Blessed with some of the best talent in the league, they were a slick, cohesive team unit that worked tirelessly for each other. Yet again, they end up fruitless after a futile playoff push. Are the Washington Capitals the St Kilda of the NHL?
Throughout the course of the last four years, the Caps have topped the Southest division in each, with a combined record of 195-93-25 while averaging 107.5 points per season.
During the same period, they have failed to make it past the Conference Semi-finals; a damning reflection of this group’s inability to get it done when it mattered the most.
The modern salary capped sporting landscape seldom allows dynasties. With recruiting nous, competition and player churn at an all-time high, teams need to seize upon periods of dominance to take the final step and win the whole damn thing.
Whether it’s the Stanley Cup, AFL Premiership or something else, the sporting gods rarely give second, third or fourth chances of achieving the ultimate success.
The Capitals weren’t just eliminated. They were swept. Nobody will remember that Washington won 16 of their remaining 20 games en route to the playoffs.
Nor will they recall the domination of formidable foe and a potential banana peel in the New York Rangers.
The Caps were brutally handled by Tampa Bay on their home ice and then bundled out in sunny Florida during what was an otherwise celebratory week for the American capital.
There are some eerie similarities between Washington’s dour predicament and the fortunes of the long-suffering Saints.
Both teams reached the pinnacle game of the sport during 1997/98. Washington succumbed to the Detroit Red Wings in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals while St Kilda was defeated by Adelaide on the last Saturday in September.
The ensuing years were filled with disappointment for both and sporadic post-season appearances that ultimately resulted in naught.
Due to the ‘bottoming out’ period, each team was naturally afforded the privilege of blue ribbon draft picks that yielded on the likes of Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom for the Caps and Nick Riewoldt, Luke Ball and Brendon Goddard for the Saints.
With the respective teams built around these bonafide stars, results started to show.
St Kilda has played finals football every year since 2004, with the exception of 2007 when they finished two points shy. More recently, the club topped the table and competed in two Grand Finals, losing one narrowly and drawing the other before being overrun in the replay.
As aforementioned, Washington has completely and utterly owned the Southeast division from 2007/08, but is still yet to earn the right to vie for a conference title.
Additionally, the Caps have only failed to reach the playoffs on six occasions since 1982-83, including an incredible run of 14 consecutive post-season performances – with nothing to show for it.
It’s a sad, similar story for fans of both sides.
You can overcome everything that lies before you for most of the year, but it means nothing if you can’t take care of business when you’re at the business end.
So where to now?
We’ve seen the struggle that St Kilda is currently facing to maintain their intensity and focus on the prize. Has their opportunity for an elusive Premiership vanished for the short term?
It’s too early to speculate what will become of Washington in 2011/12, but plenty of soul searching will be done throughout the American summer.
It’s almost criminal that two clubs blessed with extraordinary talent, drive and ambition have so far failed to seal the deal.
bettiwettiwoo
Guest
I'm not at all shy about blaming coaches, but I don't know whether I think it necessarily fair when it comes to the Washington Capitals. They're a dysfunctional team, all right, but I think that dysfunction centres on Ovechkin rather than Boudreau. Like Kovalchuk, he's a very talented player, but also like Kovalchuk, Ovi is not a playoffs guy. Remove Boudreau, remove the physicality of the NHL playoffs and look at his track record at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Yes, he scored twice in Russia's win over ... Latvia; and yes, in the shoot-out loss against Slovakia, he scored the only shoot-out goal (but he missed two, too); and yes, he had two assists in the win over the Czech Republic. But those were the round robin matches. In the must-win Quarterfinal against Canada, he didn't show up at all; no goals, no assists, no nothing. Russia got trashed 3-7. In part, at least, I think the problem with Ovi is that he's lazy and self-willed. This bit from a commentary of today's match is, I believe, symptomatic: '[Ovechkin] was also on the ice for the critical goal against in the series. When the puck off went Ryan Malone's leg and into the net to give Tampa Bay a 4-3 lead in Game 3, Ovechkin was drifting into the defensive zone after swinging and missing at Eric Brewer's outlet pass along the right wall near center ice.' Drifting into the defensive zone? While the opposing team and the rest of your team mates (supposedly) are down in the net area?! Gimme a break. I don't know how a coach, any coach, is supposed to fix that ... unless he is given far-reaching powers to punish the slacker and frankly, I don't know whether Ted Leonsis would allow that. It is, of course, true that, for instance, neither Bäckis nor Semin turned up in this series either. On the other hand, if your Captain is off either lazying about in the neutral zone or doing stupid s**t he shouldn't (that fabled 'Ovi trying to do too much' stuff, which somehow never seems to yield very much of anything), I assume it gets harder and harder to keep on trying to do something, trying to keep whatever plan your coach might have wanted the team to execute going, trying to keep morale up. I think it entirely plausible that Caps will get rid of Boudreau. But will that make much of a difference? I doubt it.
Alistair Hogg
Roar Pro
I like where you took that Sime. Great contribution. The reason I would hesitate at comparing Carlton to the Caps is that the Blues don't (yet) have the cattle to win a Premiership (and haven't since the late 90s). While Washington hasn't shown proof they can go the whole way, they most certainly have the troops to do so.
Sime Kinniburgh
Guest
I rarely say this about professional sports, but the coach has to take significant blame here. Bruce Boudreau has been on thin ice for a while now (excuse the pun), but he consistently heads into conference finals with the same gameplan as he does the regular season. Playoff hockey is very different to the regular season. It's played at a significantly greater pace and the forwards who didn't cross-check an opponent all season are now playing both ends of the ice whilst being extremely physical. The penny dropped with Tampa Bay in this series. With Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis and Vincent LeCavialier they have three of the most potent scorers in the league who were also prepared to play physical playoff hockey. Unfortunately that couldn'e be said of the Capitals who refused to play the intimidating hockey they were once renowned for. And whilst the author of this article aptly draws comparison to St.Kilda, the Caps could also be compared to Carlton. Unlike the Saints, but like Washington, the Blues have been bundled out in the early rounds of the finals two years in succession. Like the Capitals, Carlton has an unhealthy reliance on a superstar. Alex Ovechkin and Chris Judd are two of the best playmakers their respective sports have ever seen, yet as they approach their late 20's - they would be extremely aware that their window is closing. I've no doubt Washington fans will be seeking a change at the top. So will Saints and Blues fans if they continue to emulate the Caps post-season failures.