28th July: Capitals Update -- week 30

It has been over two weeks – two weeks, two days, and several hours, at the time of this writing – since THE TRADE was announced – and the Washington, DC area is still buzzing. Even if you don’t follow hockey, you’d have to be living under a rock to be unaware of THE TRADE… THE TRADE that sent three of the Washington Capitals’ top prospects – 1999 draft picks centers Kris Beech and Michael Sivek, and defenseman Ross Lupaschuck – to the Caps’ perennial playoff rival Pittsburgh Penguins for (arguably) the best hockey player in the world today, right wing Jaromir Jagr, and defenseman Frantisek Kucera. A trade of this magnitude cannot be ignored, even in a town such as Washington, DC, where hockey goes largely unnoticed by the general media. THE TRADE made the front page – not just the front page of the sports section, but the front page – of both The Washington Post and The Washington Times on July 12, less than one full day after it was announced. You see, it is very rare for a trade in any sport to include a player who is considered to be one of the best in his field, in his prime. It is even rarer for such a thing to happen in the Nation’s Capital, where probably the biggest prior deal occurred in 1964, when the Philadelphia Eagles sent future NFL hall-of-fame quarterback Sonny Jurgensen a few miles southeast in exchange for nearly forgotten quarterback Norm Snead. Hockey-wise, the only comparable trade (and it’s not really comparable, not really) would have to be the 1982 deal that brought Norris Trophy winning defenseman Rod Langway to DC from Montreal.  The Langway deal made an abysmal team competitive.  The Jagr deal has the possibility to make an already competitive team elite. In addition to the three prospects mentioned earlier, the Capitals will be paying the Penguins the NHL limit of $4.9 million cash over the next two years. The Capitals are now responsible for Jagr’s salary (approximately $20 million over the next two seasons) as well as Kucera’s (approximately $1.2 million next season). Jagr provides the much-needed second scoring threat the Capitals have long needed. His new teammate, but likely not linemate, fellow right winger Peter Bondra, is second only to Jagr in goals scored since the 1994-1995 season: Jagr has 314, Bondra has 281. Incidentally, both players made their NHL debuts in the same game on October 5, 1990. - - - The Capitals held a week-long rookie camp at their practice facility, Piney Orchard Ice Arena in Odenton, Maryland, this week. Participating in the camp were right wingers Kyle Clark, Chris Corrinet, Owen Fussy, and Jeff Lucky; left wingers Martin Hlinka, Matt Pettinger, and Peter Polcik; centermen Zbynek Novak, Maxim Orlov, Brian Sutherby, and Roman Tvrdon; defensemen Jakub Cutta, Mike Maglione, John Oduya, Stephen Peat, Artem Ternavsky, Nathan Paetsch, Ryan Vanbuskirk, and Nolan Yonkman; and goaltenders Josh Prior and Rastislav Stana. The only proven NHLer participating in the Caps’ rookie camp is local center Jeff Halpern, the man most renowned around the NHL for giving Mario Lemieux a hard time in the first round of last season’s Eastern Conference playoffs. Tall (6’2”), slim (180 lb.) defensive center Brian Sutherby, a first-round draft pick in 2000, has established himself as the Caps’ top prospect. He has even been rumored to have been requested by Penguins’ GM Craig Patrick in the Jaromir Jagr trade. Next on the list would have to be 6’3”, 207 lb. defenseman Jakub Cutta, a second-round draft pick in 2000, who played three games with the Caps last season. Cutta has shown commitment to the team by spending the off-season in the area. Much like veteran Czech center Michal Pivonka took Peter Bondra under his wing when the Slovakian Bondra arrived in the United States in 1990, Bondra is helping the Czech Cutta learn to live on his own in a foreign country by helping him get an apartment, a car, and other necessities. Following standouts Sutherby and Cutta, in no particular order, are a trio of Canadians: 6’1”, 205 lb. left winger Matt Pettinger, who played ten games with the Caps last year; hard-hitting but inexperienced 6’5”, 218 lb. defenseman Nolan Yonkman; and 6’0”, 195 lb. Nathan Paetsch, a teammate of Sutherby’s in the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors last season. As the Capitals are usually conservative about playing prospects, it is unlikely that any of their prospects will see NHL ice team next season, barring injuries to veteran players. - - - Unconfirmed rumors state that three teams – the Boston Bruins, the Ottawa Senators, and the St. Louis Blues – have interest in disgruntled Caps’ captain, center Adam Oates. Future hall-of-famer Oates, who tied Jaromir Jagr in assists last season with 69, will turn 39 on August 27. He wants to play for two more years, but his current contract with the Caps expires at the end of next season.

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