A thoughtful analysis, I agree with almost everything written within. This is very well done. The one issue I take with most of the analysis ever done on our rebuild is that – for the most part – it is very hard to develop a collective goal and a consistent winning culture with a team of basically underachieving veteran players. Had we NOT traded Jaromir Jagr when we did, I believe we would have won more games that season and perhaps NOT qualified for the lottery and not gotten lucky and won the first pick in the draft and then chose Alex Ovechkin. Building a new culture and building from within are under reported and underappreciated nuances as part of our plan. I just didn’t see the collective will to win for one another anymore in our old vet-laden team.
What I wanted to do was create a clean blank slate; a new team based on a strategy of developing and keeping a young core of players together. We collected as many picks and young prospects as we could. We also knew we would be picking high for a few years and needed to draft well. I also believe it is under reported on how unlucky we were in the draft right after the lockout ended. Pittsburgh won that lottery and picked Sidney Crosby. We fell to mid-pack just like we had been picking for years and years. I never understood why and we don’t have a player in the NHL from that first round. Imagine if we had picked high in that draft as well. Where would we be on the rebuild scale?
Thanks Peerless. A great read here.
Agree that this was a great read, but I really feel the need to stick up for Mike “Hands of Stone” Grier. Yes he couldnt finish worth a darn but doggone, there were games that he was the ONLY one out there who played like he gave a darn! He checked, blocked shots, was a leader in the room- no surprise he’s still in the league while Bates Battaglia is in the ECHL or wherever.
Good review. We all got screwed in that 2005 draft, and I just don’t get the logic, they wanted to ensure that We didn’t get the #1, since we got Alex, but their system was completely flawed. There should have been a cap on how far the worst teams from that 03-04 season could drop. Not fair.
It’s interesting to see how those trades have panned out, and how some players, a la Laich, that had upside despite what the credentials (6th round pick) might have said. I like the fact that the Caps will have consistency from this past season to next, and hope they come out of the gate as hard as they crossed the finish line.