Yeah I don't know if anyone really expected great things from the supposed centerpiece of that deal or really any of those guys. I remember more people being a bit more optimistic re: Sivek than Beech after we got a good eyeful of all of them. Beech wasn't even the top three Capitals prospects at the time, IIRC. I think CP said something really dumb about Ron Francis by way of comparison when talking about Beech but what was he supposed to do? He HAD to attempt to sell that trade to the fans even though in reality the REAL centerpiece of that deal by far and away was the cold, hard cash.
They were the Caps three top ranked prospects on HF... that’s about when I came aboard on this site looking for info on those guys.
I didn’t know any better about the rankings around here at the time, so I thought the Pens did well.
When they had the annual Pens-Baby Pens game where I saw Beech for the first time... I had to walk outside so my friends didn’t see me lose it and laugh at me.
Then Mike Lange was slobbering all over Beech comparing him to Francis and I was thinking wtf are you drinking tonight, Mike.
Billy Tibbets then tried to put Lemieux in a mayo jar and I knew I was in bizarro world.