Peerless Playback: The All-Alphabet Team, "The T Team"

As we begin the Training Camp 2.0 phase of the NHL season, we are approaching the end of our “Peerless Playback” of the All-Alphabet team.  We are down to “All-Team T,” the original version of which was published in August 2014.  That team looked like this: 

• LW: Dave Tippett (1990-1992)
• C: Jeff Toms (1997-2000)
• RW: Jim Thomson (1986-1987, 1988-1989)
• D: Greg Theberge (1979-1983)
• D: Mark Tinordi (1994-1999)
• G: Jose Theodore (2008-2010)

All-Team T has little to distinguish it among the All-Alphabet Teams.  None of the skaters had as many as 20 goals for the Caps, and the leading goal scorers – Greg Theberge and Mark Tinordi (16 goals apiece with the club) – were defensemen.  Only Tinordi played in more than 200 games as a Cap (264), and only Theberge among the others dressed for more than 100 games (153).  As a group, the five skaters participated in only 50 postseason games, totaling three goals and ten points.

Tinordi was perhaps the most accomplished of the skaters overall, but he came to the Caps in the second half of his career and was plagued by injuries to an extent that he played more than 60 games only once in five years with the club.

Tippett was cut of similar cloth among the forwards, building a reputation as a good defensive forward in seven seasons with the Hartford Whalers (four times earning votes for the Selke Trophy as best defensive forward).  He never really was able to match that level of performance, on either the defensive or offensive sides of the puck, in his two seasons in Washington.

Theberge has the distinction of being one of the few players drafted by the Caps 100^th overall or later (109^th overall in the 1979 Entry Draft) to play in more than 100 games for the Caps (153 games), but his was not a distinguished career otherwise.

Toms and Thomson were the definition of “journeyman,” Toms appearing in 236 games for six teams over an eight-year career, and Thomson appearing in 115 games for six teams over a seven-year career in the NHL.

Replacements for skaters on All-Team T should be possible but for one thing.  Since 2014, the Caps have had no skater dress for a game with a last name starting with the letter “T.”  The skaters from 2014 are the skaters who remain in 2020.

In goal, Jose Theodore was the original pick in 2014.  It was not as if it was a deep pool from which to select a goalie, Rick Tabaracci being the other eligible goaltender at the time.  Now, almost six years later, Theodore remains because the Caps have employed so few goalies over that time (five), none of whom have last names starting with the letter “T.”

What we are left with is the original All-Team T, a squad with limited experience with the Caps among the skaters, and generally unimpressive production in what games they played as a group.  The lack of offensive punch is not overcome by the physical edge a Mark Tinordi provides or the defensive skill of a Dave Tippett (and that was more evident in his Hartford days).  A lot of pressure would be placed on goaltending, and it isn’t clear Jose Theodore would be consistently up to that challenge.

Peerless Playback: The All-Alphabet Team, "The S Team"

We are almost at the end of our “Peerless Playback” of the All-Alphabet team.  We now take a look back at “All-Team S” that was published in August 2014.  That team looked like this: 

• LW: Alexander Semin (2003-2012)
• C: David Steckel (2005-2011)
• RW: Bob Sirois (1975-1980)
• D: Neil Sheehy (1988-1990)
• D: Scott Stevens (1982-1990)
• G: Wayne Stephenson (1979-1981)

All-Team S has the distinction of being perhaps the most intriguing team of the alphabet teams.  It has elite-levels scoring (Alexander Semin), solid secondary scoring up front (Bob Sirois) and in the back (Scott Stevens), solid defense (David Steckel), and a physical edge (Neil Sheehy).  The intriguing part is that while there are a number of significant boxes checked on what makes a competitive team, All-Team S might be less than the sum of its parts.  Semin was an elite talent, but he was mercurial, capable of disappearing in some games.  Steckel, a fine defensive center, penalty killer, and faceoff specialist, lacked the playmaking skill one usually likes to see at the position.  Sirois had his only two 20-plus goal scoring years as a Capital, but he labored for weak teams.  Sheehy, who played only 131 games in Washington before being caught up in an off-ice incident, was a formidable defensive defenseman with limited offensive contributions, but he posted only one point in 21 career postseason games with the Caps.  Stevens might be the most well-rounded defenseman ever to play for the Caps, but his legend was built after he left the team as a free agent (and he, too, was caught up in the same incident as Sheehy).

Then there is the cast of potential replacements for this team among players who dressed for the team after the summer of 2014.  This is a rich pool, ten players whose last names start with the letter “S.”  Five of them are forwards (Zach Sanford, Mike Sgarbossa, Zach Sill, Devante Smith-Pelly, and Chandler Stephenson), while the other five are defensemen (Cameron Schilling, Nate Schmidt, Kevin Shattenkirk, Jonas Siegenthaler, and Ryan Stanton).  Three of this group of ten dressed for more than 100 regular season games and more than 20 postseason games as Capitals – Schmidt, Smith-Pelly, and Stephenson.

However, there is a “close, but no cigar” aspect to the potential replacements.  While Smith-Pelly has a fine postseason resume with the Caps, he was not a particularly productive player in the regular season.  He comes close, but we are not inclined to have him replace Sirois at right wing.  Stephenson was a player who might be described as “plucky,” and his offensive production on a per-game basis was similar to Steckel’s, but Steckel was the superior defensive player and merits retention at center on the All-Team S on a close call.

That leaves a potential Schmidt-for-Sheehy swap among the skaters.  Schmidt was not the stay-at-home sort that Sheehy was for the Caps, nor did he play with Sheehy’s physical edge (475 penalty minutes in 131 regular season games), but he more than made up for it by being a more productive player in the offensive end of the ice (8-35-43 in 200 games with the Caps versus 4-9-13 in 131 games for Sheehy).

In goal, Wayne Stephenson was a capable veteran (three seasons in St. Louis and five more in Philadelphia) before he arrived in Washington to wrap up his career with a pair of seasons as a Capital.  He had the misfortune of tending goal for teams that did not reach the 30-win mark in either of his seasons.  Despite the struggles, Stephenson had middle-of-the-road numbers, with a cumulative 3.66 goals against average and .876 save percentage over those two seasons (ranked 18^th and 17^th, respectively among 32 goalies appearing in at least 50 games).  It would be fair to say he outperformed his team.

As far as a replacement goes, the candidate is rookie goalie Ilya Samsonov.  Samsonov and Stephenson represent different ends of the development spectrum, the former at the beginning of his career and the latter ending his career in Washington.  That makes divorcing Samsonov’s potential from his performance an important consideration.  But Samsonov was impressive in his first season, ranking fifth among 23 rookie goalies in goals against average (2.55) and ninth in save percentage (.913).  He was tenth among all goalies in goals against average (among 52 goalies with at least ten games played) and 24^th in save percentage.  Samsonov did his work behind a much better team than that for which Stephenson played, but we are still inclined to go with Samsonov as a replacement in goal for All-Team S.

What we are left with is a quite capable original All-Team S that looks more impressive than most on paper, but perhaps a difficult one in terms of the compatibility of parts.  The changes made here are more or less on the margin, giving the team a younger, and perhaps more energetic look.

Washington Capitals: What If This Day In Caps History Didn't Happen Like This Day In Caps History -- June 22

When we ask ourselves, “what if this day in Caps history didn’t happen like this day in Caps history,” we think about game moments, wins and losses, or perhaps big personnel deals.  We do not think about fabric.  And we do not think about that subject and the same date in two years 12 years apart.

However, on June 22, 1995, the Washington Capitals announced a change in their logo and color scheme.  Gone were the red, white, and blue that served as the basic color scheme for the first 21 years of franchise history, and gone was the lower case “capitals” logo with a hockey stick serving as the letter “t.”

In their place, the Caps went with a teal, bronze, and black color scheme and a “swooping eagle” as the logo.  An all-caps “CAPITALS” diagonally displayed on the front of the uniform and a new secondary logo of the United States Capitol building with crossed hockey sticks displayed on the shoulders and “CAPITALS” overlaid on the image completed the new look.

It turns out that the Caps were not the only team to unveil a new color scheme and logo for the 1995-1996 season, nor were they the only one to do it on June 22^nd.  They were not even the only team to make a switch to teal as a primary color.  The New York Islanders went with a depiction of a fisherman in teal gear angrily brandishing a hockey stick with “ISLANDERS” displayed across the bottom of the logo. 

They kept the orange of their original logo, which left one with the dim image of a Miami Dolphins color scheme rip-off.  The new look was dubbed the “Gorton’s Fisherman Jersey,” which is where we will leave this piece of hockey history.

As for the Caps, the eagle would figure prominently in the early history of the new threads, both in terms of imagery (it always seemed to us a bit out of proportion in size to the jersey) and marketing.  For example, in the unveiling of the new logo, “an unofficial count revealed that seven members of the Capitals' organization used the phrase ‘We hope to soar like an eagle’ 17 times."

If the saying “clothes make the man” applies to hockey (as hinted at in the linked article announcing the change), the updated logo did not have the intended effect.  The teal/bronze/black color scheme would last 11 seasons (including nine with a black alternate jersey featuring the “Capitol” logo on the jersey front), over which the Caps went 383-387-43 (with 89 ties) in the regular season.  Twice in those 11 seasons they finished first in their division – 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 in the Southeast Division.  Five times they reached the postseason, the zenith being their having reached the Stanley Cup final for the first time in team history in 1997-1998.

Playoff frustration was color blind, though.  In those five visits to the postseason in the “teal and bronze era,” the Caps went 19-25 in 44 playoff games, a record that looks even worse (7-16) when that Stanley Cup run in 1998 is accounted for.  And in none of those other four playoff visits did the Caps advance past the first round.  In fact, the failed to force as much as a seventh game in any of those series, losing three times in six games and once in five games. 

In those 11 seasons in teal and bronze, the Caps went through four head coaches:

• Jim Schoenfeld (72-72, with 20 ties in the regular season, 2-4 in the postseason)
• Ron Wilson (192-159-8, with 51 ties in the regular season, 15-17 in the postseason)
• Bruce Cassidy (47-47-7, with 9 ties in the regular season, 2-4 in the postseason)
• Glen Hanlon (72-108-29, with nine ties in the regular season, no postseason appearances)

Twelve years to the day that the Caps adopted the teal, bronze, and black look, they retired it in favor of a return to a red, white, and blue scheme.  It was a modern take on the original color and logo scheme, and one that coincides with the golden age of Capitals hockey.  Since the team re-adopted their red, white, and blue scheme, the Caps are 596-308-115 in 13 regular seasons, including the one recently suspended for 2019-2020.  Over that span, only the Pittsburgh Penguins have won more games than the Caps (598), and the Caps have earned more standings points (1,307) than any other team.

Six head coaches have manned the bench for the Caps in the 13 seasons since returning to their red, white, and blue roots:

• Glen Hanlon (6-14-1 in the regular season, no postseason appearances)
• Bruce Boudreau (201-88-40 in the regular season, 17-20 in the postseason)
• Dale Hunter (30-23-7/7-7)
• Adam Oates (65-48-17/3-4)
• Barry Trotz (205-89-34/36-27)
• Todd Reirden (89-46-16/3-4)

The Caps reached the postseason 12 times in 13 tries in their red, white, and blue threads, including this season in which they qualified for a round-robin series to determine seeding for the first round of the playoffs, yet to be finalized.  In 11 postseason appearances to date since adopting their current look, the Caps are 66-62 in 128 games, advancing past the first round seven times and winning their first Stanley Cup in 2018.  The current Capitals theme is as “winning” a theme as there is in the NHL these days.  It just took a winding road and a changing color palette to get there.

Peerless Playback: The All-Alphabet Team, "The R Team"

We have been marching through our look back at the All-Alphabet Teams that we put together back in 2014, and we have arrived at the letter “R” in the review.  Back in August 2014, the “All-Team R” team we published looked like this: 

• LW: Torrie Robertson (1980-1983)
• C: Mike Ridley (1987-1994)
• RW: Tom Rowe (1976-1980, 1982)
• D: Joe Reekie (1994-2002)
• D: Bob Rouse (1989-1991)
• G: Pat Riggin (1982-1985)

If you were searching for an adjective to describe this team, it might be “reliable,” in keeping with the letter “R” theme.  There is the reliable 30-goal scorer; Mike Ridley averaged 30 goals per 82 games over 588 regular season games.  There is the reliable secondary scoring; Tom Rowe averaged 24 goals per 82 games over 191 games, and Torrie Robertson averaged 13 goals per 82 games over 62 games with the Caps.  Joe Reekie and Bob Rouse are fine examples of reliable stay-at-home defensemen.  And when the original All-Team R was published in 2014, Pat Riggin ranked sixth in team history in regular season wins by a goaltender (67), fifth in games played (143), and tied for eighth in shutouts (six).

The playoff record of this squad as a whole paints a bit less flattering a picture.  Only three of the five (Ridley, Reekie, and Rouse) had any postseason experience with the Caps, a total of 145 games.  The odd part of it, though, is how Ridley’s goals-per-82 games dropped substantially (21 per 82 games), while those of the defensemen – Reekie and Rouse – increased (five goals and 16 goals per 81 games, respectively).

In goal, Riggin had a slightly better goals against average in 10 postseason games for the Caps than he had in 143 regular season games (2.93 versus 3.03), but his save percentage was off (.875 versus .883), and he did not record a postseason shutout for the Caps.

Possible replacements among the skaters are few in number.  There is only one Capital who dressed for the team after August 2014 who qualifies – forward Mike Richards.  A strong two-way player who played a gritty style above his weight class, had a solid ten-year career in Philadelphia and Los Angeles, winning two Stanley Cups with the Kings.  In his 11^th season, 2014-2015, he dressed for 47 games through January 21^st, going just 5-10-15, before he was placed on waivers.  He cleared waivers and was sent to the Kings’ AHL affiliate in Manchester, subsequently recalled in March to finish the NHL season.  It was a signal of troubles to come, the Kings later seeking to terminate their contract with Richards following an incident involving possession of a controlled substance.  After further actions by the club and the players’ union, Richards reached a settlement with the club in October 2015 releasing him from the club and making him a free agent.

Enter the Capitals.  In early January 2016, he signed a one-year/$1.0 million contract with the club.  It might have been a low-risk deal, and it was a good thing.  Richards dressed for 39 games with the Caps in the 2016 portion of the 2015-2016 season, going 2-3-5, minus-2, primarily as a bottom-six forward averaging about 12 minutes a game.  In 12 postseason games with the Caps, Richards did not record a point, averaging a bit more than 11 minutes a game.   It would be his last NHL action.  Nothing in that portion of his resume argues for consideration to replace Mike Ridley at center on All-Team R.

In goal, we are left once more with no goalie eligible to replace the incumbent in the position.  It would be difficult to dislodge Riggin from his spot, but the absence of an eligible goalie makes the task easy.  Riggin remains.

And so, the original All-Team R of August 2014 remains the All-Team R of 2020.  It is a decent team in some respects, but it just lacks the depth to consider it among the best of the all-alphabet teams.