frottant leurs yeux se demandant s'ils liraient ce qu'ils liraient réellement dedans plus que quelques comptes de jeu la saison passée. He scored five shorthanded goals for the Bears in the regular season, including one against Albany on April 18 while killing a 5-on-3 River Rats power play.

Capitals ReportAnother thing Vogel may have had in mind Wednesday afternoon was Steckel’s being Boyd Gordon’s linemate during the Bears’ postseason march to the Calder Cup in 2006. They were two of Hershey’s best players then, utilized liberally by Bruce Boudreau in all game situations.

Beyond a real big pro physique and two straight seasons of significant development, Steckel will bring to Caps’ training camp in two weeks’ time a reputation for being one of the best thinkers of the game when he’s out on the ice. He is also fantastic on draws. Vogel may or may not have had that in mind yesterday in his line formations; if he’s right, when Boyd Gordon gets chased out of the faceoff circle this season, he could be replaced by his equal at draws. So two-thirds of the Caps’ third line would be renowned for its strategtic thinking, defensive awareness, faceoff acumen, and trustworthiness in every zone of the ice. And be joined by the significantly talented Pettinger.

In his third full season behind the Caps’ bench Glen Hanlon is going to have as many line combination options as he’s ever had. The most impressive may follow the big guns in the top 6 and join a rich legacy of two-way tormentors that play a huge role in leading the Caps back to league-wide respectability.

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Posted at 5:48 am. Filed under American Hockey League, Boyd Gordon, Calder Cup, Dave Steckel, Frivolous Summer File, Hershey Bears, Matt Pettinger, Mike Vogel, Morning cup-a-joe, Prospects, Washington Capitals.
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5 Comments

  1. Vogs wrote:

    Nice post, pucks. And absolutely I had the draws on my mind. That was one of the key things that made the Gordon/Steckel combo so deadly in the spring of 2006. Two centers, both capable of playing wing. One lefty, one righty. Boudreau (and virtually every other coach on the planet) loves the luxury of two natural centers on a line, and when those two are both very adept on draws AND a righty/lefty to boot, what’s not to like?

    That said, nothing will be handed to Steckel. This is Hanlon, not Boudreau, and it will be up to Steckel to open the boss’s eyes. There are plenty of other very qualified and attractive options for the right side of that line, too.

    Thursday, August 30, 2007 at 8:37 am | Permalink
  2. B.ORR4 wrote:

    I’ve been a huge Steckel supporter for a couple of years now and I think his addition to the team will improve the PK maybe ten spots. However, I’m not sold on him nailing down a position on the third line. He certainly has the defensive instincts, but it’s his speed that concerns me. The third line is going to be asked to match up against the opposition’s top line. Frankly, I have a hard time seeing Dave staying up with the likes of Ottawa’s big guns or Buffalo’s fast forwards on a nightly basis. I don’t have the same concerns with Gordon and Petty. Hopefully, I’ll be proved wrong because I think Steckel can add a lot to this team.

    Thursday, August 30, 2007 at 8:55 am | Permalink
  3. Brad wrote:

    While I certainly agree that Steckel definitely has a great chance to earn a spot this year, I’m not sure I’d put him on the 3rd line. The way I see it, this year Fehr and/or Flash should be on a scoring line for most of the season with the Caps, especially since Flash has to clear waivers (with that in mind, I see him as either trade bait or a full time Cap frankly). So, put one of them as one of the top right wings, then Kozlov as the other (put him on the second line if you want to take some pressure of Backstrom, or the first line if Backstrom proves lives up to his defensively responsible reputation). Put Clarkie on the third line to turn that into a 40 (50?) goal shutdown line hopefully, then have a 4th line of Laich - Steckel - Brashear/Sutherby/other depending on the game. I know Vogs penciled Sutherby in as the 4th line center, and I certainly don’t want to give up on him either, but it seems to me that, after last season, that spot is Laich’s to lose. Plus, having Laich and Steckel on the 4th line would shift it from an energy line to a legitimate secondary shutdown line, something I think we could probably use on some nights.

    Thursday, August 30, 2007 at 11:00 am | Permalink
  4. k wrote:

    I love Steckel! I hope he gets up here this year!!!

    Thursday, August 30, 2007 at 5:54 pm | Permalink
  5. usiel wrote:

    Regarding Steckel’s speed he certainly didn’t look slow during his last call up with the caps. I actually thought he was pretty fast though he could be aided by his good positioning and knowing where to be.

    Thursday, August 30, 2007 at 6:07 pm | Permalink

One Trackback/Pingback

  1. Off Wing Opinion on Friday, August 31, 2007 at 1:45 am

    Shuffling Those Line Combinations…

    Ah, when we start to speculate about who is going to be playing where, life gets a whole lot more……

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