In the history of the Washington Capitals, only one goalie has carried the team to the Stanley Cup Finals. That goalie retired today, after a decade in D.C. and a brief curtain call with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Olaf Kolzig may not play in the NHL any longer, but Caps fans will always remember him as one of the most dedicated, team-focused players in Washington history.

Simeon Varlamov’s long trip from Hershey, PA meant he didn’t arrive in time to back up Brent Johnson when the puck dropped Friday against the Ottawa Senators. Instead, the Caps had to rely on team Web Producer and former Division III goalie Brett Leonhardt as their backup goalie for ten minutes of nail-biting NHL action. The Senators took every possible opportunity to try to hurt Johnson and get to Leonhardt, the only Division III goalie…

Last night the Capitals continued their domination of the once-mighty Ottawa Senators with a 5-1 win at home. Goalie Brent Johnson had fans asking “Olaf who?” as he held the Senators scoreless until the game’s final minutes, stopping every shot and holding on to every puck that came near him. The Senators tried everything to throw Johnson off his game. They tripped him. They slashed at him with their sticks. They even body checked him…

Coming into this hockey season, Brent Johnson was even more of an afterthought than usual. After leaving Johnson in the press box to watch games and leaving him on the bench to watch practices at the end of last season in favor of Olaf Kolzig and Christobal Huet, the Caps replaced those two aging starters with former NHL MVP Jose Theodore. Johnson battled through training camp to regain his NHL backup job against a couple…

In the 1990s, Brent Johnson was a terrific starting goalie for the St. Louis Blues. He led a good team, stopped the shots he had to stop and won more than he lost. He set a (since broken) playoff shutout record. At that time, the Capitals had a great starting goalie of their own named Olaf Kolzig. Towering over other NHL goalies of the day at 6’3″, Kolzig wore the nickname Zilla with pride, even…

This weekend the Capitals decided not to add a great goalie to pull them up from the dregs of the standings. After losing seven of eight games, the Caps were in last place. This gave them the first chance to pick up Ilya Bryzgalov, a goalie placed on waivers because he didn’t enjoy playing backup on the Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks. Two years ago, Bryzgalov posted one of the greatest playoff shutout streaks in…

Three of the Capitals’ best five offensive players are still out with minor injuries. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, after being absolutely destroyed by the Carolina Hurricanes last night, the Caps are tied with the Atlanta Thrashers for the worst record in the East at 5-9-0. Last night’s loss would have been easier to explain if the Caps were missing ten, or maybe twenty of their best players. Two Hurricanes scored…

In an interview yesterday, discussing the state of goalie development in Russian hockey, Caps superstar Alexander Ovechkin optimistically announced that Caps goaltending prospect Semen Varlamov will remain in Russia this year, playing with Yaroslavl Lokomotiv. This contradicted Ovechkin’s earlier optimistic prediction that Varlamov would challenge Olaf Kolzig for the starting job in Washington, which in turn contradicted Varlamov’s earlier announcement that he planned to play for Lokomotiv this year. Goalies take longer to develop than…

With the NHL Trade Deadline approaching, the Capitals had better make up their minds pretty quickly whether they’ll be buying or selling. With starting goaltender, team leader and future saint Olaf Kolzig on injured reserve for three weeks with a torn ligament in his knee, the team is undoubtedly thinking “sell”, if not thinking about reaching for the cellar of the league standings and getting into the lottery to draft Angelo Esposito. However, the…

This entry was written by DCist contributor Jesse Rounds The Washington Capitals are done for the season. The team finished the last week of play by going 3-1 with wins against Florida, Tampa Bay, and Atlanta. The Capitals were expected to finish at the bottom of the NHL this season, and by finishing with the third worst record in the league, the team certainly lived up to those expectations. On the other hand the Caps…