09 February, 2010


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The Lethal Mr. Brooks

By The OFB Team 15 March, 2008

Brooks Laich - bio pic from the Washington CapitalsThe Capitals’ communications team Saturday morning passed along some eye-opening data for Brooks Laich, who didn’t have a two-goal game in his first 214 NHL games but has three in his last nine outings. Laich has 10 goals and 12 points in the Capitals’ last 12 games, and now ranks third on the team with 19 goals. He entered this season with just 15 goals in 151 career NHL games.
The Capitals acquired Laich from the Ottawa Senators on February 18, 2004, in a somewhat controversial trade for a fella named Peter Bondra. Coverage of the deal was famous/infamous for camera shots of Bondra in tears out at Piney Orchard and Internet message boards littered with “Brooks who?” sentiments. Four years later, all of hockey is beginning to learn who Brooks Laich is.
At the time of the deal, Laich, then just 20, had played a grand total of one NHL game, and in the 2003-04 season, tallied a modest 16 goals for Binghamton and Portland in the American Hockey League. Bondra would go on to add 52 goals in a little more than two seasons in Ottawa, Atlanta, and Chicago before retiring. Laich, who won’t turn 25 until this summer, will score his 20th goal of the season any shift now, and by all appearances, he has a good many more ahead of him in his NHL career. He’s a magnificent skater, a grinder with soft gloves, a heart-and-soul type.
He’s particularly comfortable doing the dirty work in front of the opposition’s net.
“If you want money, you go to the bank. If you want bread, you go to the bakery. If you want goals, you go to the net,” Laich said.
Who in hockey back in February 2004 would have identified McPhee’s dealing of Bondra as lopsided . . . in favor of the Caps? That 2004 deal, incidentally, also brought from Ottawa a second-round pick, and in the summer of 2005 George McPhee flipped it to Colorado at the Entry Draft for a late first-round selection that day.
Joe Finley.

This was written by The OFB Team. Posted on at 10:06 am. Filed under Brooks Laich, George McPhee, Joe Finley, NHL Trades, Peter Bondra, Washington Capitals.
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12 Comments

  1. Capsaholic wrote:

    Like I’ve been sayin’
    “Brooks Druce” :-)

    15 March, 2008 at 10:13 am | Permalink
  2. Hockey Amor wrote:

    I Laich Brooks!
    He’s just steppin it up and scoring every which grinder’s way.

    15 March, 2008 at 10:26 am | Permalink
  3. dmg wrote:

    I was wondering what had happened to that pick, thank you!

    15 March, 2008 at 11:13 am | Permalink
  4. CapitalGuy wrote:

    Pre OFB, the usual crew of Caps OB kids, cranks and clowns were IRATE that the Caps traded Bondra and for so “little.” After the deal definitively became a rental (Ottawa declined Bondra’s option year), the trade trashers’ ire was nevertheless undeterred. Some of that ire turned into premature, irrational labeling of Laich and Finley as “busts.” Uh huh. The Caps in Laich and Finley have two promising players with Laichly 2+ decades of fine hockey of ahead of them. While the WPost beat writer claims in his recent chat to be stumped on off days for things to write about [imagine an eye roll here], OFB shows why it excels in hockey acumen and initiative.

    15 March, 2008 at 1:35 pm | Permalink
  5. exwhaler wrote:

    The other thing to remember was that those trades were a firesale; other teams knew that the Capitals were trying to unload salary, so they had McPhee over a barrel in terms of return. Especially with the CBA blowing up that summer, something that all the owners and GMs knew would happen. Three of the six prospects the Capitals got in those trades are on the NHL team–Laich, Morrisonn, and Fleichmann–not to mention the draft picks that got us Mike Green, Finley, and others.
    It was a bang-up job considering the circumstances, one on which the Capitals established a new foundation (go look at the talent that has come just from the 2004 draft)

    15 March, 2008 at 2:39 pm | Permalink
  6. pgreene wrote:

    gmgm remains one of the shrewdest traders in the league.
    go brooks go.

    15 March, 2008 at 2:44 pm | Permalink
  7. Bethany wrote:

    He’s a ladies man, and I like him.

    15 March, 2008 at 11:32 pm | Permalink
  8. Zack wrote:

    While Brooks is indeed having a strong year, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. A few years ago it looked like we had a perennial twenty goal scorer in Matt Pettinger – the rest is history.
    I’m not trying to be pessimistic, but I want to see Brooks play this way for a couple years, not just 12 games.

    16 March, 2008 at 11:48 am | Permalink
  9. amy wrote:

    He’s been playing quite well, as of late, and having a little eye candy on the ice doesn’t hurt either!

    17 March, 2008 at 10:17 am | Permalink
  10. Aneesa wrote:

    I like Laich, too, but I agree with Zack. He has had a tremendous end-of-season run with a career-best 19 goals.
    The 2007-2008 has been his best season with 19 goals and 30 assists but he hasn’t been consistent. If he can consistently increase his stats for at least another two years, I’ll buy his jersey. Right now, he’s just insatiable eye candy.
    As for Petti, I hope he’s found a home with the Canucks.

    17 March, 2008 at 2:31 pm | Permalink
  11. exwhaler wrote:

    Although the “another Pettinger” warning is justified, there are some differences that might seem to indicate Laich’s break-out is for real.
    Pettinger had his 20-goal season the year after the lockout, when he was the best first offensive option on the roster after Ovechkin. He got the puck more, he was expected to be an offensive player, and he was playing is natural position (LW). The next season, Pettinger was shifted to RW to make room for Alexander Semin. The two seemed to have chemistry issues (namely, Semin wouldn’t pass him the puck), and then he missed some games with an injury. Pettinger wound up with 16 goals that year–four shy of his career best, in which he played 7 more games. He still managed to pot 3 SHG and get about the same number of points as the previous season. This year, the wheels came off–with the veteran acquisitions, Pettinger was moved to what was hoped to be a veteran checking line, which never produced and then derailed as soon as Clark got injured. Maybe the move to a checking line stunted his offense; maybe it was an attitude problem that both Hanlon and Gabby struggled with; maybe it was just dumb bad luck. Whatever it was, Petty seemed to struggle whenever the coaching staff would shift his position or his game.
    That hasn’t happened with Laich. He’s shown he can play all three forward positions with no drop-off in play, and that he’s a balanced defensive player who’s not afraid to crash the net to generate his own offense. I don’t think he’ll ever become a consistant goal scorer, but he’ll get bursts like the one in recent weeks, where he takes advantage of teams attempting to lock down on Ovie.
    Laich doesn’t remind of Pettinger. He reminds of Chris Clark. Heck, they even look alike:
    http://cdn.nhl.com/photos/mugs/8469639.jpg
    http://ted.aol.com/images/content/Chris%20Clark.jpg

    17 March, 2008 at 6:19 pm | Permalink
  12. Let’s all arbitrate and have a good time! « the red skate wrote:

    5 July, 2008 at 9:47 pm | Permalink

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