Devils forward says statements weren’t lies With training camps opening in less than three weeks, NHL players are trickling back into town to prepare for another season.
About eight Capitals, including defenseman John Carlson and forwards Jeff Halpern, Mike Knuble and Matt Hendricks, have conducted informal workouts at Kettler Iceplex in Arlington this week. On Wednesday they were joined by former teammate David Steckel, who was dealt Feb. 28 to the New Jersey Devils.
Steckel’s wife had a baby girl in May, and there was little time this summer to come back to Washington and sell their Northern Virginia home after the abrupt trade. They are both Ohio State graduates and reside in Columbus, Ohio, in the offseason, so that explains the brief visit.
But as a former Caps player, Steckel also can speak with some freedom about the team and was asked his opinion of the critical comments Matt Bradley — himself a former Washington player now with the Florida Panthers — made about forward Alexander Semin two weeks ago on an Ottawa radio station. Bradley, among other things, said Semin doesn’t appear to care as much as his teammates and that at times it appears he would rather be back home playing in Russia.
“It’s Brads. It’s not like he’s somebody breaking into the league telling things that nobody knows about already,” Steckel said. “He’s an elder statesman in the league, and he’s been around. He’s in a different organization now. It’s not like he went out and told lies. He didn’t really say anything bad about anybody. He just stated what he felt.”
With reports out of Pittsburgh that star center Sidney Crosby is still dealing with post-concussion symptoms and won’t necessarily be ready to start the season, Steckel is ready for plenty of questions about that topic directed his way. It was his collision with Crosby at the Winter Classic on Jan. 2 that caused the initial injury, after all. Crosby was hit even harder a few days later in a game vs. Tampa Bay and hasn’t played since.
“I see the ticker, and it’s unfortunate. I had no intention,” Steckel said. “I feel just as bad as anybody because I don’t want to see anybody out of the game for that long. … But I hope by now he knows I didn’t mean to do it at all. Hopefully he’s ready to go because he’s a tremendous player.”
