Today, with great pride and pleasure, we bring you the second and final part in our season review of the tragedy known as the 2006-07 Washington Capitals. Yesterday we looked at the team’s sticky relationship with elite offensive star Alexander Semin, their odd choice of a ten million dollar free agent with almost no NHL experience and the team’s pattern of hiring capable but downtrodden goaltenders to help them plummet through the standings into the league’s hallowed draft lottery.
Today at noon the Capitals had a slight chance of winning the first overall pick. Early rumor says the Hawks won, but the actual results will be announced on Canadian national television at four p.m., and gradually leaked stateside after that. Until then, the Caps’ future is like a cat in a box. If they don’t win the drawing, they’ll still pick fourth or fifth in the draft this summer.
Tomorrow we’ll analyze the team’s reaction to the lottery, and break down their plans for the summer. For today, we’d like to look at three more ways the Capitals managed to take a team that started out okay and lose enough games to pull in another top draft pick. First we’ll examine a confrontation with the ghosts of trades past. Next we’ll look at a novel way of shuffling the lineup. Finally we’ll look at the effect of all this losing on the cornerstone of the organization.
Leaving the Past Behind
One of the trades that Caps fans have long wanted to have back was the deal that sent fan favorite Richard Zednik to Montreal and brought back late bloomer Dainius Zubrus. When Zubrus played with Alex Ovechkin, he broke his personal scoring records, but the numbers weren’t enough to erase the heartache left by the trade. Zednik, in addition to skating amazingly fast, used to bleach and spike his hair, and DC101 would give you a free ticket to some games if you gave yourself the same haircut. For many fans, it was love. Last summer in D.C., dreams came true. Zednik complained that Montreal didn’t give him enough ice time, and the Canadiens traded the whining winger back to the Caps for only a third round draft pick. For hockey or fashion reasons, it was a great deal.
