It seems reasonable to posit that Olie Kolzig’s play as a middle-thirtysomething netminder during the first two seasons after the lockout was distinctly solid. Not spectacular, clearly, but quite solid. He didn’t have the most formidable blueline corps in front of him, which to some extent his numbers reflected, but few in the sport would have pointed to those seasons and suggested that Olie Kolzig was no longer a no. 1 netminder in the NHL.
Heading into 2007-08, we knew that Kolzig the gracefully aging elder statesman was a superbly conditioned and distinctly dedicated professional athlete. He spoke very openly about the adjustments he was incorporating in the twilight of his career to ready himself for a new and long season and its rigors. This was an explicit acknowledgment that he was feeling the effects of Father Time. Still, he appeared to be aging a bit like wine. During training camp he spoke of playing another two or three seasons after ‘07-08, under a new contract, hopefully with Washington.
Last fall, the present and the forecasted future for Olie Kolzig seemed promising, without a scintilla of wishful thinking attached to it.
The difficulty, the angst, as it’s settled in among Kolzig’s legion of loyal fans here this spring derives singularly from what settled in upon Kolzig’s game this past season. Most glaringly, October through January: really bad numbers. Now Olie Kolzig, save his Vezina season and his spectacular run through the postseason in 1998, has never really been about stellar numbers. But this season’s were unprecedented in their wretchedness. At one point deep into the season the statistical Olie Kolzig didn’t rank among the league’s top 40 netminders. George McPhee wouldn’t have dealt for a no. 1 netminder bearing looming unrestricted free agency unless he believed he needed an upgrade — immediately — in net. The acquisition of Cristobal Huet proved to be one of the GM’s most impressive personnel moves in his 10-year run in Washington.
No one would reasonably have suggested that with Kolzig in net instead of Huet the Caps would have won 11 of their last 12 regular season games and stolen a Southeast title away from Carolina. The lone loss during that run was with Kolzig in net.
Moreover, there was something peculiar and unnerving about Kolzig’s very public rebuke of Bruce Boudreau to the Washington Post’s Mike Wise at a time when the team was really gelling and making early rumblings of transforming its season. He intimated that the locker room had become a home for Hershey Bears, and that he was a bit out of place in it. He very explicitly called into question the head coach’s faculties in handling goaltenders. The bellyaching seemed out of character. It seemed distracting. Knowing what we know about Kolzig and the franchise deep in the spring of 2008, one wonders if that wasn’t the breach from which there was no repair.
Which brings us to early this offseason when every apparent indicator suggests that Olie Kolzig has played his last game in a Capitals’ sweater. The situation strikes many of the team’s fans as outlandish, as cruel and cold-hearted to the core on the part of management. These fans are reacting as fans should. Caps’ management, however, is acting precisely as it should.
The fans, understandably, want the franchise’s all-time best netminder to enjoy the promising harvest from a rough rebuild. Kolzig having guided the team to its only appearance in the Stanley Cup finals, this thinking goes, it’s only cosmically just that he’d lead them into postseasons ahead, when the Caps would enjoy roles as favorites rather than long-shots and underdogs. He’s been through so much this sorry decade, his sympathizers sigh. And it’s true. But fairness and cosmic justice and Hollywood endings aren’t the domain of the National Hockey League.
This is about business. The business of winning hockey games. And the cold hard reality is that in this Olie Kolzig NHL offseason the skill set he has to offer is at odds with the present composition and ambition of the only NHL hockey organization he’s ever served. Gordie Howe shouldn’t have left Detroit, ever, but this isn’t a mythical, age-resistant athlete we’re talking about. Olie Kolzig, somewhat sadly, but also somewhat predictably and certainly rather naturally, is aging away from the Capitals’ ascension.
He may well find gainful if non-no.1 netminder employment elsewhere in the NHL this offseason. And as with Peter Bondra, Dale Hunter, and Calle Johansson before him, if that comes to pass it will be jarring and painful to see him compete in a sweater not the Capitals’. Against the Capitals. The man who stood so tall when all around him hockey was so small here actually working to defeat the Caps? I could almost feel an opposing force emanating from the keyboard as I typed the thought.
But by April 5, when Cristobal Huet backstopped the Caps into storyline-of-the-year contention, the business writing was bright on the arena wall. No longer losers, with losers’ payrolls, the winning Caps now need to pay up for services very well rendered. (Think Mike Green.) The team needs not Olie Kolzig so much as his $5.45 million per.
Kolzig and his agent, to judge by their public pronouncements, believe that #37 is worthy of no.1 dough and no. 1 minutes, somewhere. The Caps can’t deliver either to him. It’s really that simple. There is also the matter of their having a capable backup netminder under contract at a budget-friendly rate for ‘08-’09. And Brent Johnson’s contract will expire right about the time it would appear probable that one of a stable of young, highly skilled, recently drafted netminders is ready to ascend to an apprenticeship behind Cristobal Huet or someone like him.
It’s business — the business of pro hockey. Uncomfortable at times to be sure, but never sidelined for sentimentality.
Enough about business, though. Olie Kolzig deserves his night of honor, he deserves to have his sweater retired, when the timing is right, and the wager here is that it’ll happen. Kolzig with his commitment to his club and his leadership in his hockey community came to embody what fans cherish most about pro athletes: he was the rare superior performer and role model. His fans deserve a night to shower him with a decade’s-plus worth of admiration. But until that night, gone now seemingly forever is Verizon Center’s chant of “Olie, Olie, Olie.” The place won’t quite be the same.
Hall of Fame netminder Eddie Giacomin played 10 seasons for the Rangers before being dealt to Detroit. He famously discussed his return to Madison Square Garden to face New York as a Red Wing, where Rags’ fans stood and thundered down — drowning out the national anthem — chants of “Eddie, Eddie, Eddie” while Giacomin stood in his new crease with tears streaming down his cheeks.
“The New York crest is embedded in Eddie Giacomin’s heart,” he said of that night and New York’s impact on his hockey career.
Giacomin never won a Stanley Cup. He also never forgot where was his home in hockey.
Let it be said — God willing one day soon — that this player, his organization, and his fans realized that Olie Kolzig is Washington’s Eddie Giacomin.
Stumble it!
46 Comments
Well said, as much as I love what Olie did for this organization…I’m a Caps fan first and I want whats best for the Caps not Olie.
He has definitely lost his edge, his major problem is rebound control, and I think the main cause of that is his slower reaction time.
I think it was telling when an interviewer was asking Green about playing infront of Huet, he made a comment about knowing where the rebounds are going to go. I think that pretty much sums it up.
Thanks for the time Olie.
Well written p&b..
Amen.
Wow! What a great editorial. Thanks for summing up what I felt but could have never put into such elegance!
And Dez - I am the one and only Dezlboy, so watch it!
A gracefully written and clear-eyed account of the situation. A lot of us will be heartbroken if he plays somewhere else.
Well put OFB!
The excellent writing on this blog never ceases to amaze me. Thanks for such a well written piece.
I’ve always respected Olie, not just for his leadership and great play on the ice, but his presence in the community. His work in the fight against autism is truly admirable. Thanks Olie for being such a great role model!
I sure hope he doesn’t go to the Rangers or Flyers - then I’d have to rename my cat…
Well done.
I wish Olie the best and will never forget the 98 playoffs and seeing his name, our guy, on the Vezina trophy at the Hall. But I am truly excited for the new era of goaltending, be it Huet or someone else, for our team.
Excellent article! As we started to roll into the playoffs, I was hoping and praying Olie would get his last hurrah. I’m still hoping there’s a chance Olie could be the Caps #2 behind Huet, and maybe trade Brent (nothing personal Brent), but I don’t see that happening.
I still remember when Ted first got the team, and immediately started making quality TV ads to promote it. I can’t remember the others, but I do remember Olie in a bathrobe blocking newspapers from his front door. I think he said he had 4 or 5 different guys throwing papers at him!
#37 should definitely hang in the rafters of the VC, as he has been a cornerstone for so long.
The question is, what logo goes on Olie’s banner? He’s the only Cap to wear all 3!
The best Caps commercial was the one with Olie at dinner with “his wife.” He poured her a glass of wine, then poured the bottle all over his face, as the goalies do when they are drinking during the game. That commerical is a classic!
I doubt he’ll retire this summer, but if he does, and if the Caps happen to be home on the first Saturday in March, I’m buying some tickets. Olie Kolzig Night on 3/7/09 would have a nice ring to it.
HERE HERE!!!!
You folks alluding to those clever TV spots, thanks for the stroll down Memory Ln. They were a riot! I’d forgotten about the newspaper-deflection spot. We’ll see if we can’t dig them up this summer.
Some of the commercials were on you tube, but not all. The ones I remember…
1) olie kolzig at dinner with wife and bottle of wine
2) Olie blocking newspapers
3) Old Lady bumping into bondra at supermarket, Simon sticking up for his star winger
4) urinal line change
5) Kono and Nikolishin having a face off on each item the waitress put on the table
6) Adam Oates hitting on hot girl at laundromat while folding bloody clothes.
fun fact: Those commercials were directed by Doug Liman, director of Swingers, Go, The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Those commercials are so money and they don’t even know it.
Oh yes! Olie pouring wine on his face was brillant! I loved all of those!
Still a classic -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OCnDrab3dk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OCnDrab3dk
One of my favorites was one for the Washington Post with two players (I forget who, though…maybe Berube and Kaminsky?) sitting in the penalty box discussing crime statistics while reading the paper.
The Oates one with the bloody clothes was stupid. He never fights, and is never bloody. They needed a guy like Kaminski for that one.
But back on topic- I can only echo previous sentiments that Olie the Goalie was a tremendous asset for both the team and the community and will be greatly missed.
Well done indeed. Enough sentiment, enough reality. They should read this to the crowd on Olie Kolzig day next year.
My $.02 is that Olie has either already decided to retire, or once he gets the sense that he really isn’t wanted to be a a #1, and probably not even a #1-A/B, then he will retire. He’s not going to spend another season in the league to ride the pine.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens this offseason. Kolzig has been such a great presence for a floundering team for so long. What wins out… pride? Business? Money? Team?
It happens in sports; Kolzig understands. He’s seen it and lived through it. At a certain point the team relies on newer players. Elder statesmen have to pass the keys to the kingdom. The body fails. The edge dulls.
Has Kolzig reached that point? Does management think he has? Does he think he has? Sure his agent has to say he’s still a #1 and should get #1 money. That’s his job. Get as much money for as long as possible. But at the moment we have no idea what Kolzig himself actually thinks.
Only time will tell.
As a side note, I’m a firm believer that a player should have to be retired for at least five years (if not longer) before any jersey retiring is even brought up.
And personally I think there’s way too much talk of retiring numbers in general. Yes, there are exceptions, and those select few might be considered.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/08/AR2008050802977.html?sid=ST2008050803030
I wish Olie the best in whatever the future holds. I’m not really sure if he will be able to maintain a #1 position at this point but think he is still a very strong and competent goalie.
A goalie is only as good as the team in front of him and I think he was victim to several games when our boys just did not show up.
If he signs with another team, I will not be cheering for that team but I will always be cheering for Olie…Go, Go, Godzilla!
@Sombrero Guy:
Don’t forget the legendary “Gonchar lights the lamp” ad in that series…
Nice article.
Maybe the Caps can employ Olie in some other FO capacity, or as a goaltending coach?
We’re blessed in Washington to have had Olie all these years. I remember my son and I watching Olie and Byron Dafoe in training camp when the two were competing to be #1. In one drill the pair raced around the rink, each of them tugging on each other’s pants to gain the advantage (it was either Mount Vernon or Piney Orchard- can’t recall). They’re probably still good buddies. OFB: Your piece and the comments that follow it make me as proud to be a Caps fan as anything else that’s happened this historic season.
It’s nice to see people be loyal to their guy. That said, is there a need to retire his number? Some of the posts here mention retiring #37. It used to be a team retired the number of Hall of Famers who played the majority of their career with that team. Some teams were too conservative, like the Blackhawks assigning #9 to a player right after Bobby Hull left town. The fans caused such an uproar that it was not issued again, and was finally retired.
It seems now that it is done as soon as a popular guy leaves the team. It cheapens it when a number is retired in a frivolous manner. Then again, this is the team that retired Yvon Labre’s number, so that horse left the barn a while ago.
I won’t try to argue that Yvon Labre was a HoF-caliber player, but I disagree with JimA that retiring #7 was frivolous. Yvon’s attitude on the ice and his devotion to the fans and community were integral to the establishment of the team in the early and frankly bad first decade here. Without him, we could have been the Kansas City Scouts.
If Washington uses “team’s heart and soul” as the criteria for retiring a jersey, that doesn’t bother me, and by that criteria, #37 absolutely belongs in the rafters.
I’ll miss Olie enormously, and I wish him and his family the very best.
Of the current and past Caps, there are only 2 right now who deserve to have their numbers retired. 12 and 37. Its probably a safe bet that by the end of his career, 8 will go up too, but not yet.
“I remember having such an empty feeling. I had given 10 years of my life to that team and the worst part about it was there was nobody around. My teammates were on their way to Montreal. And here I am in this empty parking lot walking to my car, and I had visions of walking straight into the bay.”
– Ed Giacomin, upon learning that the Rangers would not recall him from waivers after having been claimed by the Red Wings
It has a familar ring this morning.
Right on brother.
Ted reacts to the news:
http://www.tedstake.com/?p=2241
I’m going to miss Olie and truly love the guy but don’t you think he should have talked to management before talking to the papers? I think that was kind of classless….
I do believe that Olie’s jersey should be retired, with or without him making the hall of fame (that’s a debate for another time). He has over 300 wins, all for the Capitals, and was the face of the team when everyone knows the Capitals needed one. Plus, Kolzig has always been so much more than “the Capitals’ goalie” to DC and the surrounding areas … if anyone should have their number retired, it should certainly be Olie Kolzig.
As with Giacomin, I’d love to see Kolzig return to the VC in another team’s jersey … I’d be there and would most certainly start chanting “Olie, Olie” at the beginning of the game. I understand the Capitals needed to move on the goaltending department, but that doesn’t mean Washington needs to forget about Olie Kolzig. Also, I don’t have a problem with Olie talking to the media before the Caps management … If I saw my girlfriend hanging out with another guy all time, and not inviting me to the party … then I think I’d talk to my friends before talking to her too. Olie felt a bit betrayed, and I can’t blame him for that.
PS … I tried very hard to let this stay at 37 posts.
wow… what an incredible article. I’m sitting here in tears with goosebumps. I’m a huge fan of his… I have been since he was the backup for JC. I was fortunate enough to meet him once and he gave me the stick he used in that nights game… he’s genuine in every sense of the word.
I’ll miss you Olie.
Being a draftnik I remember following the caps draft when Kolzig was picked. Great goalie for the capitals for long time. Sometimes the changing of the guard, so to speak, can happen really fast and I think Kolzig might have been taken a bit by surprise. This is life in sports though when older players get pushed out by the young ones.
IMHO the capitals are a bit too liberal when it comes to retiring jerseys so not sure about Kolzig. I think a few years need to pass before even considering it.
Retired numbers depend on the franchise or school. You can match what hall-of-fame voters decide, or you can make it unique, someone who has contributed significantly to your franchise. Olie has certainly done that. He owns a lot of Caps records (blows them out of the water, actually) and has been a face and ambassador for DC hockey for well over a decade.
Has he shown excellence on the ice? Yes.
Has he had career-spanning success and hit milestones? Yes.
Has he been successful in the playoffs? Yes.
Has he meant a lot to the franchise and city off the ice? Yes.
Sounds like an easy soulution to me.
That was a fabulous editorial, and said everything I felt and could not verbalize - and the comparison to Eddie Giacomin was brilliant. As for the argument about retiring the jersey…I agree with Steven R. for all the reasons he cited.
So that’s what it takes to stay in the good graces of management? Lick those boots! Get your pat on the head….
Kolzig single handedly lost games 2,3, 4 didn’t he? Not the freaking rookie defenseman he’s been sheparding for three years? Oh, that’s right Kolzig wasn’t in goal….
I have zero respect for someone, and especially a blogger, who only gives a rip about their access to boot licking and getting their little rumps patted by management!
Hey Spanky…Thanks for adding that great comment to the discussion. You really helped the thread out with your contribution.
FWIW - The only thing I got out of reading your very interesting post is that the only point that you made was that you don’t like bloggers. I for one, enjoy reading this blog daily and seeing the discussion threads embrace civil conversation.
Again, thanks for you input.
I’m with you, MulletMan,
I think Spanky is just upset that no one reads his blog.
Jealousy is quite unbecoming.
I’m sorry, your perception of my ‘comment’ was that I hate bloggers. It seems that my ‘comment’ on this ‘post’ hit home. Pucksandbooks deserves every bit of it for the comments on Kolzig… The Caps spit on him, he hardly spit on the Caps.
btw: I’d be glad to share my stats with you anytime, STD averages well over 100 uniques daily, but of course they are political bloggers/readers.
That is the disconnect I have with bloggers and some readers here, ya’ll don’t understand or care to consider politics…. Think about that and then think about my attitude towards PAB, and my earlier comments on our Play By Play announcer who loves every team more than the Caps, and constantly gushes over them…..
Politics is message and perception…. In my case, I am not interested in being popular, and go along to get along, nor sucking up to Caps Mngt for access, as I perceived this post. I am interested in bringing about the truth the way I see it.
When everyone agrees it shows one is thinking.
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