Your 10 Favorite Caps Ever

[IafrateOvie34]

Al Iafrate will always be my favorite player and Cap. He didn't play long for the Caps, however he did well here. It's unfortunate he had the injuries and back then not a lot of US born players for my generation to look up to. Of course Ovechkin is Mr. Capital. So many great names and I tend to look at the guys I grew up with like Hunter, Gus, and Stevens. Of the modern Caps not named Ovechkin, Wilson is on my list. Kevin Hatcher is not on my list at all. I never liked the guy, however he did get us Tinordi.

Edit: I can't believe I originally left off Langway! How can I forget the guy that anchored thedefense and hard work of the 80s and early 90s and saved the franchise!

 

[usiel]

1. Bondra
2. Gonchar
3. Semin
4. Stevens
5. Green
6. Backstrom
7. Ward
8. Oshie
9. Knuble
10. Johansson M.

Damn it I forgot Gonchar man such a reliable offensive dman post Hatcher/Iafrate era.

 

[HTFN]

View attachment 722209

Honestly I wanted my top 10 to be all troll picks so this kind of works for me

It was going to be, like

Chris Bourque
Anton Gustafsson
Chase Priskie
Riley Sutter

etc.

I ran out of names

 

[WanderingCapsFan]

Honestly I wanted my top 10 to be all troll picks so this kind of works for me

It was going to be, like

Chris Bourque
Anton Gustafsson
Chase Priskie
Riley Sutter

etc.

I ran out of names

Some suggestions:

Alexander Volchkov
Igor Ulanov
Tom Chorske
Eric Charron (the other Charron)
Dustin Penner (actually forgot that one)
Jeff Friesen (the only player to wear #12 after Peter Bondra. Who TF okayed that??)

 

[Calicaps]

Damn it I forgot Gonchar man such a reliable offensive dman post Hatcher/Iafrate era.

Couldn’t include Gonch or Stevens because of how they left us to win elsewhere. Little Scotty obviously became the face of the Devils so just can’t be a fave Cap. And Gonchar wasn’t a Devil, but he did sell his soul to the devil (Pens)… so no.

 

[Melkor]

Damn it I forgot Gonchar man such a reliable offensive dman post Hatcher/Iafrate era.

Had the best shot the Russian defensemen have ever possessed. Absolute bomb. Nobody ever came close neither before nor after him, not even prime Markov.

 

[Acallabeth]

Had the best shot the Russian defensemen have ever possessed. Absolute bomb. Nobody ever came close neither before nor after him, not even prime Markov.

He he, once upon a time there was Denis Kulyash, a KHL defenseman who wasn't particularly skilled or smart (unlike Gonchar), but he was big, and his slapshot put Ovechkin's to shame and is generally considered the hardest in Russian history, simply monstrous.

 

[Melkor]

He he, once upon a time there was Denis Kulyash, a KHL defenseman who wasn't particularly skilled or smart (unlike Gonchar), but he was big, and his slapshot put Ovechkin's to shame and is generally considered the hardest in Russian history, simply monstrous.

Yeah I wouldn't call Kulyash that big in terms of height but I remember him being built like a tank. Dude was a gym rat for sure. The shot had lots of power but I don't recall it being nearly as accurate as Gonchar's was. Sure has some nice long-rangers on the resume but he's been kinda spamming the shit out of them and missing the goal on like 70% of them. Twin bro of Ryazanov in that regard although I liked Kulyash's release better, bro was quick with it like a blind Steph Curry.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Had the best shot the Russian defensemen have ever possessed. Absolute bomb. Nobody ever came close neither before nor after him, not even prime Markov.

I kinda agree….Goocher’s shot was a flat piercing laser…..

 

[g00n]

Ovie
Bondra
Kolzig
Hunter
Wilson
Oshie
Holtby
Simon
Kono
Zednik


Honorable mention: Feds, Matty P, Juneau, Brash, DSP, Doig, Oleksy, Peat, Verot, Chief, Tinner, May Day, Dahlen

 

[kicksavedave]

A little surprised we haven't seen this name once: Jeff Halpern.

I had a fun debate in about 1999 or so with a troll named Slaps after seeing the UDFA Halpern play live in preseason and me saying he would not only make the Caps but have a solid NHL career - Slaps argued he was not even an NHLer.

Halpern was the first MD native to make the NHL I believe, and he played for the Little Caps then played for the NHL Caps, and eventually became their Captain, again after being a UDFA. Talk about dreams coming true, its a better story than Tavares and his Leaf jammies.

He deserves honorable mention for me as one of my favorite Caps players ever.

 

[RedRocking]

Couldn’t include Gonch or Stevens because of how they left us to win elsewhere. Little Scotty obviously became the face of the Devils so just can’t be a fave Cap. And Gonchar wasn’t a Devil, but he did sell his soul to the devil (Pens)… so no.

(gal)

 

[Jags]

Ovie
Bondra
Kolzig
Hunter
Wilson
Oshie
Holtby
Simon
Kono
Zednik

That's pretty much what my list would be, too. Backstrom in for Zednik, and Backstrom would probably top my list, too. I've always liked the guys that are quiet and team-oriented despite being stars. Like Art Monk. Quietly one of the best ever, but never strutted. Just caught the ball, handed it to the ref, ran back to the huddle, did it all over again, then went home and polished his SB rings, y'know?

Langway definitely in, probably Simon out, but barely.

I'm a Holtby-over-Kolzig guy, too. The Cup and recency bias probably factor in though. They're both definitely on the list.

Nice to see Kono make so many lists here. Kinda makes it feel like there'd have been a lot of Calles, Millers, Pivos, etc. if the number had been 12 or 15.

Oates probably woulda showed up more if not for the coaching stint, huh?

 

[Calicaps]

I can't do a numerical rank, but from an old guy:

Ovi
Langway
B. Gustafson
Gartner
Wilson
Charron (my first favorite Cap!)
Carpenter
Hunter
Duchesne
Ron Weber (All the old stories about kids in the '50's listening to their favorite baseball teams on transistor radios hidden under their pillows? That was me in the '70s, listening to Ron Weber with the one-ear bud. "OHHHH, Miss Twiddle!")

ETA:
Rushmore:
Ovi/Langway/Gartner/Hunter

I loved Bengt so much, but his career was just too disrupted to make my main list (he got HM). What might have been... Sigh.

f***ing Islanders.

 

[Praetorian Caps]

Ovechkin
Kuznetsov
Ossie
Green
Wilson
Carey
Backstrom
Ward
Carlson
Beagle
Dowd

 

[Jags]

Ovechkin
Kuznetsov
Ossie
Green
Wilson
Carey
Backstrom
Ward
Carlson
Beagle
Dowd

How many of you just went, "Beagle! f***! This screws up my whole list!" with the lead slap to go with it?

 

[g00n]

How many of you just went, "Beagle! f***! This screws up my whole list!" with the lead slap to go with it?

I debated Beagle and Halpern etc but just went with the guys I always liked to watch play.

I didn't get to see much hockey in the 70s or 80s so most of my guys are 90s onward, obviously.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Some suggestions:

Alexander Volchkov
Igor Ulanov
Tom Chorske
Eric Charron (the other Charron)
Dustin Penner (actually forgot that one)
Jeff Friesen (the only player to wear #12 after Peter Bondra. Who TF okayed that??)

Do you all remember Mikhail Tatarinov? Guy had some really slick moves for a d-man (at the time), and I thought he’d be a huge plus for the team.

And then Poile traded him. LOL

Irony is he ended up in Quebec with John Kordic. Even more ironically, both had some major alcohol issues. Not judging, we ALL have our faults, just spreading information.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Ovechkin
Backstrom
Wilson
Gartner
Ridley
Simon
Ciccarelli
Bondra
Iafrate
Langway

Rushmore: Ovechkin; Kolzig; Langway; Backstrom

My HM would be long and hearty:

Halpern, Oates (player), Kolzig, Holtby, Hatcher, Stevens, K Miller, Calle Jo, Murphy, Juneau, Bellows, Duchesne, Bengt Gus, Haworth, S Cote, Carpenter (1st time around), Maruk, Peeters, Carey (net detective!!), Oshie, Eller, Orpik, Niskanen, Beagle, Orlov, Druce (is loose!!), and on and on and on I could go.

Coaches — Wilson, B Murray, T Murray, Schoenfeld (eat another Donut!!!), Boudreau…. And of course, Trotz

 

[BiPolar Caps]

What no Tyler Sloan or Double Nickel?
70s to early 90s
Ryan Walter
Bugsy Watson
Bengt Gustafsson
Gaetan Duchesne
Scott Stevens
Larry Murphy
Rod Langway
Kevin Hatcher
Dale Hunter
Dennis Maruk

From '95 on
Kolzig
Bondra
Ovechkin
Oshie
Wilson
Beagle
Holtby
Backstrom
Orpik
David Steckel (we all know why)

 

[Jags]

Irony is he ended up in Quebec with John Kordic. Even more ironically, both had some major alcohol issues. Not judging, we ALL have our faults, just spreading information.

Pretty sure he ended up killing a guy back in Russia way later. Read that somewhere forever ago, IIRC.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Pretty sure he ended up killing a guy back in Russia way later. Read that somewhere forever ago, IIRC.

Yes. Yes he did. And not while playing hockey!

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Pretty sure he ended up killing a guy back in Russia way later. Read that somewhere forever ago, IIRC.

Killed a gambling collector who showed up to rough him up. Ended up getting a reduced 11 month sentence for a crime of passion.

 

[Empty Goal Net]

Ovi
Stevens
Langway
Bondra
Hunter
Gus
Willy
Gartner
Ryan Walter - first fav
Semin

The real list
Holt
Erskine
Hunter
Lou
Kaminski
Kypreos
May
Stephen Peat
Sheehy
Simon
Tinordi
Wilson

Honorable Mention to our resident lurker Craig Laughlin
If we trade Wilson my heads gonna explode. Yeah I am still pissed we traded Stevens because we didn't want to pay him 1M as salaries exploded league wide shortly thereafter.

Re: the real list:
No Matt Bradley? A bloody gamer!
Or Kordic? Those few games he played for the Caps, you could feel the electricity when he hit the ice and went a-huntin'.

 

[Marshall]

My favorite Cap is the Kono-Halpern-Dahlen line.