Caps' Painful History More to do with Poile than Penguins

I don't know when Dan started following the Capitals. He was a fan when I met him almost seventeen years ago. I started watching and rooting for the Caps on HTS in 1985. I understand that Red Sox Nation feels like it was cursed. And I believe the Cubs are the National League's "lovable losers", but if hockey were a greater part of this nation's consciousness, and Washington a hotter hockey market, I believe Caps fans could rank themselves among the most dramatically long-suffering in all of sport. And no one, except for maybe original owner Abe "The Caps are Just Another Tenant" Pollin, is more to blame for the Caps' failures than former GM David Poile.

Today's Capitals are like a family. Kids who have been raised and developed together, drafted near the top of the draft and shaped in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The core of the current Capitals are all Caps drafted and Caps trained. But not so during Poile's adminstration.

Most of the players anyone can name from the Poile years (1983-1997) were acquired from other teams. Rod Langway from Montreal, Mike Ridley and Kelly Miller from the Rangers, Dino Ciccarelli and Don Beaupre from the Minnesota North Stars. Geoff Courtnall began his career in Boston. Dale Hunter was acquired from the Quebec Nordiques. Sylvain Cote and Calle Johansson were original from the Whalers and Sabres, respectively. Scott Stevens, a rugged defenseman who would go on to greater fame with New Jersey Devils and end up in the Hall of Fame, was drafted by Poile's predecessor.

Of the players I remember from those days, only Kevin Hatcher (1984, 17th overall) stands out as a first round pick, made by Poile, that made an immediate impact. Olie Kolzig was drafted by Poile in 1989 (19th overall), but, like many goalies, took years to develop.

Here are the highlights, or lowlights, of Poile's drafts.

1984

Hatcher, Stephen Leach, and Michal Pivonka.

These three worked out pretty well for Washington, but in the seventh round, Poile took Timo Lljima and then in the eighth selected Frank Joo. In round nine, the Kings picked Luc Robitaille and the Calgary Flames selected Gary Suter. Also, when Steve Leach was taken in round two, a French-Canadien goaltender named Patrick Roy was still on the board.

1985

Yvon Corriveau (19th overall; 9 seasons, 3 teams, 280 games, 88 points)

Within ten picks after Corriveau was selected, Sean Burke, Joe Nieuwendyk, and Mike Richter were selected.

John Druce (40th overall; 10 seasons, 3 teams, 531 games, 239 points)

Other than one flash in the pan, lightning in a bottle playoff series against the Rangers, Druce was a mucker and grinder.

Rob Murray (61st overall; Parts of 8 seasons, 2 teams, 107 games, 19 points)

Woof.

1986

Jeff Greenlaw (19th overall; Parts of 5 seasons, 2 teams, 57 games, 9 points)

Three picks after Greenlaw, the Detroit Red Wings drafted a tough, scrappy winger with good hands named Adam Graves. His number hangs in the rafters of Madison Square Garden. 1986 didn't produce anyone for the Caps more sterling than Greenlaw, if that tells you anything.

1987

My favorite. The Caps dealt their first round pick to Quebec for Dale Hunter and other assets. The pick, #15 overall, would be used by Quebec to draft a guy you might have heard of; Joe Sakic? Ring a bell? Now, I love Dale Hunter. He was a captain, and his #32 is retired. But he wasn't Joe Sakic.

In Round 2, Poile held on to his pick to draft Jeff Ballantyne. That's right, THE Jeff Ballantyne. Two picks later, Montreal drafted Eric Desjardins and then followed that up six picks later with a kid named Mathieu Schneider. Both would become All-Stars. Ballantyne went on to play exactly ZERO games in the NHL and then had a long fruitful career teaching...typewriter maintenance, at the Rocko Clubbo School for Women.

Steve Maltais (57th overall; Parts of 6 seasons, 5 teams, 120 games, 27 points)

It just gets uglier as you go down from there, until Round 8. Poile takes Thomas Sjogren at #162. At #166. Calgary picks a little guy named Theo Fleury. Fleury and the aforementioned Gary Suter would both play key roles on the Flames team that won the Cup in 1989.

1988

Reggie Savage (15th overall; Parts of 2 seasons, 2 teams, 34 games, 12 points)

I remember Al Koken hosting David Poile during intermission and they'd take calls for fan questions. Every week, Poile would get asked about Reggie Savage. He'd always have some BS rehearsed, corporate suit answer, like, "He's developing" or "Close to taking the next step". Whatever. The guy developed into a major league bust, and Poile never had the guts to admit it.

Taken later in this draft:

Steve Heinze

Mark Recchi

Tony Amonte

Rob Blake

Keith Carney

Joe Juneau

Alexander Mogilny

Even later on, the Caps took a flier of Dimitri Khristich and drafted Keith Jones (he of the awful Vesus commentary). Khristich had some nice years before they made skaters stay out of the crease, totalling 596 points in 811 NHL games for the Caps, Kings, Bruins, and Maple Leafs.

1989

I already mentioned Olie Kolzig. But in Round 2, Poile picked Byron Dafoe, another goalie who had his best years with the Bruins. That second round pick would look better if Red Wings captain and regular Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom hadn't been picked in the third round. After Lidstrom was picked, the Caps had two picks in the last part of Round 3. They took nobodys. In Round 4, Detroit struck gold again, drafting a young Russian named Sergei Fedorov. Later on, another Russian named Pavel Bure was selected by Vancouver.

1990

John Slaney (9th overall, Parts of 10 seasons, 7 teams, 268 games, 91 points)

This one hurts, considering that Keith Tkachuk went 19th overall and Martin Brodeur was drafted 20th. The Caps drafted Rod Pasma in Round 2, ahead of future All-Stars Felix Potvin, Doug Weight, and Geoff Sanderson. Sanderson was the player I had hoped the Caps would take in Round 1. I remember reading my Hockey News Draft Guide. Sanderson had played for the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League and shown a nice nose for the net, soft hands, and could skate like the wind. He was projected to be a top of the second round guy, but I didn't think it would be a stretch for Poile to trade down to the end of Round 1 and get Sanderson. He's scored 355 goals in more than 1100 NHL games since. He had two 40-goal seasons and four more with 30+. He'd have been nice to have.

Slaney was going to the Caps' answer to Paul Coffey. In a way, he was. Slaney is the all-time leader for points by a defenseman...in the AHL. Whoop-dee-doo.

It hurts too much and I'm too tired to keep at this. I still haven't mentioned luminaries like Pat Peake, Jeff Nelson, Trevor Halverson, Brad Church, and Alexandre Volchkov. But I think you get the gist. Poile was a lousy talent evaluator. I don't like the Penquins, but I blame a lot of the losses of the past on Poile's inability to ever augment the veterans he traded for with youthful, energetic, home-grown talent.

Today, the Capitals' roster is loaded with their own draft picks. While Alexander Ovechkin gets most of the press, Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom, Eric Fehr, Boyd Gordon, and Simeon Varlamov are all Caps' picks, and only a few I could mention. With players like Chris Bourque, Karl Alzner, and John Carlson waiting in the minors, the Caps are stocked with young talent. Let's hope these guys handle the Pens better than the Caps of Poile's era.

UNLEASH THE FURY!!