On Frozen Blog

Leading by New Example

By pucksandbooks Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Chris Clark - Photo from WashingtonCaps.com

The captain of a hockey club obviously leads his teammates on the ice and in the dressing room, but hisÂ influence can extendÂ outside an organization as well. During this afternoon’s Caps’ conference call to announce Chris Clark’s contract extension, one that will keep him in D.C. through 2010-11, two things were readilyÂ apparent: (1) this captain feels very much at home in Washington â€” “I love the area,” he said; and (2) the moves Caps’ management has made in the first half of the offseason played a determinative role in Clark’s foregoing free agency next summer.

“We got what we needed,” he toldÂ conference call participants, alluding to the team’s free agent acquisitions. “I wanted to be a part of it, [of] where we’re headed.”

I especially liked this: “We’re not a rebuilding team anymore.” Â Â Â

Earlier this offseason I wrote that we in D.C. were beginning to see a change not just in team logos and colors and roster names but in something more important: the Caps as less theÂ perceived spinster seated in the dark at the dance and more theÂ coveted cutiepie. (Kevin Lowe, for instance, might be more inclined to believeÂ this this summer.)Â Â

The 30-goal captain in the prime of his career was one year away from virtual Brinks Truck riches. He’ll be very well paid as a hockey player here the next four years, but what was most important to him at this point in his career was remaining a Cap. Â

4 Comments

usiel wrote:

Great to have Clark locked up before the season starts. Would be a nice pre-emptive strike to resign AO/Semin to extensions right now.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 at 3:22 pm | Permalink
strungout wrote:

Awesome resigning and love getting this out of the way prior to the season starting.

Mafki deserves much praise this off season. Still has more to do…but so far so good for GMGM.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 at 3:48 pm | Permalink
Andrew wrote:

I hope others follow the example of the captain in terms of making a committment to the team and perhaps a few dollars less than the open market could claim months later.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 at 4:00 pm | Permalink
sk84fun wrote:

Thanks for relaying the comments from the press conf. Nice to hear. Great news today to hear about the extension.

Here are my notes about the trade in 05!!!

To Washington:

Chris Clark
&
07 pick (7th rd) #199, Andrew Glass

To Calgary:

06 (7th rd) #187, Devin Didiomete
&
07 pick (6th rd) 155, which was used by Colorado (a post on hfboards noted: Colorado traded 5/143 (Mickey Renaud) to Calgary for 6/155 (Jens Hellgren) and 6/169 (Radim Ostrcil)

Wednesday, July 18, 2007 at 5:11 pm | Permalink