Eye of Ra
Grandmaster General of the International boards
His is famous for his years with the Devils. But how good was he with this franchise? What type of impact did he have on the ice?
Scott Stevens
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BobRouse
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His is famous for his years with the Devils. But how good was he with this franchise? What type of impact did he have on the ice?
He was an imposing force even at a young age. He had a Sean Taylor level impact on the D and other teams feared him.
He could hit, fight, score, play big minutes etc
Langway was the captain of the team but Scott Stevens was the leader of the team.
Good read:
http://dc.sbnation.com/washington-capitals/2012/7/20/3171245/david-poile-washington-capitals-scott-stevens-abe-pollin-free-agency
"The Scott Stevens decision to not sign him was all about the money," Frankovic said. "David Poile did not want to let him go. He wanted Abe Pollin to agree to sign him for a million dollars for the four years, and the end of the day, Abe just didn't want to pay a million dollars ... it was all about the money.
"Pollin didn't have the vision to see that the salaries were going up the way they did, as by the end of the deal, that was a heck of a cheap fourth year. David knew what Scott Stevens meant to the team and how good of a player he was.
"He wanted to match ... but it was Abe Pollin and about dollars."
Alan May, who was Stevens' teammate during the 1989-90 season that saw the Capitals win the Patrick Division playoffs and advance to the conference finals for the first time in franchise history, agreed.
"It was just at the time, the numbers were unheard of," the CSN Washington analyst said via phone Thursday. "From what I knew of it, they could have taken care of him earlier and gotten him for a lot less money. It was a dollars and cents thing. ... It was all about money."
The Capitals eventually elected not to match, and ended up receiving five first-round draft picks from the Blues. But according to May, the immediate damage to the club was massive.
"At the time, I thought it was devastating to the team," he said. "He was the leader of the team, the most important player. And I thought he was our best player, and it changed the whole look of the team - and the attitude.
"He was the most professional player in the dressing room and at dinner, and it affected everyone. In the locker room, everything was changed. He wasn't the captain, but you looked at how young he was, how hard he played injured, how good he played, how fierce he was. He was basically the identity of the team, and we lost it. ... In the room, we were pissed, we were pretty upset.
"He was one of the guys we looked to for anything."
Frankovic agreed, noting it took some time and work for the team to eventually overcome the loss.
"The Scott Stevens loss was huge," Frankovic said. "I'm convinced it cost them at least one Stanley Cup. Maybe two. David had to do some things to rebuild the team. ... Stevens then hit the prime of his career and won Cups in 1995, 2000 and 2003."
BobRouse
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Yeah pretty much. No fan had Stevens as a whipping boy back then I am certain.
But remember...Caron gave him a $1 million/year contract! Now it doesn't seem like a lot...but..
Back then Raymond Bourque was the universal known best dman who had 2 or 3 Norris trophies when that RFA deal was handed out. Bourque was the NHLs highest paid dman and he was making $500k per year.
It was a STAGGERING amount back in the day and changed hockey forever and salaries escalated out of control. That is why we have had 3 lockouts since! That deal that the St Louis GM handed out
NHL got them back tho.
BiPolar Caps
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To think there was a time where the Capitals had Rod Langway, Scott Stevens, Kevin Hatcher and Larry Murphy as part of their defensive corps.
BiPolar Caps
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RandyHolt
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Ding ding ding chicken pot pie dinner.
I am not sure who was his partner the most that year, but rest assured Stevens was the 3LD behind Langway and Engblom, while Holt at RD got into 70 games, and just had to be the 3RD a vast majority of those games. I am surprised I don't recall for certain... probably because one or the other was in the box for much of the year. I think Holt lead the league in PIMs that year.
Other candidates were Timo Blomqvist (our last great Finn) and Darren Veitch.
http://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/WSH/1983.html
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BobRouse
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Hey don't forget about Garry Galley. Caps gave up on him too easily and I was a bit disappointed in that. He was barely 25 years old and scored some big goals for us.
Galley finished with nearly 600pts in his NHL career and was a key player on some decent to very good teams!
