A Season to Forget
It was the worst of times. It was the worst of times.
One injury after another. One loss after another. Bruised egos.
Lost confidence. Greatness turned to despair.
Five-hundred and eleven man games lost to injury; 35 more than
the unofficial NHL record set last year by the Capitals.
And a new owner, AOL executive Ted Leonsis.
The 1998-99 season for the Washington Capitals was like a good
song gone bad. For almost every win and loss, the Capitals paid
the heavy price of losing one or more of their marquee players to
injury.
Simply put, it was a season that was never meant to be.
Washington (31-45-6), which missed the playoffs by 22 points
despite advancing to the finals the previous season, never
recovered from its dismal, club-record eight-game road trip in
December. The Capitals only won twice on that trip and
desperately missed playmaking center Adam Oates, who missed two
months with a groin injury.
As the Capitals plummeted in a downward spiral toward the
basement of the Eastern Conference, goaltender Olie Kolzig's play
faltered. Throughout the season, Kolzig allowed many goals to
squeak by him in the first five minutes of games. He also was
troubled by giving up rebounds from soft shots he once handled
easily.
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Olaf Kolzig
by Meredith Martini
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Unlike Washington's run through the Eastern Conference in 1998,
Kolzig was never able to put the weight of the team on his back
and carry it to glory. Excluding injuries, this was the major
reason why the Capitals failed to make the playoffs.
TEAM MVP: Ken Klee. While other players made excuses for
their poor play, defenseman Ken Klee (7 goals, 13 assists) was a
quiet leader who rarely made a mistake. Klee has earned a
reputation for his strong defensive play. For example, he always
takes the man out of a play before going after a loose puck
and rarely turns the puck over in the defensive zone.
Late in the season when the Capitals were decimated by injuries
on the blue line, coach Ron Wilson asked Klee to play 25 to 30
minutes a game. The 28-year-old grad of Bowling Green State
responded with an intimidating style of play that earned respect
from both teammates and opposing players.
Klee's most impressive attribute last season was his durability.
His 78 games played ranked him first on a team known more for its
sutures than its durability.
SURPRISE: New Sheriff in Town
No one knew what the organization would pull out of its sleeve
this off-season. Two years ago when the club missed the playoffs
for the first time in 15 years, then general manager David Poile
and coach Jim Schoenfeld were fired. In their places, George
McPhee was hired as general manager and Ron Wilson was named head
coach.
Although Wilson and McPhee will be with the club next season,
this off-season has been more shocking than the events that
occurred in the summer of 1997.
Abe Pollin, who founded the Capitals in 1974, has come to an
agreement to sell the team to a group led by Ted Leonsis, who
carries an estimated net worth of $1 billion and is President of
AOL Studios. National Hockey League owners voted on the sale of
the team on Monday and will likely give their seal of approval by
June 30.
Local entrepreneur Jonathan Ledecky and Capitals President Dick
Patrick round out the Leonsis group. Leonsis will own 60 percent
of the team, with Ledecky owning 30 percent and Patrick 10
percent.
DISAPPOINTMENT: The Trading Deadline
The trading deadline is supposed to be a time when teams gear up
for a playoff run by making acquisitions that will bolster their
lineups.
Unfortunately, the deadline also is a time when teams out of the
playoff chase trade away their talent for draft picks. This is
the category the Capitals found themselves in last season.
Washington traded its heart-and-soul, its playoff hero and its
chief enforcer at the deadline for one young defenseman and three
draft picks.
Captain Dale Hunter, who had been a Capital for 12 years, was
sent to Colorado along with a third round draft pick in 2000 for
a second round pick at this year's entry draft, which will be
held Saturday in Boston.
Center Joe Juneau, whose overtime goal propelled the Capitals to
a berth in the Stanley Cup final in 1998, was sent packing to
Buffalo with a 1999 third round pick for promising defenseman
Alexei Tezikov, who dressed for five games in a Capitals sweater.
Craig Berube was traded to Philadelphia for future
considerations.
The winners of these deals won't be decided for about another
five years. Yet the first steps in deciding if the Capitals took
positive steps into the future will be weighed by the players
McPhee selects on Saturday.
The Capitals, who own the seventh selection in the draft, have
five picks in the first two rounds.
To rebuild successfully, the Capitals must avoid drafting the
Alexandre Volchkovs and Nick Boytons of the hockey world. They
would be best served to acquire talent that will mature in its
farm system.
OFF-SEASON CHANGES: McPhee has spent the summer trying to
solve the injury problems that have plagued the Capitals for each
of the past three seasons. He began this project late in the
season when he hired John Arnett, a Winnipeg-based sports
medicine contractor, to diagnose the methods in which the
organization is run. Apparently, he was not pleased with the
Capitals' training and medical staff.
The Capitals took a step toward fixing their injury woes by
firing longtime trainer Stan Wong and the team's orthopedic
surgeons. Wong had been the Capitals trainer since the 1986-87
season, while the surgeons had served the team for about 15
years. Conditioning coach Frank Costello is still employed.
Meanwhile, Leonsis will begin the daunting task of trying to
rebuild the team's fan-base once the sale is approved. The
Capitals are ranked last in season ticket sales at approximately
4,000. In comparison, a city seeking an expansion franchise must
sell 12,000 season tickets to meet NHL approval.
In an effort to sell more tickets, Leonsis plans to make himself
accessible to everyone at MCI Center. Leonsis said he will make
his cellular phone number public, so unsatisfied fans can call
him when problems arise. Leonsis would then seek to personally
satisfy his clientele.
Don't be surprised if Leonsis is seen working at concession
stands during games. He plans to do whatever it takes to give
fans their money's worth.
Leonsis also wants "to do the right thing" for Hunter. The
longtime Capital has told close friends he will hang up his
skates this summer. Doing the right thing for Hunter would mean
retiring him as a Capital and hanging his No. 32 in the rafters
alongside former greats Yvon Labre and Rod Langway.
It's Been Fun
Thank you very much, dear readers, for making my five-year stint
at LCS: Guide to Hockey an overwhelming success. In the history
of this fine publication, we've seen the Capitals change their
color scheme from red, white and blue to blue, black and copper.
We've also had the pleasure of experiencing a trip to the Stanley
Cup final and a trip to the basement of hockey's boiler room.
And for those with deep pockets who religiously read each word in
this publication, LCS Towers is for sale. Place your bids.
In the movie "Mommy Dearest," Joan Crawford screams, "This isn't
my first time at the rodeo." (No relation to Marc Crawford.)
Well, this won't be my last time covering the sport we all love
and cherish. Crawford's rodeo won't stampede over my corpse. I
promise to be like an axe-wielding killer in a horror movie. Just
when you thought you killed me, I'm back for yet another sequel.
I'll be seeing everyone down the road. I'm not done yet. World
domination is still within our grasp. Long live LCS founders
Michael Dell, Jim Iovino, Zippy the Wonder Chimp, and Matthew
Secosky. They will always be remembered.
That trip to Hartford for the 1994 NHL Draft will never be
forgotten.
