In the Box with John Kreiser

In the Box with John Kreiser
Washington Makin' Changes
By John Kreiser, Featured Columnist

David Poile spent 15 years making the Washington Capitals what they are today. For that, he's been handed his walking papers.
When Poile signed on as GM in August 1982, the Capitals had never made the playoffs. They ended that drought during Poile's first season, and didn't miss again until 1996-97, when injuries ravaged the roster--the Caps lost 361 man-games to injuries, with five key players missing at least 24 contests.
In another context, missing the playoffs once in 15 years would be plenty good enough to earn a veteran general manager a new contract. But these are not normal times in Washington.
For one thing, the team is heading for a new home. After more than two decades in the hinterlands of Landover, Md., the Caps are finally going to be Washington's team when the new MCI Center opens in the fall. That alone could encourage a revenue-starved owner like Abe Pollin to make a change.
But more important is that the Caps have become a symbol of mediocrity--and mediocrity doesn't sell luxury boxes. Yes, the Capitals went 594-454-132 under Poile and made the playoffs for 14 straight seasons--but they got as far as the semifinals only once (1990, when they were swept by a Boston team that was blasted by Edmonton in the finals), were bounced from the first round eight times, and are more famous for their playoff failings than their successes.
In fact, the end of Poile's tenure probably stems as much from the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins as anything else. The Capitals lost five of six playoff meetings with the Islanders and four of five with Pittsburgh. The losses to the Islanders include 1985, when the Caps became the first team to lose a best-of-five series after winning the first two games, and 1987, when the Islanders completed a comeback from a 3-games-to-1 deficit with a four-overtime victory in Game 7--at Landover. There was also 1993, when the Islanders upset Washington in six games in the opening round, a series punctuated by Dale Hunter's Hall of Fame cheap shot on Pierre Turgeon after the Islanders center had scored the series-clinching goal. The only time the Caps beat the Islanders (a three-game sweep in 1986), they blew what looked like a sure ticket to the semis by falling to the lowly Rangers in the Patrick Division finals, wasting a 107-point season, the best in team history.
In the 1990s, the Penguins took over where the Isles left off, knocking off the Caps three times in four tries--including twice after the Capitals took three of the first four games, as well as last year, when Washington lost four straight after winning the first two games in Pittsburgh.
Poile's best trade was his first--he fleeced Montreal by getting star defenseman Rod Langway, the best defensive defenseman of the 1980s. His biggest was his last, when he got Bill Ranford, Adam Oates and Rick Tocchet from Boston for prospects at the trading deadline. In true Cap form, both Oates and Tocchet missed time with injuries and Ranford was nothing special.
The Caps are coming to their new downtown arena with one of the NHL's lowest season-ticket bases and a team almost devoid of star quality. Sure, Peter Bondra is good, but how many people know about him? The Caps are among the NHL's most faceless teams; they played boring hockey before it was fashionable, and when other clubs found that boring hockey could be winning hockey, they played it better than the Caps did.
Pollin owes Poile a lot. Poile took an eight-year-old team that was going nowhere and put it on the track to becoming competitive. What he could never do is get his teams to the elite level. When the Caps got good, there was always someone better. When they reached the "better" level, there was always someone still playing a step or two over their heads. The Caps were always good enough to beat anyone--just not at the right time. For that, Poile has to be held accountable.
Poile says he has no regrets and that "I bleed Capitals colors. I'll always be cheering for the Capitals." But after 15 years of being stuck in the middle, Pollin was right to say that "it's time for a new guiding hand for the Washington Capitals."
SCREWY SHARKS: In their six NHL seasons, the San Jose Sharks have given the NHL a lesson in how to market a franchise. In return, maybe some of their brethren could teach the Sharks how to run one.
The Sharks are the manic-depressives of the NHL. One year, they decide to build with veterans. Then, it's kids. Then more veterans ... and more kids ... and more vets. One regime gorges itself on Europeans on draft day; the next makes a 180-degree turn and stocks up on North Americans. It's no wonder that while hockey in the Bay Area is successful to a degree never dreamed of in the Charlie Finley-California Golden Seals days, the Sharks have the some number of winning seasons as their fellow water creatures--0.
The latest casualty is coach Al Sims, who became one of the few coaches in NHL history to get canned after his team improved by 15 points. Of course, when you're starting from just 47 points, there's a lot of room for improvement. Despite shelling out beaucoups of bucks for veterans last summer, the Sharks still finished next-to-last in the overall standings behind Boston--largely because many of those older players missed substantial time with injuries. The Sharks were tough (most penalty minutes in the NHL) but undisciplined (most power plays allowed by far). They improved defensively (79 fewer goals against) but couldn't score (211 goals, a league low and 41 less than last season).
More ominously, empty seats began to show up at the Shark tank late in the season after nearly three seasons of constant sellouts. Thus, even though Sims did about as well as could be expected with the talent (or lack thereof) he had, he was gone. Don't be surprised to see the Sharks go after a big-name coach--they never have, but it might be worth a shot, if only to convince their fans that they're trying.
PICKING UP THE PIECES: One coach the Sharks might find available is Ted Nolan, an Adams Trophy finalist after leading Buffalo to the Northeast Division title and the second round of the playoffs. Despite that success, Nolan becomes a free agent when his contract runs out at the end of June--and so far, there's no sign that he intends to re-up.
Nolan and GM John Muckler, to put it kindly, don't see eye-to-eye. Neither, apparently, do Nolan and his star goaltender, Dominik Hasek, who's the front-runner for the Hart Trophy as regular-season MVP but was missing in action for most of the playoffs after a knee injury, erratic behavior, rumors of an alcohol problem, an attack on a reporter and a league suspension. Nolan didn't even dress him as the backup to Steve Shields for the last two games against Philadelphia, though it appeared Hasek would be ready to play.
It's hard to picture Muckler and Nolan both being back when the Sabres raise their championship banner in the fall--team president Larry Quinn hasn't been able to arrange a truce. They both could be gone if Nolan flies the coop (the line forms on the right if he walks) and Muckler takes the fall if Hasek asks to be traded. And do his teammates even want Hasek back after his erratic playoff?
Another question is the fate of Pat LaFontaine, the team's captain and leading scorer. LaFontaine missed most of the season after sustaining his fifth career concussion on an early-season elbow from Pittsburgh's Francois Leroux. He didn't play again and may have to retire. In fact, with Hasek and LaFontaine on the sidelines, the Sabres had almost as much salary in the press box ($9 million) as they did on the ice against the Flyers.
Matthew Barnaby was in tears during the handshakes with the Flyers on Sunday. "There were tears of happiness because of what we'd done during the season," he said, "and tears of sadness because of what we didn't accomplish."
STAT SHOTS: There were just three fighting majors (down from four last season) in the second round, and two of them belonged to goaltenders. Buffalo's Steve Shields and Philadelphia's Garth Snow fought in the second period of Game 1. The other major was handed to New Jersey's Reid Simpson in Game 4 against the Rangers for triggering a melee that saw 10 players get misconducts. Incidentally, there were 20 fighting majors in the first round, up from 17 a year ago. ...
New Jersey lost just once in 55 regular-season games when allowing two goals or less. The Rangers doubled that total in one series. winning twice while scoring just two goals. Of course, when your goalie stops 178 of 182 shots, as Mike Richter did, it's a lot easier to win. ...
Richter has three of the 16 shutouts recorded in the first two rounds, tying the single-season record set in 1994. That's 16 more than goaltenders managed in 1958-59, the only time in modern history that no shutouts were recorded in Cup play.