Summer State of the Team - The Goalies
When the Washington Capitals hit the ice in Atlanta on October 5th, the forward and defense groups will likely have some new faces, but one constant will remain: big #37 will be guarding the net.
In our final look at the organization over the Summer, we focus on the guys in the masks.
Olaf Kolzig -- On D.C's organizational depth chart, 1st line left wing is one of the two spots about which there is no debate; starting netminder is the other. Kolzig, the acknowledged leader of the team, is coming off a season that included some forced time off due to a knee injury, and was the authoring netminder for 22 of the Caps' 28 wins. For all the talk of reducing the workload for the 37-year-old, Kolzig played 54 of a possible 69 games he wasn't injured for, which more or less translates to a 64-game pace over the space of 82 games. When the team was trying to find its legs early in the season, it was Kolzig's play that kept them in games. Big, competitive, and well-conditioned, Olie's contract is up at the end of the year, but if his play continues to it's usual standards, it's hard to believe the Caps and he won't come to an agreement.
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