Caps Briefing: Long Island Ice Team
This summer the Capitals planned to add a defenseman a center and a right wing, all of whom should contribute to the team's sub-par power play. Yesterday, on hockey's first day of free agency, the Capitals signed defenseman Tom Poti and towering center/right wing Viktor Kozlov, both of whom just finished contracts with the New York Islanders.
Poti, thirty and heading into his tenth professional season, is a medium sized defenseman who plays mostly offense and a little bit of defense. This would be bad news for a Capitals team that already has small-to-medium sized defensemen Steve Eminger, Mike Green, Brian Pothier and Ben Clymer playing mostly offense and a little bit of defense (with Clymer playing mostly at forward). Fortunately, Poti brings something to the table that only Pothier had before: a left handed shot.
On power plays, right handed hockey players tend to play the left wing and the left point, and lefties play the right wing and right point. Since Alexander Semin and Alexander Ovechkin are both righties, the Caps' left side is full and only Pothier logged significant power play time last season. Since Pothier is not a power-play specialist, and hadn't played over twenty minutes per night for a full season before 2006, he was a bit uncomfortable in the new role. Poti is and has, so he should do a much better job of keeping up with the Alexes.
Kozlov is thirty-two and entering his fourteenth professional season. At 6'5" tall, he's a slightly larger, slightly older and potentially much cheaper version of Dainius Zubrus. That is, he's a big Russian center/right wing who's had a relatively underwhelming career after the hype surrounding his entry into the league as a first round pick, but who's played with Alexander Ovechkin and can reliably put up fifty points a season with the right linemates.
The Capitals traded Zubrus to Buffalo this spring because Zubrus figured to command three million dollars per year as a free agent this summer. Buffalo has just been stripped of top centers Daniel Briere and Chris Drury via free agency, so they are likely to spend freely in order to retain Zubrus' services. While Zubrus is known primarily for his tenacious defense and hard work in the corners, Kozlov has drawn at least a little praise in those areas. The Caps reportedly signed Kozlov for two years at 2.5 million per year, and sidestepped what could have been a very costly bidding war for Zubrus.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the Capitals choice to sign two former islanders is that these players both helped the Isles rise from the league's cellar back into the playoffs, a feat which the Capitals hope to recreate this year. The Islanders made this climb under the leadership of Ted Nolan, who won the Jack Adams award as the NHL's best coach in 1997 before cussing out his boss and spending several years unemployed. Nolan brings the same intensity to his coaching, and makes sure that all his players play physically or don't play at all.
At the Capitals' draft party, I asked team captain Chris Clark what player he'd most like to see the team add this summer, and he suggested, "someone who can score and can also play physically." Although Poti and Kozlov have not traditionally been known for their toughness, working for Ted Nolan helps hockey players learn not to be shy.
Of course, when I pressed Clark to name the player who best fit that mold, he picked Jarome Iginla. The first African American to lead the NHL in scoring and a big reason the Calgary Flames went to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2004, Iginla is by far the toughest marquee player on this year's market. He has reportedly all but written his name on another contract with the Calgary Flames, but the Capitals still need a goal-scoring winger for their first line, and they don't get much better than him.
Therefore, while we're sure the Caps are already on the phone, we'd like to add an additional incentive. If the Washington Capitals can acquire former MVP Jarome Iginla, we promise not to write anything negative or sarcastic about the team for one full year. If that's not enough to make it happen, they can always try to call up Dainius Zubrus for one more go round.