Caps Briefing: Spreading Belief
With one week left until the start of the regular season, the hockey world has been divided into two camps along the question of whether the Capitals will make the playoffs this year. The first camp consists of every Caps fan with a blog, up to and including team owner Ted Leonsis. All agree that the team can do it. The second camp contains every other fan and writer in the hockey universe, who agree that this is another year that the Caps will not make the playoffs, even though many concede they could finally come close.
Surprisingly, it's time to add Atlanta Thrashers coach Bob Hartley to the list of the faithful. Last season, Hartley led the Thrashers to their first playoff appearance ever. Explaining to Phil Foley why he wants his team to work even harder now, Hartley said, "Florida's getting better, Washington's getting better, Philadelphia's getting better. Those are three teams that were not in the playoffs. That means three teams are not going back."
While we're not sure we want to take the word of anyone who thinks the Florida Panthers and Philadelphia Flyers are sure shots for the postseason, we're excited that someone who makes his living in hockey on a team not called "Capitals" thinks the Caps have made enough improvements to get back into the mix this year. Follow the jump for a list of Eastern Conference playoff teams that might have declined enough last summer to let the Caps squeak in.
1. The New York Islanders. This summer, the Islanders bought out what was once the most expensive contract in hockey history, allowing Alexei Yashin to return to Russia and clearing up salary cap space to retain their key free agents and add new talent. Instead, after a surprisingly solid season, all their key free agents left. Gritty superstar Ryan Smyth slid to Colorado, leading scorer Jason Blake left for Toronto and power play regulars Viktor Kozlov and Tom Poti capitalized on new deals with Washington. As for new talent, the team attracted Bill Guerin, a winger with sixteen grueling seasons to his credit and Mike Comrie. Worse than that, their defense will rely on Brendan Witt to carry it through tough times. Witt publicly demanded a trade away from the Capitals because he didn't have the heart for such a role.
2. The Buffalo Sabres. Most hockey experts still think the Sabres have a playoff team after losing three first line centers to free agency. Chris Drury, Daniel Briere and ex-Cap Dainius Zubrus all found teams willing to pay them tons of money for the rest of their hockey playing lives. The success of the Sabres' remaining offense depends one of the NHL's oldest players, thirty-nine year old Teppo Numminen, who is still recovering well from unexpected open heart surgery. Numminen currently plans to rejoin the team in December, whereas he was initially projected to miss a couple of weeks. Miracles can happen, especially hockey miracles in upstate New York, and the Sabres played some solid defense last year, but when you talk about "demoralizing," this is what you mean.
3. The New Jersey Devils. The Devils lost their best center and their best defenseman through free agency this summer, and added, instead, aforementioned, overpaid ex-Cap Dainius Zubrus. Martin Brodeur is an amazing goaltender, and Patrick Elias is a really good center, but the rest of the Devils are nothing to write home about this year. Still, they always seem to find a way, which leaves...
4. The Atlanta Thrashers. Hartley left this one wide open, so we're going for it. Atlanta squeaked into the postseason last year on the strength of solid veterans like Keith Tkachuk, Jon Sim, and Scott Mellanby, none of whom will be back. Conventional wisdom gives the Thrashers' playoff spot to some recent Stanley Cup Champions like the Carolina Hurricanes or the Tampa Bay Lightning, but if the Caps get lucky and find a hot goaltender, anything is possible.