The Capitals had Kevin Hatcher and more who could make an impact.
This story originally appeared in The Hockey News Oct 4, 1991/vol. 45, issue 3
BY DAVE SELL
The numbers that stuck out for the Washington Capitals last season were goals scored and man-games lost. One was too low and the other too high. But in this idyllic yet exciting season, those numbers change, while the decade-long defense remains rock solid.
Of the 16 playoff teams, only Hartford, Minnesota and Vancouver scored fewer goals than the Capitals during the 1990-91 regular season.
Unlike last season, when he missed 26 games because of injuries and scored just 21 goals, Dino Ciccarelli will play all 80 and resume his streak of 40-goal seasons. The Capitals feed off his goals, but also his energy. John Druce will score all season at the pace, if not of 1990 playoffs, then of the first two months of the ’90-91 season (30 points on Dec. 1). Kelly Miller will do exactly what he did last season; play 80 games and get 50 points.
Mike Ridley will continue to be one of the better two-way centers in the league. He may not score 40 goals again, but now, finally free of back and sinus problems, will score 30 to 35 after getting just 23 last season. Michal Pivonka had his best season in 1990-91 in terms of points (70), but this time, he will take off. As one of the fastest, most fluid skaters on the squad, he will come up with 70 assists and 100 points.
AT BEST
The mystique of the superiority of every Soviet player may have crumbled in the last couple years as the Communist Party has in recently, but Dimitri Khristich will show that there are still some gems. Having already shown a willingness to assimilate to the team, Khristich will blossom into one of its scoring leaders.
Defensively, Kevin Hatcher will not lead the team in scoring—because the forwards are filling the net—but he will win the Norris Trophy. Having arrived at camp in the best physical and emotional shape in several years, Al Iafrate begins what is an all-star season by scoring the winning goal in overtime to beat Toronto in his first return to Maple Leaf Gardens in the third game of the season, Oct. 9. Rod Langway will play 75 games, free of as much back and knee pain as is possible for a 34-year-old.
With three goalies on the roster—Don Beaupre, Mike Liut and Jim Hrivnak—the competition pushes everybody to be better. Beaupre will lead the league in shutouts and keep his goals-against-average under 3.00.
The Patrick Division is still a jumbled mess, but having learned to score at a rate at least approaching that of Pittsburgh, the Capitals will win the regular-season division title for the second time in their history.
…BUT OFFENSE A PROBLEM
In the last decade, the Capitals developed a reputation as a hardworking, industrious, defensive-oriented outfit, that was consistent in the regular season if less than superb in the playoffs.
This time that work ethic won’t be enough. The points just won’t be there.
The last three games of the 1991 Patrick Division finals against Pittsburgh served to illustrate a problem that plagued the Capitals last season. They had one goal in each of their last three games.
In the minutes following his team’s, elimination, general manager David’ Poile talked of the obvious shortcoming. But in the weeks that followed, he and the coaching staff decided they could solve the problem mostly with what they already had on hand or in the system. The only off-season addition to the crew of forwards was Randy Burridge, who had 31 goals in 1988-89, but had just 32 goals in the last two campaigns.
Flyers’ coach Paul Holmgren called the Capitals’ forwards the hardest-working group in the league. That will not change. But neither will the output. For the second consecutive season (and only third in their history), the Capitals will not have a 30-goal scorer. Defenseman Kevin Hatcher and left winger Kelly, Miller shared the lead last year with 24.
AT WORST
The dilemma at center will continue. The theory that, in Mike Ridley, Michal Pivonka and Dale Hunter, the Capitals have three No. 2 centers but nobody in the top spot, gains more credence. Now 31, Hunter will show more wear from the scraps in the corners that have been numerous during his career. Pivonka won’t excel like many thought he would. And Ridley will have further trouble with his back.
Dimitri Khristich and Peter Bondra offer evidence that adjusting to hockey and life in North America takes time.
Hatcher will not only fail to win a Norris Trophy, but regress instead. It won’t be dramatic—he has too much talent for that—but it will be noticeable. Rod Langway will move past the 1,000 game mark (playoff and regular season), but will further show the effects.
In goal, Don Beaupre will suffer another groin pull. Mike Liut will decide to retire after the season because he has never wanted to hang around if he, couldn’t be at or near the top of his game.
Another bad start discourages the players and turns off the fans. Attendance, which fell an average of 643 per game last season, drops again and Capital Centre becomes even less animated. Breaking the longest current run in the division, the Capitals fail to make the playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons. ■