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Wednesday, November 8, 2000
Caps heading downhill again
By Rob Parent
Special to ESPN.com
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It is time for owner Ted Leonsis to come up with some fresh bread, if only because his new hockey team already appears moldy.
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Wed., Sept. 27
For three months last year, the Caps were one of the very best teams in the entire league. It seemed that they got on such a high by the time the playoffs came around, they couldn't bring it to another level. They need to gear themselves up for a good playoff spot and then get ready to challenge for the Stanley Cup.
The most important element and the most valuable player for the Capitals is goalie Olaf Kolzig. Kolzig can single-handedly win games and make everybody better. Sergei Gonchar had a career high in points last year. He needs to continue to be an elite defenseman.
Jeff Halpern was a big surprise last year. Halpern will have to avoid the sophomore jinx since it looks like the Caps are going to have to replace Peter Bondra's production. The addition of free-agent Craig Berube will also be important because he is instrumental in the locker room. |
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Leonsis couldn't have been happy when his club had one of the worst starts in franchise history last fall, but by season's end there he was on the networks making like Jerry Jones again. All smiles, secure in the knowledge that the playoff miss of the prior year was an anomaly.
He's in for a rude re-awakening.
These Capitals who finished so strong last spring – from the dregs of a botched '99 to a horrific start last season, only to finish with 102 points and the conference's No. 2 seed – are primed for a season-long disaster.
They have a captain in Adam Oates who slipped to 15 goals and 71 points last year and might be ready to slip into some comfy slippers at age 38. They have a franchise sniper in Peter Bondra who inexplicably fell off the face of the earth last season, and is fully anticipating a trade. They have up-and-coming power forward Chris Simon, off a career-best 29 goals, holding out of training camp. Ditto top defenseman Sergei Gonchar.
And as for Olie The Goalie?
Kolzig is said to be the club's most reliable asset. But he just had knee surgery and is out a few weeks.
Ouch.
"Overall, the goal this year is simple – do better than last year," Leonsis told the Washington Post. "That doesn't necessarily mean getting more points than we did last year; getting 102 is an awful lot. The goal is to stay healthy and perform better in the playoffs than we did last year."
The key for the Caps, then, would be to start converting some of those AOL-infused dollars into hockey assets. Bondra should be given every opportunity to find himself early in the season, if for no other reason than to boost his trading value. General manager George McPhee should be given every opportunity to sign both his holdouts, then be given the go-ahead to work a deal for an unhappy stud somewhere else. And that's what Leonsis says he'll get.
"This year's free-agent crop was not very strong," said Leonsis, who seems to have gone from curious investor to hands-on fan. "Budget-wise I keep pushing to do something dramatic right now, but the right players haven't been there."
If not now, why not later? Future unrestricted free agent Rob Blake would be nice, as would Alexei Yashin, if McPhee could put up with him. Until then, the Caps grind on with a reliable but rapidly aging defensive corps and continue to hope that Kolzig can win a lot of 2-1 games. The educated guess here says they've already bought all the time they can afford.
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Bottom Line on the Panthers
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Strengths
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Weaknesses
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Checking lines
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Age
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Goaltending
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Age
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SEASON OUTLOOK: The mystery of Bondra or no Bondra will dog this team into the season, right up until he's traded to a contender over the winter. Oates has to find a magic youth potion somewhere, and Joe Murphy is actually going to be called upon to score like he did as a kid so many years ago. You have to admire players like Oates, Calle Johansson and Steve Konowalchuk, but to win in the NHL these days, it takes a lot more than tough old nuts, especially when your franchise scorer has lost his touch. A slow start will mean an early spring in D.C. |
Rob Parent covers the NHL for the Delaware County (Pa.) Times. His NHL East column appears every week on ESPN.com.
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