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

We are now down to the penultimate look back at the All Alphabet Team that we published originally in 2014.  The All-Team W that we published back then was among the more experienced teams in games played with the Caps and looked like this: 

• LW: Tony White (1974-1978)
• C: Ryan Walter (1978-1982)
• RW: Tommy Williams (1974-1976)
• D: Brendan Witt (1995-2006)
• D: Bryan Watson (1976-1979)
• G: Bernie Wolfe (1975-1979)

All-Team W is among the more experienced of squads in the All-Alphabet collection, at least in the regular season.  The five skaters combined for 1,353 games with the Caps, all of them dressing for at least 100 games with the club.  Brendan Witt leads the group with 626 games.  But it is not a group with much postseason experience.  Witt is the only one of the skaters to have dressed in the postseason, appearing in 31 games over his career with the Caps.

This is also a squad that has specific lanes in which the skaters skate.  Forwards have good offensive numbers, the defense is more “defensive” in their orientation.  Each of Tony White, Ryan Walter, and Tommy Williams averaged 19 or more goals per-82 games (19, 30, and 23, respectively), and Walter and Williams averaged more than 60 points per-82 games (74 and 61, respectively. 

On the back end, Brendan Witt and Bryan Watson were of two completely different eras, but both were more oriented to the defensive side of the puck, Witt going 3-8-11 per-82 games in his Caps career, Watson going 2-14-16 in 155 games with the club. Each provided a physical edge that complemented their defensive games.  Witt is one of two Capitals defensemen to amass more than 1,000 penalty minutes in his career with the club (1,035, trailing only Scott Stevens’ 1,628), and Watson averaged almost two penalty minutes per game in his career with the Caps (294 minutes in 155 games).

It makes the matter of possible replacements to the original team an interesting one.  Making it more interesting is that there are multiple candidates at a single position – right wing.  In the period after the original team was published, three candidates at the position emerged: Joel Ward, Justin Williams, and Tom Wilson. 

In 82 regular season games with the Caps over the period, Ward went 19-15-34, minus-4.  That he is perhaps most remembered for the series-clinching goal in overtime of Game 7 of the 2012 playoffs against the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins should not enter into the consideration, given the period over which replacements are evaluated, but it is hard to dismiss it.

Justin Williams went 46-54-100, plus-29, in 162 regular season games with the Caps since 2014 and was among the team leaders on the ice during his stay with the club.  What he was unable to do, despite going 6-10-16 in 25 postseason games in Washington, was duplicate his late-series heroics that gave rise to a nickname of “Mr. Game 7.” 

Tom Wilson remains a work in progress, going 75-103-178, plus-29, in 440 games over the period to date.  He has added 11 goals and 25 points in 25 postseason games and has his name engraved on the Stanley Cup.  He has become a foundation player at both ends of the ice, manning a top line spot in even strength situations and among the primary penalty killers among the forwards.  It is Wilson’s production, potential, and his ability to flourish in different situations that make him the pick to replace Tommy Williams at right wing on All-Team W.

In goal, Bernie Wolfe toiled for some ghastly teams in his four seasons in Washington, and his record reflects it (20-61-21, 4.18, .977, with one shutout).  Nevertheless, he will remain as the goalie on this squad, what with none of the five goalies dressed for the Caps since 2014 qualifying as a replacement.

All-Team W is a team that can provide some offensive fireworks in one end and some orneriness in the other.  What is left to wonder is whether the higher aggregate talent might have made Bernie Wolfe’s numbers better in goal.

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

When we published the All-Team V version of the All-Alphabet Team, we asked, “’V’ for victory?”  We were not convinced the answer would be in the affirmative.  Part of the problem was so few players to select from – we had to take one player whose last name ended with the letter “V.”  What we were left with was this: 

• LW: Aaron Volpatti (2012-2015)
• C: Chris Valentine (1981-1983)
• RW: Dennis Ververgaert (1980-1981)
• D: Darren Veitch (1980-1986)
• D: Dmitri Mironov (1998-2001)
• G: Semyon Varlamov (2008-2011)

This team is a bit of an odd one.  On a per-82 game basis, there is some decent scoring punch.  Chris Valentine averaged 34-41-74 per-82 games over his 105-game Caps career, while Dennis Ververgaert averaged 15-28-43. But on the left side, Aaron Volpatti was all but absent on the offensive side of the ice (one goal and three points in 60 games with the Caps when the team was published).

The defense has some offensive life in it with Dmitri Mironov averaging 4-20-24 per-82 games as a Capital and Darren Veitch averaging 6-30-37.  And, these two have the most experience among the skaters with the club with 155 and 319 games, respectively.  On the other hand, they and their forward teammates have next to no postseason experience, six games in all (Valentine with two, Mironov with four) and no points scored.

There would seem to be opportunity for replacement on the All-Team V squad, and there is an obvious solution at left wing.  In place of Volpatti we insert Jakub Vrana.  Despite having played in only 245 games over four seasons with the club, Vrana ranks seventh in goals scored since the original team was published in 2014 (65), 12^th in points (132), tied for 11^th in power play goals (six), eighth in power play points (23), and sixth in game-winning goals (14), despite ranking just 14^th in games played among skaters (245).  Vrana’s presence makes this forward line more balanced and more formidable.  Given the absence of other possibilities under this letter, he would be the only replacement among the skaters.

In goal, Semyon Varlamov would be hard to dislodge.  At the time he was installed on All-Team V, he already ranked 13^th among goalies in team history in wins (30), second in save percentage (.917, to Braden Holtby’s .919; minimum: 20 games), second in goals against average (2.39, to Jim Carey’s 2.37), and tied for 11^th in shutouts (four), despite appearing in only 59 games (tied for 21^st).  That there are no goalies among the five who have dressed since 2014 who would qualify as a replacement makes this an easy task.  Varlamov remains as the goalie of All-Team V.

With one change in All-Team V – Vrana for Volpatti – this becomes a team that can surprise, given the per-82 game production of Valentine and Ververgaert.  Is it among the elite teams of the alphabet for the Caps? Probably not, but it might be one of the more entertaining ones.

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.