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 18th and 17th, 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 24th 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.