsyth having posted 27 goals in 64 games with the Kingston Canadians in the Ontario Hockey Association.  But on the other hand, Forsyth lasted until the ninth round of the 1975 World Hockey Association draft, taken 122nd overall by the San Diego Mariners. 

After being drafted by the Caps, he joined the Richmond Robins of the AHL, where things did not come quite so easily.  He was just 7-16-23 in 71 games for the Robins, although he did go 2-5-7 in eight postseason games with Richmond.  The following season, Forsyth got his chance with the big club, dressing in his first NHL game before reaching his 22^nd birthday.

That chance came on November 12^th against the Chicago Blackhawks, and it came at what was an historic period for the club.  The Caps had gone 172 games in their short history without having won consecutive games.  But after stumbling out of the gate in the 1976-1977 season with a 2-8-2 record, they pieced together a three-game winning streak, hoping to make it four in a row with Chicago visiting Capital Centre.

Alas, the Caps could not extend that winning streak to four, dropping a 5-4 decision to the Blackhawks.  For his part, Forsyth had a clean line on the score sheet – no goals, no assists, no points, even in plus-minus, and no penalty minutes.  He would go back to Springfield in the AHL, where he went 14-33-47 in 74 games for the Indians.  The following season he skated for the Tulsa Oilers of the Central Hockey League.  He went 15-16-31 in 69 games for the Oilers and was held without a point for Tulsa in the postseason.  It would be Forsyth’s last season in pro hockey, over at the age of 23.

The odd thing about Forsyth and the 1975 amateur draft is that he was one of two players taken by the Caps before Dennis Maruk was taken by California.  Defenseman Peter Scamurra was taken with the pick after Forsyth by the Caps, he playing 132 games for the Caps in his four-year career in the NHL, all with Washington.

Next, we'll take a look at the 1990's edition of this group.

Washington Capitals: One and Done -- Ryan Stanton: “I’ll Take ‘The Letter C’ for $200, Alex”

Since its founding in 1984, the Moose Jaw Warriors of the Western Hockey League have sent 60 players to the NHL.  Seven of that group played in the NHL without having been drafted, a group that includes three-time Stanley Cup winner Mike Keane.  It is a group that also includes defenseman Ryan Stanton, who spent parts of five seasons with the Warriors.

After his last season in Moose Jaw, in 2009-2010, Stanton was signed as a free agent by the Chicago Blackhawks, who assigned him to the Rockford IceHogs in the AHL.  He dressed for two games at the end of the 2009-2010 season with Rockford and then spent the next two full seasons there.  He spent almost an entire third season with the Ice Hogs, but at the end of the abbreviated 2012-2013 NHL season, he got a sweater for the Blackhawks’ regular season finale against the St. Louis Blues.  He skated 17:05 without a point, but finished plus-1 with two penalty minutes in what would be the only game he played with Chicago.  Hold that thought.

At the end of the following September, Stanton was placed on waivers by the Blackhawks and was claimed by the Vancouver Canucks.  It was there where Stanton found a home, or at least regular playing time.  In two seasons in Vancouver, he skated a total of 118 games, going 4-23-27, plus-14, averaging more than 15 minutes a night.

With his contract expiring at the end of the 2014-2015 season, Stanton was not extended a qualifying offer by the Canucks, and he became an unrestricted free agent.   He did not appear to draw a lot of immediate interest.  It was not until July 24^th that he would sign a deal, inking a one-year/$575,000 contract with the Caps.  He opened the 2015-2016 season with the Hershey Bears in the AHL and appeared in 60 games for the Caps’ top minor-league affiliate.  There was that one call up in January, though.  The Caps already were missing defensemen Brooks Orpik to an injury when John Carlson caught the injury bug, and the Caps sent Connor Carrick down the Bears and brought Stanton up to face the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Caps went into Columbus on January 19^th and overwhelmed the Blue Jackets with four straight goals in a span of less than 13 minutes after spotting the home team the first goal.  The outburst propelled the Caps to a 6-3 win that featured a four-assist night by Evgeny Kuznetsov and a pair of goals from Nicklas Backstrom.  Stanton’s line on the score sheet was more modest.  In 8:41 of ice time he was a minus-1, took a second-period holding penalty that led to a Columbus power play goal, and had an otherwise unmarked line on his score sheet.  It would be his only appearance with the Caps, and once Carlson was healthy enough to return to the lineup, he was reassigned to Hershey on January 28^th.

At the end of the season Stanton would move on once more, signing a one-year deal with the Colorado Avalanche and extending a peculiar association with the letter “C.”  Originally signed by Chicago, moving on the Canucks, then to the Capitals, then to Colorado.  And then, in November 2016 he was traded to Columbus for defenseman Cody Goloubef.  Last summer he broke the string, signing a two-year free agent contract with the Edmonton Oilers.

The string Stanton has not been able to break since leaving the Capitals organization is the number of games played without a call-up to the NHL.  Over the last two seasons he played in a total of 94 games for three AHL clubs – San Antonio, Cleveland, and Bakersfield – but he has not cracked an NHL lineup.  At the age of 29, it is too early to say for certain (another “C”) that his NHL career is at an end, but for the moment it is that mid-January night in Columbus with the Caps that is his last NHL action.

Washington Capitals: One and Done -- Barrie Moore: Sometimes It's Over Before It Begins

The 1993 NHL entry draft was an odd one.  It was the draft of one of the more disappointing first overall picks in NHL history, Alexandre Daigle claiming that distinction.  Perhaps stranger still is the fact that of the players taken in the last three rounds, the draft being 11 rounds in those days, five players appeared in 500 or more games in their respective NHL careers – Mike Grier, Pavol Demitra, Kimmo Timonen, German Titov, and Scott Nichol.

Left winger Barrie Moore was one of the more conventional late round picks, taken in the ninth round, 220^th overall by the Buffalo Sabres, a long shot to make an NHL roster and a longer one to leave a lasting impression. He followed a conventional path in his development, spending the last two of his four seasons with the Sudbury Wolves in the Ontario Hockey League after he was drafted, and playing most of his first professional season in 1995-1996 with the Rochester Americans in the AHL, where he won a Calder Cup.

The 20-year old Moore did get a cup of coffee with the Sabres in that 1995-1996 season, dressing for three games at the tail end of the regular season.  It was an unremarkable debut, Moore blanked on the score sheet in each of the three games.  He got more exposure with the Sabres the following season, scoring his first NHL goal in his first appearance that season, a game-tying power play goal in what would be a 4-2 win over the St. Louis Blues to open the month of November.  It would not be a signal of prolific production to come, though, Moore going 2-6-8, plus-1, in 31 games.  It would be enough, however, to make Moore attractive enough to include in a trade package.  He was wrapped up with defenseman Craig Millar and sent to the Edmonton Oilers in mid-March for forward Miroslav Satan.

After appearing in four games with the Oilers at the end of the 1996-1997 season he found himself back in the minors for two seasons, skating with the Hamilton Bulldogs in the AHL for the 1997-1998 season.  He moved on to the Indianapolis Ice of the IHL to open the following season, but by the end of it, he was moving on to a new organization once more.  In February 1999, the Oilers traded Moore to the Caps for forward Brad Church (who almost merits a story of his own, he and fellow Caps first round pick Miika Elomo appearing in only two career NHL games; only one first rounder of the 1995 draft appearing in fewer – San Jose Sharks pick Teemu Riihijarvi never appearing in an NHL game).

It would take Moore a while to find his way to Washington, spending the remainder of the 1998-1999 season and almost the entire 1999-2000 season with the Portland Pirates.  But there was that one game in January of that 1999-2000 season.  Moore found his way into the lineup of a Caps team on a four-game winning streak and points in eight of nine games.  Nine of 18 skaters recorded points in a 6-3 win in Tampa over the Lightning to make it five wins in a row.  Alas, Moore was not among the point-getters, and he logged just 9:50 in ice time in the win.

That would be the only 9:50 he would skate for the Caps and the last ice time he logged in the NHL, done at the age of 24.  Moore was claimed by the Columbus Blue Jackets the following summer in the 2000 expansion draft and spent the remainder of his pro career between playing in the minors and in Great Britain before ending his career after the 2004-2005 season.

Photo: Hockey Hall of Fame

Washington Capitals: One and Done -- Chris Ferraro: Some Things Are Bigger Than The Game

The 1992 NHL entry draft is not one that was either deep or especially productive.  For example, there is no 500-goal scorer out of that draft, no 400-goal scorer for that matter.  It claims only one 300-goal scorer, and that one – Alexei Yashin (337 goals) – is better known for the bizarre fashion in which his career unwound more than anything he did on the ice.

Tucked deep in that draft was a young center from Port Jefferson, NY, who wasn’t even the first player taken from his family in that draft. Chris Ferraro, the twin brother of Peter Ferraro (taken 24th overall by the New York Rangers) was taken in the fourth round, 85th overall in that draft by the Rangers.  The Sedin Twins they were not, but twins making the NHL is quite an achievement.  Between them, they appeared in 166 NHL games over their respective careers, Peter in 92 of them over a six-season career that included four games with the Caps in his last NHL season, in 2001-2002.  It is Chris, though, that is of interest here.

It took Chris three seasons after he was drafted to reach the NHL, years he spent at the University of Maine and then with the Binghamton Rangers in the AHL for a season.  He got his call-up to the show late in the 1995-1996 season and made his debut against the Florida Panthers.  Although his Rangers would lose that game, 5-3, the debut would have an almost storybook quality to it.  He scored a power play goal in that first game, his twin brother Peter earning the primary assist.

Ferraro played one more game for the Rangers that season and 12 games the next, recording a pair of goals and three points in the 14 games overall.  However, it did not look good for his becoming a more permanent fixture in the Ranger lineup, and he was waived in October 1997.  The Pittsburgh Penguins claimed him, and he went on to have his career season with the Pens in 1997-1998, modest as it was, going 3-4-7, minus-2, in 46 games.

It was a good enough performance for Ferraro to be signed by the Edmonton Oilers as a free agent in August of 1998.  Unfortunately for Ferraro, that was the first in a series of short stops followed by signings as a free agent.  After appearing in only two games with the Oilers in 1998-1999 he was signed in July 1999 by the New York Islanders.  After appearing in 11 games with the Isles, he was signed in July 2000 by the New Jersey Devils, for whom he never played, spending the entire 2000-2001 season with the Albany River Rats.

It would be the following summer, in August 2001, that he was traded to the Caps for, what else, “future considerations.”  And then, in the space of less than two months, it would be the best of times and the worst of them for Ferraro.  He was called up to the Caps in mid-October.  He made his debut with the Caps on October 16th in Los Angeles against the Kings, recording an assist on an Ulf Dahlen power play goal in the second period that proved important in the Caps’ 3-2 overtime win.  It would be his first game with the Caps and his last, and his only point with the club.

It should have been among the happiest of times.  His team debut, skating with his twin brother, who by this time was also a Capital, contributing to the win on enemy ice.  It lasted as long as it took to make a phone call to his wife that went unanswered.  With his wife’s illness hanging heavily over the couple, he took a leave of absence from the club.

Ferraro tried a comeback of sorts, signing as a free agent with the Phoenix Coyotes in July 2003, took a turn in Europe for a couple of seasons, did the same with the Syracuse and San Antonio franchises of the AHL, and spent a season in Las Vegas in the ECHL.  But Ferraro would not play in the NHL again before his pro career ended after the 2008-2009 season, his first game with the Capitals being his last.

Photo: Getty Images

Washington Capitals: One and Done -- Shawn Cronin: Going in for a Future Hall of Famer? No Pressure

In our first look at those players who dressed for only one game with the Washington Capitals, we looked at a player whose stop in the DMV came in the middle of a long career.  In this look back, we meet a one-and-done-er who played his one game with the Caps as his NHL debut before going on to compile a larger body of work elsewhere. 

Shawn Cronin had the sort of early start to his hockey journey that might seem a bit common these days, but was less so back in the early 1980’s.  As a 19-year old, undrafted by any NHL team, he landed at the University of Illinois-Chicago in 1982.  After spending four years playing defense for UIC, he was signed as a free agent by the Hartford Whalers in March 1986.  He broke into pro hockey splitting time in the 1986-1987 season skating with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles in the International Hockey League, going 8-16-24 in 53 games there, and with the Binghamton Whalers of the American Hockey League, where he recorded one assist in 12 games.

Cronin spent another season in Binghamton, but it was his last in the Whaler organization.  He would be signed by the Capitals the following June, but he seemed destined to spend another season in an AHL sweater.  Then fate intervened.  Washington and the New York Rangers faced one another in a home-and-home set of games in October, the first of which was played in Manhattan.  In the 5-1 loss to the Blueshirts, defenseman Larry Murphy was injured, the victim of what was characterized as a “knee-to-knee leg whip” by the Rangers’ Tony Granato.  Murphy was held out of the rematch two days later, and Cronin was called up from the Baltimore Skipjacks to take his place in the lineup.

We would like to say that Cronin’s NHL debut was a success, both personally and for the team.  Sadly, it was not.  The Caps opened the scoring three minutes into the game on a power play goal by Dave Christian, but the Rangers answered with three power play goals of their own and added a Guy Lafleur tally early in the third period to sweep the home-and-home with a 4-1 win.  For his part, Cronin recorded neither a point nor a shot on goal in what would be his first and last appearance with the Caps.

It would not be his last game in the NHL, though.  The following summer, the Caps and Cronin parted ways, and he signed as a free agent with the Philadelphia Flyers.  He never so much as dressed for training camp with the Flyers, traded to the Winnipeg Jets a month after his signing.  We use that word “traded” advisedly.  The return for Cronin was “future considerations” which would be cancelled as part of a trade that sent Keith Acton and Pete Peeters to Philadelphia by Winnipeg in October 1989.  In effect, Cronin was given to the Jets.

Nevertheless, Cronin did play three seasons with the Jets, recording one goal and 13 assists in 193 games.  He also logged 703 penalty minutes in those 193 games, largely on the basis of 61 fighting majors, earning him the nickname, “Cronin the Barbarian.” 

Following the 1991-1992 season, Cronin spent another short stay in a city for which he would not dress.  In August of 1992 he was traded to the Quebec Nordiques for Dan Lambert, but barely a month later, on October 4^th, he was waived and claimed by the Flyers.  He player 35 relatively quiet (37 penalty minutes) games for the Flyers in the 1992-1993 season while posting a career high in goals (two) before being traded to the San Jose Sharks for cash in August 1993.  It was there where Cronin spent his last two NHL seasons.  He would play another two seasons with the Fort Wayne Komets in the IHL before bowing out of pro hockey at the age of 33.  He finished the NHL portion of his career having played in 292 regular season games with four clubs, the first and only one of which was played in Landover with the Capitals as a fill-in for a future Hall of Famer.

Photo: Hockey Hall of Fame

Washington Capitals: One and Done -- Rod Seiling: "We had a practice, played a game, then I was gone"

Last season, Alex Ovechkin became the first player in Washington Capitals history to appear in 1,000 career games with the club.  But of the 494 skaters to dress for the Caps in their 44-season history, how many players pulled on a Caps sweater for one, and only one game with the club?

It turns out there are more than you might think – 14 skaters to be exact, as well as four goaltenders.  Over the next few weeks, we’re going to look at this group of “One-and-Done-ers.”  Some of them spent one game in a Caps uniform as part of a much longer career.  There is, for example, defenseman Rod Seiling.  He was signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1962 on the first stop of his career.  He would play only one game with the Leafs, though, before he was shipped off with Dick Duff, Bob Nevin, Arnie Brown and Bill Collins to the New York Rangers for Andy Bathgate and Don McKenney.    

Being a Ranger was not an experience without its adventure, and this is where the wacky world of hockey management spins around.  By the summer of 1967, the Rangers did not think enough of Seiling to protect him from the expansion draft, and he was taken by the St. Louis Blues in the sixth round of that draft.  However, on the same day as the draft, they thought enough of him to reacquire him in a trade, Seiling going back east, so to speak, for Gary Sabourin, Bob Plager, Gord Kannegiesser and Tim Ecclestone.  It would be in New York where Seiling spent most of his career, skating parts of 12 seasons there, compiling 50 goals and 248 points in 644 games.

By 1974, Seiling's game was starting to fade a bit, despite not yet reaching his 30^th birthday.  After consecutive 40-plus point seasons, he slipped to 30 points in 1973-74.  There was also the matter of criticism directed at the Rangers for being underachievers, some of it directed at Seiling, and even to the point of verbal taunts directed at his sons. It made for a toxic situation for the player.

After four games to open the 1974-75 season in which he had one point and a minus-4, Seiling was placed on waivers, where he was claimed by the Capitals on October 29, 1974.  He took the ice in his only appearance in a Caps sweater on Hallowe’en night in the Montreal Canadiens’ first-ever visit to Washington (well, Landover, Maryland) to face the expansion Capitals.  Seiling did not record a point.  No one else did, either.  Montreal shut out the Caps, 3-0, the fourth time in their first ten games that they were blanked. 

And here is where the wacky world of hockey management spins around once more.  Two days after skating for the Caps for the first time, Seiling was traded to Toronto – the team with which he originally signed – for Willie Brossart and Tim Ecclestone, making it the second time he was involved in a trade that sent Ecclestone in the other direction.  Seiling went on to play in another four seasons with three clubs – Toronto, the St. Louis Blues, and the Atlanta Flames, where he wrapped up his NHL career in 1978-79.  Seiling finished his career at age 34, having played 692 games with five clubs, one of those games with the Washington Capitals. But he does have some “sepia memories.” 

Photo: Getty Images

Washington Capitals: Conquering Adversity

“The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.”

-- Moliere

It’s time to close the book on the 2017-2018 season, but in doing so we cannot help but think that a lot of effort goes into the winning of a Stanley Cup, and that the journey is both long and full of obstacles. In one sense, the journey for the Washington Capitals was 44 years long and the obstacles included teams that seemed to have their number – the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins come to mind. Add to that the team’s propensity, regardless of who was wearing the sweater, to give up the good fortune they earned in the postseason in the form of letting so many 2-0 and 3-1 leads in series get away.

The 2017-2018 Capitals were not a team into whose lap good fortune fell. More than most teams in recent history it was quite the opposite. Stanley Cup champions often have to face adversity, a dark night of the soul that they must conquer to win the prize. No team in recent history overcame more than these Capitals in their march to the Stanley Cup. From the opponents faced to the circumstances of each of the four individual series to the injuries fought through, this club was uncommon in its resolve and tenacity. Let’s take one last walk back.

Conference Quarterfinal -- The Coach

The Capitals have had their issues with teams, but rarely with individual coaches. One coach who seemed to be an especially difficult obstacle was John Tortorella. Washington won two of the first three series in which they faced Tortorella, losing to his Tampa Bay Lightning in six games in 2003 before beating his New York Rangers in 2009 in seven games and in five games in 2011. But starting in 2012, Tortorella would inflict particular pain on the Caps, his Rangers winning a seven-game series in that postseason and following that up with a seven-game win against the Caps in 2013.

In 2018 the Caps had their first chance to face Tortorella as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets. And when the Caps went down to the Blue Jackets in excruciating fashion in Games 1 and 2 – both games settled in overtime – it looked as though Tortorella would extend his winning streak against the Caps without much pushback. That view would be wrong. The Caps stormed back to win the last four games of the series to advance to the second round.

This was the first time since the NHL went to a best-of-seven for all four playoff rounds (since the 1987 postseason) that a team lost Games 1 and 2 in overtime, won the series, and went on to win the Stanley Cup.

Conference Semi-Final -- “The Demons Have Been Exorcised”

From 1991 through 2017, the Capitals faced the Pittsburgh Penguins ten times. They won once, in 1994, when the number one song on the Billboard charts was “Bump n’ Grind” by R. Kelly, the number one book of fiction on the New York Times’ best seller list was “The Celestine Prophecy” by James Redfield, and Apple was introducing its “Power Mac” personal computer.

The Caps lost to the Penguins in the playoffs nine times in that span, sometimes in horrific ways. There was 1992, when the Caps won Games 1 and 2, and then after losing Game 3, pounded the Pens, 7-2, in Pittsburgh to take a commanding 3-1 lead in games against the defending Stanley Cup champs. They dropped the last three games, two of them on home ice, by a combined 14-7 margin.

There was 1995, when the Caps went out to a 3-1 lead in games again and had the series in their hands when Game 5 went to overtime. The Caps lost. They went quick and quiet after that, outscored by the Pens, 10-1, in the last two games.

There was 1996, and the Caps had a chance to go up, 3-1, again. But Game 4 went to overtime…and then another…and then another… and then another. The teams almost went to a fifth overtime, but late in the fourth extra session on a power play, Petr Nedved scored to even the series. Pittsburgh closed it out by winning the next two games.

There was 2001, when the Caps had a chance to bring the series home for a Game 7. But in overtime, Sergei Gonchar was the victim of some bad ice at his own blue line, lost the puck, and looked on as Martin Straka picked it up, skated in alone on goalie Olaf Kolzig, and won the game and the series.

There was 2009, when the Caps and Pens renewed their rivalry in the first meeting of Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. In Game 7, Ovechkin had a chance to put the Caps up early on a breakaway. He was foiled by Marc-Andre Fleury, and the Pens steamrolled the Caps after that, 6-2, to take the series.

There was 2016, in some ways a replay of 2001, the Caps having a chance to bring a series back to Washington for a Game 7, but Nick Bonino scored in overtime of Game 6 to sink the Caps again.

And there was 2017, when the Caps gamely came back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the series in Game 6 in Pittsburgh. Then, they didn’t show up for Game 7, falling by a 2-0 margin.

That brought us to 2018. The Caps were facing the two-time defending champions, and when they dropped Game 1 at home, it had the look of a too-often watched episode of a bad TV series from the 1990’s. But the Caps tied the series in Game 2 in a dominating 4-1 performance. Then they went to Pittsburgh and won in a fashion not seen by a Caps team – a goal in the last 90 seconds of regulation, swatted out of mid-air from the top of the Penguin crease by Alex Ovechkin to give the Caps a 4-3 win. Washington lost Game 4, 4-3, to tie the series, setting up another of those moments such as those in the past in which the Caps wilted and the Penguins moved forward. This time – Game 5 – was different. The Caps, adding bizarre to the unusual, stormed back from a 3-2 deficit after two periods to score four unanswered goals in the final frame to win and put the Caps on the brink of victory in a 6-3 win.

The Caps were not through the woods yet, though. The Penguins were two-time champions for a reason, and they played like it in Game 6. Washington opened the scoring early in the second period, but the Pens tied it mid-way through the same frame. That would be the extent of the scoring in regulation. The teams fought through five minutes of overtime when the Caps finally drove a stake through the heart of their demon...

Conference Final – The Better Team

Back in October, many in the hockey media had the Capitals as perhaps a wild-card qualifier for the playoffs, but few if any had the Tampa Bay Lightning as anything other than an Atlantic Division winner or contender. The Lightning did not disappoint, finishing the regular season with the best record in the Eastern Conference, five wins and eight points better than the Caps.

There was the history of these teams, too. They met twice before in the postseason , in 2003 and in 2011. Tampa Bay won both series, besting the Caps in six games after dropping Games 1 and 2 in 2003 and sweeping them in four games in 2011. The Caps had eight straight postseason losses to Tampa Bay and had yet to defeat the Lightning in a playoff game on home ice.

For the first time in this postseason the Caps got out to a series lead. In fact, they won both Games 1 and 2 in Tampa to put the Lightning in a deep hole. But that was how the 2003 series started, too, and the Caps went out in six games. The 2003 memories became much too clear for comfort when the Lightning came to Washington and evened the series with wins in Games 3 and 4, denying for at least a while longer the Caps first postseason win on home ice against this team. When Tampa Bay won Game 5 in Florida to put the Caps on the brink of elimination, fans might have been forgiven for at least taking a peek toward the summer and next season.

And then, a funny thing happened. No one scored in the first period of Game 6. And then a funnier thing happened. Jay Beagle took a penalty in the first minute of the second period to put the Lightning on a power play. This was the sort of opening the Caps have given teams in the past in the postseason and lived to regret it. But the Caps killed off the penalty, and then they scored on their own power play late in the period to take a lead to the third. The Caps got an insurance goal by Devante Smith-Pelly mid-way through the period, and T.J. Oshie scored an empty netter, his second goal of the game, to complement Braden Holtby’s 24-save shutout in a 3-0 win, the Caps’ first against the Lightning in the postseason on home ice.

It was the sort of win that in the past served only to make what followed more disappointing for Caps fans. In the past, the Caps might lose on a strange play or by not rising to the occasion, but what was in common was that they lost in Games 7. The Caps served notice early in this edition of Game 7 that this was a different year with a different team intent on writing a different ending. Alex Ovechkin scored just 62 seconds into the game, Andre Burakovsky scored a pair of goals seven minutes apart in the second period, and Nicklas Backstrom added an empty-netter to seal the win, Braden Holtby stopping 29 shots to become the first goaltender in more than 80 years to pitch consecutive shutouts in elimination games in the postseason after not having had a shutout in the regular season (Earl Robertson did for the Detroit Red Wings in 1937).

Stanley Cup Final -- “The Words That D.C. Fans Have Been Waiting to Hear Since 1974...”

Plucky expansion team of cast-offs reach Stanley Cup final. Rooting against the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup final, even with the parallel story of Alex Ovechkin playing for his first Stanley Cup, was the rooting equivalent of kicking a puppy. Never mind that the Caps, in 44 years, had never won a game in a Stanley Cup final, either (they were swept in four games in their only previous appearance in the final, in 1998 against the Detroit Red Wings).

The Caps would have to wait a bit longer for that first win, Vegas taking the series opener by a typically Vegas 6-4 margin. By this time, though, the Caps had proven themselves a team made of stronger stuff than their predecessors. They won Game 2 to split the games out west, a game punctuated by what might be the single most important play in the playoff history of the Capitals, a play that will be known henceforth as "The Save"...

Buoyed by that save and that win, the Caps returned to Washington and swept two games to put the Golden Knights on the edge of elimination.

It would be typical of this postseason for the Caps to face adversity once more and prevail, and this is just what they did. Twice they took a lead in Game 5, only to see the Golden Knights tie the game. And then, Vegas took a lead in the last minute of the second period. The Caps would have to come from behind on enemy ice, trying to close out a 3-1 series lead of the sort they failed so often to do in the past.

Gradually, the Caps took command of the action, and mid-way through the third period they got the equalizer. The oft-denigrated Brooks Orpik kept a loose puck on the offensive side of the blue line and fed the unsung Devante Smith-Pelly for a shot that he would take while being tripped to the ice, the shot eluding long-time nemesis Marc-Andre Fleury to tie the game. Less than three minutes later, Fleury could not squeeze his pads tightly enough to keep a loose puck from trickling behind him, and Lars Eller darted in to snap the puck into the net. All that was left was to skate off the last 7:37 to hear the call every Caps fan has wanted to hear...

What an eight weeks it was, especially when you think about all that the Caps had to overcome to have their names on the Stanley Cup…

• Fighting through losses in overtime in Games 1 and 2 against Columbus and their difficult coach, becoming the first team in the era of 16 wins needed to win a Cup to lose their first two games in overtime and win the trophy.
• Fighting past their most bitter rival – the Pittsburgh Penguins – on their ice in Game 6 despite not having a third of their top-six forwards in the lineup (Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson).
• Fighting past a solid favorite in the conference final who they had not beaten in previous postseason meetings and against whom they had never won a playoff game on home ice.
• Fighting past the darlings of hockey in the final, a team that beat the Caps twice in two meetings in the regular season and doing it against a goaltender who played a big role in crushing dreams of Caps fans in the past when he was a Penguin.
• Fighting through an injury to Nicklas Backstrom when he blocked a shot in Game 5 of the Pittsburgh series (later revealed to be two fractures to his right index finger) that caused him to miss four games.
• Fighting through a three-game suspension to winger Tom Wilson that caused him to miss the last three games of the Pittsburgh series.
• They finished the postseason as the fifth team in NHL history to win ten games on the road.
• They became the first team in almost 30 years to win a Stanley Cup having trailed at some point in every series (Pittsburgh did it in 1991).
• They became only the third team in NHL history to clinch all four series on the road and the first since Pittsburgh in 2009.

And as much as what they overcame, it was how they did it. There was Lars Eller scoring the game-winning goal in Game 3 in the second overtime to get the Caps off the mat against Columbus after dropping those first two games in overtime. There was Eller again, going 2-3-5 in the first three games of the series against Tampa Bay with Backstrom out of the lineup. And there was Eller again scoring the Cup-clinching goal against Vegas, finishing with a team-high three game-winning goals for the postseason.

• There were the nine different Capitals sharing the 16 game-winning goals.
• There was Devante Smith-Pelly, equaling the seven goals he scored in 75 regular season games with seven in 24 postseason games, the last six of them in Caps wins, including the game-tying goal in the Cup-clinching game.
• There was Brooks Orpik, keeping the puck in at the edge of the blue line in the Cup-clinching win to set up Smith-Pelly’s goal, but more than that going plus-17 in 24 postseason games to lead the league.
• There was Evgeny Kuznetsov, casting off recent underwhelming postseason performances with a Conn Smythe-quality level of play in this postseason.
• There were Nathan Walker, Shane Gersich, and Travis Boyd getting their first taste of a deep Stanley Cup run. Gersich skated in a Game 5 win that put the Caps on the brink of a series win against Pittsburgh; Walker and Boyd skated in the series-clinching win over the Penguins. No demons for them.

Any team that wins a Stanley Cup gets contributions from up and down the roster, stars and no-names alike. But few, if any teams in recent memory overcame more than the Caps did to win the Cup. Every series had its hook, something that the Caps dealt with unsuccessfully in the past that had to be overcome. They had to overcome injuries to key pieces at key moments of the postseason. They had to overcome their own history and the perennial narrative that they just didn’t play the right way or have what it takes to win.

You can attach a lot of adjectives to the Caps’ performance this spring: determined, tenacious, resolute, dogged, focused. It all comes down to one word to describe them.

Champions.

Now… do it again.

So, What Happened on This Date?... July 18

And what happened on this date in Washington Capitals history?  Well, it was an odd sort of day…

1996 – A Legend is Traded

OK, so perhaps you do not recognize the name, “Frank Bialowas.”  Not surprising, that.  An undrafted left wing out of Winnipeg, he was signed as a free agent by the Toronto Maple Leafs in March 1994. He played only three games at the end of the 1993-1994 season in Toronto, recording no points, but he did have 12 penalty minutes, ten of them coming on two fighting majors (hold that thought).  And he did not pick on lightweights.  He threw punches with Tony Twist of the Quebec Nordiques and with Tie Domi of the Winnipeg Jets.  Both were legendary tough guys, Domi having been hit with 273 major penalties in his career, Twist logging 1,121 penalty minutes in only 445 career NHL games.

Those would be the only three NHL games Bialowas would play.  He found his way to the Caps in September 1995 when he signed as a free agent.  He spent the entire season with the Portland Pirates in the AHL, going 4-3-7, but logging 211 penalty minutes in 65 games.  That would be the extent of his imprint on the franchise, and he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers on this date in 1996 for the always murky “future considerations” (perhaps a subscription to “The Ring” magazine).

Bialowas achieved his legendary status, of sorts, as a member of the Philadelphia Phantoms in the AHL.  In 156 games over three seasons, he went 12-16-28, but he had 555 penalty minutes.  We would be traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in January 1999 for Dennis Bonvie (another legendary minor league tough guy) and would make his final stop in pro hockey when he signed as a free agent with the Hershey Bears in September 1999 for what would be his last pro season.  Even though he was only 30 years old at the time, the years had slowed him down to a degree.  He logged “only” 65 penalty minutes in 40 games.  He wrapped up his AHL career having recorded 1,498 penalty minutes in 394 games over eight seasons with four teams, winning a Calder Cup in 1998 with the Phantoms. 

And just to complete the Capitals portion of this story, Bialowas was not even happy about being traded by the Caps to the Flyers and having to play for the Phantoms in their inaugural season.  Here is how he put it…

“I’ll be completely honest here.  When I heard about [the trade], I was less than enthusiastic. I thought, there’s no way this can work. With the Flyers playing across the parking lot, who’s even going to care about us?

“When I skated out for the first game, I saw about 2,500 fans in the stands and I’m thinking, this is gonna suck!  I decided to have fun with it. I remember the little squirrel running around in my head, thinking I’m just going to go out there, play my game, beat people up, and see what happens. And the fans, man, they fell in love with our team. They kept coming out, attendance kept going up. It was great.”

2003 – The Caps Sign Gruden…No, Not That Gruden…Not That One, Either

The 2002-2003 season was an odd one for the Caps.  They welcomed a new coach (Bruce Cassidy), and they returned to the postseason after missing the playoffs in 2001-2002.  They also dressed 12 defensemen in the regular season, a rather high number.  Of that group, only two – Calle Johansson and Sergei Gonchar – dressed for more than 70 games.  Five of those defensemen would not be on the roster the following season (Alex Henry, Calle Johansson, Josef Boumedienne, Ken Klee, and Sylvain Cote).

One who would be was a five-year veteran who had not played in an NHL game since the 1999-2000 season, losing one full season to a shoulder injury and playing a season in Germany along the way.  John Gruden, an eight-round pick (168^th overall) of the Boston Bruins in the 1990 entry draft, was signed by the Caps on this date in 2003. 

It was not exactly part of a youth movement.  Gruden was six weeks past his 33^rd birthday.  But something in his season in Germany (6-25-31 in 38 games with Eisbaren Berlin) caught the Caps’ attention.  Whatever that was, neither the Capitals nor their fans got a long look at it.  Gruden played in 11 games before leaving the lineup in early November with a groin injury.  Those would be the only games in which Gruden played for the Caps and in the NHL in what was his last season.

Gruden went into coaching where he suffered the odd experience of being fired twice as head coach by the same team in one season.  He is currently the head coach of the Hamilton Bulldogs of the Ontario Hockey League.

2006 – Caps Sign a Heart and Soul Guy

Quintin Laing had been around.  He was drafted in the fourth round by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1997 entry draft, and that was the departure point for an extended trip through North American hockey.  He spent three more seasons with the Kelowna Rockets in the Western Hockey League before jumping to pro hockey, splitting time between the Norfolk Admirals in the AHL and the Jackson Bandits of the ECHL over two seasons.  He played four more seasons with Norfolk (signed as a free agent by the Chicago Blackhawks along the way, for whom he played three games in the 2003-2004 season) before his journey stopped with the Caps’ organization.

On this date in 2006, Laing signed as a free agent with Washington.  He started the 2006-2007 season with the Hershey, where he dressed for 75 games, establishing a pro-best 15 goals, adding 28 assists and posting a career best at any level plus-21.  The following season he split time between Hershey (20 games) and Washington (39 games), where he posted an amazing 52 blocked shots in those 39 games, second on the club among forwards (Brooks Laich had 56 blocked shots in 82 games). 

Laing spent almost the entire 2008-2009 season in Hershey, but he was called up late in the season and dressed for a late-March game against Tampa Bay.  He skated just ten minutes and finished the game with one blocked shot.  It was one he might have been better to avoid.  He suffered a lacerated spleen for which it was assumed he would be out for the season.  He was not.  He dressed for nine playoff games for the Hershey Bears, recording a pair of goals and a pair of assists.

Laing dressed for 36 games with the Caps in 2009-2010 (a season interrupted by another injury from a blocked shot, a fractured jaw against the New York Rangers), but it would be his last in the Caps’ organization.  He signed a professional tryout contract with the Abbotsford Heat in the AHL, where, except for a brief four-game stint in the ECFL, he played his last three seasons in pro hockey.  His tenure with the club might have been brief, but he had the respect of teammates who thought of him as a “heart and soul guy.” 

The other things that happened on this date?... Rome burned. The great fire of 64 AD lasted six days and destroyed about half the city… Intel was founded on this date in 1968… Detroit declared bankruptcy on this date in 2013… Nelson Mandela was born on this date in 1918… John Glenn was born on this date in 1921.

So, What Happened on This Date?... July 16

So… what did happen on July 16^th in Washington Capitals history?  It was a famous day, as it turns out. 

1990 – “Scott Stevens career with the Washington Capitals is over.”

That was the headline in a Washington Post story on July 13, 1990 announcing that the Washington Capitals would not match a four-year/$5.1 million offer sheet tendered to the restricted free agent defenseman.  By today’s standards, even with inflation (the total deal was for $9.86 million in 2018 dollars, an “AAV” of $2.465 million per year).  But in 1990, it was a big deal.  Consider that Wayne Gretzky, still perhaps the best player of the era, had just completed a season in which he earned $1,720,000 (source: capfriendly.com).

The Caps gave up an all-star caliber blueliner – he was on the first-team All-Rookie team in 1982-1983, appeared in two All-Star Games with the Caps, and was named to the All Star first team once (1987-1988) – for five first round picks.  The Caps later that same day made a trade of some note.  The club, with Stevens about to depart, obtained defenseman Mike Lalor and forward Peter Zezel from St. Louis for Geoff Courtnall.  Lalor played in 132 regular season and 10 postseason games for the Caps before being traded to the Winnipeg Jets for Paul McDiarmid in March 1992.  Zezel played 20 games for Washington before he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs with defenseman Bob Rouse for defenseman Al Iafrate in January 1991.

Stevens went on to complete a Hall of Fame career, spending one season with the Blues and then, in another uncommon personnel move, was transferred to the New Jersey Devils as compensation for the Blues signing forward Brendan Shanahan.  Stevens spent 13 seasons with the Devils, with whom he played in ten All-Star games, was named a first-team all-star once, won three Stanley Cups, was awarded a Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, but never won a Norris Trophy as outstanding defenseman.

Stevens had another legacy with the Caps.  The five first round picks the Caps were awarded in compensation were the first fruit of a productive tree, making Stevens, who was the fifth overall pick of the 1982 entry draft, the most productive draft pick in Capitals history.  Stevens was signed by the Blues on this date in 1990 to complete the deal and officially end Stevens' career in Washington.

1999 – The Caps Get a Backup Goalie

The 1998-1999 season was one in which injuries figured importantly.  No skater appeared in all 82 games (Ken Klee dressed for 78 games), only ten skaters dressed for more than 60 games, and the Caps employed 37 skaters in all.  Four goalies dressed for the Caps that season, and once the team had to give top netminder Olaf Kolzig a break, things went south.  The other three goalies – Rick Tabaracci, Mike Rosati, and Martin Brochu – combined for 26 appearances, going 5-14-3, 2.55, .906, with two shutouts (both by Tabaracci).  No goalie other than Kolzig won a game after March 20^th that season, but the Caps won only two of their last 13 games.

Tabaracci was a free agent after that season (he would be signed by the Atlanta Thrashers the following November), and neither Brochu nor Rosati appeared to be in the Caps’ plans as a backup for Kolzig (as it turned out, Rosati appeared in one game for the Caps, his only career NHL game, and Brochu only played in seven more NHL games with Vancouver and Pittsburgh over the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 seasons; he never won an NHL game in nine appearances).   

What the Caps needed was a proven, reliable backup, a professional who understood his role and could fill it consistently.  On this date in 1999 they settled on a 32-year old veteran of 11 seasons with four teams.  Craig Billington was acquired from the Colorado Avalanche for future considerations on this date in 1999.  He played four seasons with the Caps, appearing in 47 games, going 11-19-7, 2.95, .894, with two shutouts.  But he might be best known for a moment when he wasn’t in the game, when in a contest against the Pittsburgh Penguins, things got tense, and Billington made his contribution by mocking Penguin goalie Johan “Moose” Hedberg… 

2015 – The Caps Sign a Pair

July 2015 was a busy month for the Caps.  A very busy month.  There were seven transactions on July 1^st, a day topped  by the signing of free agent Justin Williams, but including signings of Taylor Chorney, Stan Galiev, and Aaron Ness, among others.  The following day, the Caps traded Troy Brouwer, Pheonix Copley, and a draft pick to the St. Louis Blues for T.J. Oshie, and they signed Chris Bourque.  A few days later, they signed Evgeny Kuznetsov to a new contract.

One wondered if the Caps had any more activity left after that first week in July 2015.  They did, although the next round of it was of a comparatively minor variety.  Zach Sill had stops in Pittsburgh and Toronto before joining the Caps organization.  That leg of the journey, from the Penguins to the Maple Leafs in February 2015, was part of a trade that would also involve future Capital Daniel Winnik.  But when the season was over, Sill was a free agent.  He signed a one-year/two-way deal with the Caps for $575,000 ($287,500 in AHL salary) on this date in 2015.  He played ten games for the Caps in the 2015-2016 season (1-0-1, plus-2) and then signed a two-year/$1,225,000 contract with the Caps in June 2016.  He did not see action with the Caps in either the 2016-2017 or 2017-2018 seasons.  He is currently an unrestricted free agent.

The Caps also had the matter of Chris Brown on their to-do list.  Brown was a minor player in the Martin Erat saga, coming to the Caps with Rostislav Klesla and a draft pick for Erat and John Mitchell in March 2014. Over the remainder of the 2013-2014 season and the 2014-2015 season, Brown dressed for 11 games with the Caps, posting one goal and a plus-1.  It was enough for the Caps to agree to a two-year/$1,150,000 contract with Brown on this date in 2015.  He appeared in one game in the 2015-2016 season before he was traded to the New York Rangers for Ryan Bourque.  He did not play for the Rangers, and when he became a free agent, he signed with the Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers Nürnberg of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.

In other July 16^th news, it was on this date… in 1790 that the District of Columbia was established as the capital of the United States under the Residence Act of 1790… in 1862 that David Farragut was promoted to the rank of rear admiral, the first officer in the United States Navy to hold admiral rank… in 1935 that the first parking meter was installed (in Oklahoma City, OK)… in 1941 that Joe DiMaggio his safely in his 56^th consecutive game, the last game of his record streak… in 1945 that a plutonium-based weapon was detonated at Alamogordo, NM, the first successful detonation of a nuclear weapon… in 1969 that Apollo 11 launched from the Kennedy Space Center, beginning what would be the first successful moon landing mission… in 1967 that Will Ferrell was born (cue the cowbell)…