The Capitals’ front office is supposedly (slowly?) building not just a perennial playoffs visitor, but a winner. In this installment, I’ll cover the progress (?) with the forwards. The Caps have a couple of very different, very potent Russian forwards to forge an offense around, as well as a Swedish stud prospect in Niklas Backstrom, who is expected to join the fray at pivot next season. Captain Chris Clark could have possibly scored the quietest 30 goals in history, and Boyd Gordon has emerged as not just a PK specialist, but as a shut-down center with developing hands. With the acquisition of a first line center, the key pieces of an offensive powerhouse may finally be locking together. That’s what Capitals fans know, or at least hope.
What’s still in question is most of the prospects that we were wondering about BEFORE this season. Jakub Klepis had an extended audition for 2nd line center. The kid has most of the tools- he can skate, pass, and will work in the corners as well as hit guys on occasion. What’s missing is the temperament. For a speedy young guy, his penalties for hooking and such outweight the positives he brings to the game. And sometimes he’s downright invisible. Whether this is a confidence issue or not, how many times do you send him back down to the AHL before you give up? In the week or so that Alexandre Giroux was called up, I’d dare say he brought more to the table than Klepis did in close to a half-season of NHL games.
Tomas Fleischmann is in a similar situation. However, he found some chemistry with Alex Semin, which Klepis failed to do, and lit up the scoresheet a bit, in a shorter amount of time. He’s not a hitter though, and came into training camp just as skinny as the previous season. You can’t expect a spot on a team without working for it, or having a fairly one-dimensional game. The kid needs to put on weight before he’ll make any lasting impact in the NHL, no pun intended.
Eric Fehr was probably the brightest of the three. He has the size, the tenacity, and for a guy that’s 6’4″, he put on a few memorable stickhandling and puck thievery exhibitions during his short-lived NHL tenure. And it would have been telling to see what he could do down the stretch. Caps fans were certainly resting their hopes on Fehr to shore up one of the probable vacant RW spots on the 1st or 2nd lines. Sadly, since March 15th, he’s been out of the lineup with an undisclosed back injury, and there’s no word on improvement.
As for the other measures of the offensive squad, let’s start out with a definite positive: Trusty Donald Brashear has provided many a’bludgeoning, and has proven adept at “separating” his man from the puck, not to mention churning them out of the corners.
The rest: Matt Pettinger had a mediocre season due to injury and (like all Caps’ forwards) musical linemates, but probably hasn’t shown us everything in his arsenal yet. He seems to have found some chemistry with Gordon of late, so perhaps we’ll see the emergence of a checking line next season that can really convert.
Kris Beech has proved what most suspected- he can pass and set up some plays here and there, but doesn’t really have the wheels for the NHL game and will hopefully find success in Europe.
Ben Clymer played most of the season hurt and it showed.
Brian Sutherby has most likely been unseated from 3rd line center, and may have to battle it out with other suitors in Novotny, Laich and Steckel to cement the 4th line job. Of the four guys, Jiri Novotny can pass well, Laich and Steckel certainly play with more urgency in their game, and at least two of the three have better hands than #16. Although a supposed favorite of management, Sutherby needs to do more than chase his checks around and drop ’em here and there to really demonstrate why he’s worth keeping.
Matt Bradley is still Matt Bradley. He’s a character guy that can chip in a few goals, some fisticuffs and just plain doesn’t take shifts off. However, the slots are filling up, and perhaps as soon as next season, cracking the Caps’ lineup will require a little more than just being a character guy, even on the fourth line.
This concludes the offensive snapshot. Somehow, I don’t feel like I know a lot more about our roster guys or our prospects than I did at the start of the season. A handful of guys on the team improved, and some regressed, but the bottom line is, we need more passing and playmaking. Our power play is laughable- we seldom take the opposition by surprise. Even with the addition of Alexander Semin, with what little our prospects have shown us, we’re still in need of the same pieces. Outside of Klepis who was just inconsistent period, and Fehr, who caught fire a few games into his abbreviated visit, most of our call-ups made an impact in their first few games, and then became strangely invisible for the matches to follow. Whether this was coaching, a disconnect between the AHL and NHL systems, the prospects’ fault, or a combination of all of them, it’s something I’ll try to cover in my next blog when I cover the defense. As many know, much of the defensive play last season made many the highlight reel. Unfortunately it was for the opposition.
