The Capitals need help all over the ice. They could use more scoring. They need to bolster their specialty teams. They need a front-line center.
What they don’t need is a franchise player, thanks to Alex Ovechkin.
“Very few teams in the history of the game have been afforded the opportunity to put a cornerstone in place and build around them,” Outdoor Life Network hockey analyst Bill Clement said. “You go back to Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman. They don’t come along very often and the Caps have a player who is a bonafide star.”
They also have an elite goalie in Olie Kolzig. But, despite Kolzig being 36, the Capitals won’t rush their rebuilding. Owner Ted Leonsis has repeatedly said the Caps won’t be major players in free agency.
“They’ve tried it the other way here,” Capitals coach Glen Hanlon said. “And it wasn’t a lot of fun. It’s not a matter of us having the financial means, it’s a matter of us being smart and building the best team.”
It’s a fine line, Clement said.
“You have to go outside the organization,” he said, “because years slip by and before you know it, you’re saying three years down the road, ‘I guess we didn’t have the players we thought we had.’ [But] you can’t just go out and say, ‘We’ve got money to spend, let’s build a team.’ Look at the Rangers. You have to grow your own.
“This year was appropriate. Moving forward, even Alex will want to win.”
Clement said the Caps only have “serviceable” young players around Ovechkin.
“There’s an unbelievable drop-off after Alex,” he said. “A center is a number one [priority]. Alex will only be better when someone takes the heat away from him. And they need more help on the blue line.”
The specialty teams will be a big off-season focus. It’ll help when promising 22-year-old forward Alexander Semin returns next season.
“They had a fantastic year,” ESPN hockey analyst Barry Melrose said. “For a team that missed the playoffs, Washington has to be the happiest about its season. A lot of teams would like to start with Ovechkin.”
