bulldog Posted January 7, 2003 Share Posted January 7, 2003 Even though the team has been able to climb back into the race in the Southeast Division with some recent good play from Kolzig and the defense, the Caps are still a team without all of its parts in working order. There have been some nice surprises. Michael Nylander (33 points, 23 assists) and Mike Grier (11 goals) are on pace to break their career best numbers. Kolzig has a .922 save percentage and has single-handedly won more than a few games this year. Brendan Witt and Calle Johansson appear to be back as the team’s #1 defensive pairing. But on offense this team is still a clear disappointment. Jagr with 18 goal and 18 assists is not among the league’s 20 leading scorers despite an $11 million salary. Peter Bondra, a consistent 40-50 goal producer, is on pace for one of his poorer seasons with only 15 goals and 9 assists. Robert Lang has been effective at times but like Jagr has not lived up to his contract, 5 years at $23 million. For a guy like Ted Leonsis that has been an owner willing to spend money to assemble a team the fans here can be proud of this has to be pretty close to a worst case scenario financially. You figure that in any given season, of three or four top scorers on your team (and the most highly paid), you are going to have one or possible two players that don’t have great seasons, merely solid ones. You expect the others, however, to carry the load, with perhaps one player having a breakout, career season. On occasion you are lucky enough to get all three or four players hitting stride during the same campaign. But this year’s Caps? Along with the aforementioned Nylander and Grier, both in their contract years, you have guys like Kip Miller (18 assists) and Ken Klee that are perhaps exceeding expectations. Unfortunately, these players are not talented enough to get the Caps very deep into the playoffs. You watch this team struggle to score more than 2 goals in games against mediocre teams such as the Rangers and Jackets and just have to wonder what is going on in the minds of McPhee and Leonsis. There has to be a better ending than this, doesn’t there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Brown #43 Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Yeah, it's frustrating. Apparently McPhee never wanted Jagr in the first place, but Leonsis insisted. That's what I heard from a New York hockey insider, but who knows. It makes sense to me. McPhee is a very chemistry/team-oriented GM, so I can see him balking at bringing in an enigma like Jagr. But the Caps are always a second half team. Now that they're moving up in the standings, let's see if they make a big run in the second half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulldog Posted January 8, 2003 Author Share Posted January 8, 2003 Jaromir Jagr displays great emotion and on ice determination when playing for his country in the Olympics, his effort against the Russians in Nagano was one of the best performances I have seen, the guy was double shifted until he could barely stand up and yet inspired his teammates to victory........................ it's just a shame he doesn't take the same kind of bead on his job in the NHL. In the NHL he is a quiet player that stays in the background despite his 6'5 230 frame and ability. Again, if he showed that other 'self' to the NHL the guy would score 200 points in a season Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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