Three seasons ago, in just the second year of his tenure with the Capitals, Clark had been placed on the same line as the league’s brightest young star, Alexander Ovechkin. The 6’0” South Windsor, Connecticut, native put together the most impressive year of his entire career. In 74 games that season Clark scored 30 goals, had 24 assists, and fired an unprecedented 164 shots on goal.

While the Caps didn’t make much noise in the league, finishing fourth in the Southeast division, Clark’s performance gave hope for the future. They had their franchise player, a captain who looked like a reincarnation of Steve Yzerman, plenty of promising young prospects, and therefore seemed a franchise poised to make a turn around from the basement of the Eastern conference. Washington ended up doing just that, but that turn around happened laregly without the on-ice help of their captain and leader.

Clark sustained a groin injury not even a quarter way through the following season. It took him several months to return from the painful and year-killing injury. Once it had healed and everything looked good to go, Clark took the ice against the Philadelphia Flyers, but barely made it through one shift. Number 17 stepped on the ice and promptly re-injured the same groin muscle, ending his season.

He returned next year in the team’s new red, white and blue colors, looking to the put the past of painful injuries and a painful season behind him. The pain was just beginning however, as Clark would miss a majority of the season yet again, playing in only 31 games because of a bad wrist.

The wrist would plague him through the rest of the season. While he would return for the Capitals second-round playoff battle with the Pittsburgh Penguins, he was offensively ineffective and was pushed to third line duty.

Perhaps more important than his return in the postseason was the vote of confidence Head Coach Bruce Boudreau gave him during their first round playoff tilt with the New York Rangers. After being asked whether or not Clark would lose the captain’s ‘C,’ Boudreau responded by reaffirming Clark as the captain,  their leader on and off of the ice. It is quite the endorsement, considering that Clark had been one of the least productive players on the squad.

Clark finished the playoffs and still had the ‘C’ on his jersey.

Last summer he took the blows and demotions like a true leader thinking of the team first. Training camp began this September and it came out that Clark had agreed to be moved to the third line, also known as the retirement home for formerly skilled players. There was one problem with that, though: Clark decided he didn’t want to be confinced to the team’s third line.

Maybe Chris Clark isn’t quite a candidate for comeback player of the years award, but his is still a strong story of a leader’s perserverance. In November alone he had a four-game point streak that helped the Caps take five out of their last seven, and he capped that off with the winning shootout goal in a wild 11 round tilt against the Islanders.

While yes he has been clutch in several situations, and yes he has finally returned to the top line with Ovechkin, it is what he has meant to this team that is more important than his offensive firepower. Young stud Mathieu Perreault has come up from Hershey and been an absolute delight. He has made a playmaker’s precision passes, scored a couple of goals, and even doled out some hits. Much of the youngster’s poised play must be credited to his natural talent, but what we can’t overlook is the line he was put on. Perreault had Clark on his flank, and the captain certainly helped the young and nervous French Canadian get acclimated to the league.

It is just another demonstration of how much Boudreau actually trusts Clark. He knows that it doesn’t matter how many points Clark has on the season – he is in some sense a thread that holds the team together. He is the true meaning of leader.

On top if those leadership abilities, Clark also has the real ability to become a serious X-Factor. Recently he returned to the top line with former linemate Ovi and center Nicklas Backstrom and was +1 with an assist. Staying healthy is going to be key if Clark is to have a stellar season. The skills are clearly still there — especially the grit and warrior’s will in traffic — but the health is the only thing left in doubt.

Regardless of whether he stays true to form on the top line or falls back to the third, it will be Clark that will play a pivotal leadership role for this team on toward the playoffs, as he is the heart and sole of Washington Capitals hockey.

Verizon Center had a new and novel synergy within its passion Friday night. On a couple of occasions Mathieu Perreault was chased out of the faceoff circle, and the soldout rink booed its displeasure. When the puck was on Perreault’s stick shouts of “Let’s go Matty!” could be heard from varying corners and levels of the rink. And a blossoming affection between a newcomer wearing no. 85 and this city’s red throng seemed consummated with Perreault’s game-winning, primary assist to Brian Pothier, which occasioned another memorable fit of oversized elation from the undersized playmaker.

• On his very next shift, Perreault skated down the left side of the ice, leading the Caps’ attack into the Minnesota Wild zone with his two linemates perfectly spaced, and for the first time all evening the Verizon Center Red Army rose to its feet in anticipation, its passion piqued by the pizzaz of the pint-sized pivot. The Capitals didn’t score on that Perreault-led rush, but 18,000-plus in Verizon Center believed it quite possible they would. If Alexander Ovechkin’s signature celebration is his leap high into Verizon Center’s plexiglass, Mathieu Perreault’s is a bright-eyed, canyon-wide grin as he leaps into his teammates’ arms.
•  In-game observation from this blog’s intern, regarding #85: “He’s so interesting to watch.” Indeed.
• Of course HockeyWashington is falling hard for this kid. He’s got skill and razzle-dazzle up to his eyeballs, 165 of his 170 pounds are lodged in his heart, and he plays the game with the boundless joy of a 12-year-old out on the winter season’s first session of shinny on the farm pond. Prediction: there will be red Caps’ sweaters customized with #85 under a few Washington Christmas trees in six weeks’ time.
• In the Caps’ locker room Wednesday night I met the bearded Perreault and explained to him that in the NHL beards appear in the league’s postseason. He smiled and laughed and admitted that he’s a bit of a creature of superstition when he’s playing well – he doesn’t shave. At this rate, he’ll look like Lincoln by New Years.
• “It’s got to be the best hockey I’ve played,” he told me.
• Perreault, on his reaction when Bears’ general manager Doug Yingst called him with news of his Washington assignment: “I was shaking at first. I couldn’t believe it. I knew Keith [Aucoin] was here, and he was playing good. I got my chance and I said to myself, ‘I just gotta take it.’”
• “I called my dad right away. And first game [in Atlanta] was on RDS back home, so my family got to watch.”

How could you not fall hard for this kid?

• Privileged to have had perhaps a dozen conversations with MP dating back to Capitals’ camps of three years ago, I asked him what he enjoyed most about his first week living his lifelong dream – being a big-leaguer. He first identified the warm and supportive reception he’s had from his Capitals’ teammates, but he quickly transitioned to travel as an NHLer. Perreault traveled long and hard by bus with the Bears last year, but as a three-season vet of the Q – Quebec is an unfathomably large province, and so Q leaguers spend most of winter within their wheeled chariots — he reflected on plane rides of an hour or two versus “seven hour bus rides . . . or seventeen-hour bus rides.”
• Maybe Perreault will be the cause of the first lover’s spat between Hershey and Washington. Bears’ fans: “We want him back.” Caps’ fans: “You can’t have him.”
• At a Capitals’ Rookie Development Camp a summer or two back I saw Perreault loosen up for a scrimmage off the ice by cradling a puck on his stick blade as if he were a lacrosse player. The puck stuck to his blade as if glued on while his wrists flicked the stick in his hands like a lacrosse stick. This went on for more than five minutes, the puck never coming close to falling to the ground. I was so mesmerized by this feat of virtuosity that I asked him if he’d he recreate it for me with the OFB video camera recording at this past summer’s camp. He agreed to. But very late in a scrimmage he took a brutal slash to a hand in a faceoff, and had to ice his wrist afterward. Obviously, we didn’t shoot. At September’s training camp I approached him again about making the video, and he very politely declined. He was attending Capitals’ training camp with the intention of making the roster, and now was not the time for fun and games, he explained. At this point in camp you had Nicklas Backstrom, Brendan Morrison, Michael Nylander, David Steckel, Boyd Gordon, and Keith Aucoin all ahead of Perreault on the depth chart. Well, look who’s skating in a Caps’ sweater at center eight weeks later.
• Perreault’s production — a goal and three assists in his first 5 NHL games — would be impressive were he skating 18 minutes a night. But he’s not. He’s skating about half that time. Gabby is managing his minutes masterfully.
• Perreault may well have been the reassignment casualty for Ovi’s return to the lineup, but with Mike Knuble undergoing surgery for a broken finger, and likely out a solid month, the wager here is that we’ll have at least another month of deke-delight from #85.
• Wes Johnson, get well soon. The rink won’t be the same without you.

Admin update: Here an interview with Perreault talking about the goal mentioned above, recorded on 18 Sept, 2008.

Here are some trends, stats, and pros and cons for each position:

Goalies

Washington has alternated goalies very regularly throughout the season, but I would argue that if Theodore did not sustain a back injury, he would have played in more than just nine games. He has been the better goalie, but the Capitals seem to play better – and more importantly – get wins in front of 21-year old Semyon Varlamov. Theodore’s play was outstanding during a four-game losing streak, except for two shaky goals to the Rangers’ Marian Gaborik. During that streak, Theodore took the loss for Varlamov against the Flyers, after the Russian had been shelled four times.

The young Russian goalie has a 5-1-0 record, yet has been mediocre in the seven games he has started. He owns a 3.18 GAA and sub-.900 save percentage. The trend here is the Capitals don’t play more defensively when playing in front of Varlamov; they just score more goals and allow more goals. Varlamov has played in three games – two against Atlanta and one against Toronto – in which the Caps had jumped out to huge first-period leads only to allow the opponent to make a quick comeback. Come playoff time, a 3.00 GAA is not going to cut it against the likes of the Penguins and Flyers. While Theo’s stats are not much more spectacular than Varly’s, he’s been the better of the pair.

Defense

The league-leader in defensive scoring isn’t Mike Green, but instead comes from the second-worst team in the league. Thomas Kaberle leads the league’s D-men with 18-points in 14 games. Number 52 does have a respectable 13 points in his 16 games played, but his two-goal season thus far is modest. Now he’s banged up a bit. ESPN projects him to total 11 goals and 71 points this season — which is all well and good — but his $5.25 million paycheck invites expectations approaching 25 goals a season. In his own end, Green remains a work in progress. He’s been noticeably absent physically as well.

Other defensemen have picked up the slack to support the team. In the first part of the season, the defense is better than it was last year. It is virtually the same corps as last year, plus Tyler Sloan, who had a two-game goal scoring streak.  One more year of experience and playing together has helped the Caps tremendously. Tom Poti has been solid. Offensively, it’s nice to see Brian Pothier contributing for the regular D-men — he might be playing the best hockey of his life these days. I suspect he’ll be the go-to-guy on defense while Green’s lost to injury.

However, there’s tons of space for improvement on that end. Jeff Schultz and Milan Jurcina are the biggest guys on the team, but it amazes me how often they get beat to the puck, even when they’re in an advantageous position. Schultz seems scared to use his body and Jurcina often gets beat because his stick isn’t on the ice when he goes to the corners to clear the puck.  It’s nice to see a healthy John Erskine in the line-up again.

Offense

What is up with Semin?

As of last night, approximately $15 million worth of offensive cap space has vacated the roster through injury, but the slick Russian hasn’t made an impact on a game yet. Check that, a positive impact. He had two secondary assists on Sunday against Columbus in Ovi’s absence, but his last worthwhile contribution was October 27 at home versus Philly in which he scored the game-winning goal with a sick wrister to the roof. This is Semin’s contract year, and his opportunity to make his next contract as valuable as possible. Read Andrew Tomlinson’s piece titled Stand-in Savior for more on Semin.

Alexander Ovechkin had six two-goal games and one one-goal game through the first 12 games of the season, meaning he scored in seven of those 12 — perfectly respectable for the league’s best player. He’s been an impact player in just about every game, and the Caps are hopeful of having him back in the lineup as early as this week.

Enter Mathieu Perreault. I’ve been a big fan of this guy since he was a Junior player when the Caps drafted him in 2006. The Quebecer put up monster numbers for Acadie-Bathurst in the Q and despite playing fourth line minutes in Hershey, he still put up 50 points in 2008-09. In the three games he’s played, he’s been an impact player despite his diminutive size, shaking off hits and physical play to keep possession of the puck. He assisted twice in his first game against the Devils and scored the first goal of his NHL career against Florida last night. He might not be returning to Hershey as soon as either the Caps or Bears imagined a week ago.

Speaking of AHLers, I was watching the New Jersey broadcast of Wednesday’s game when Mike “Doc” Emrick noted that Alexandre Giroux is a 28-year old 60-plus goal scorer in the AHL. The commentator said, “You’d think some team would have picked up on his skill and put him in the NHL.” I completely agree. I don’t think Eric Fehr or even Tomas Fleischmann have got the offensive upside of Giroux, though they may have more NHL career potential. If Boudreau wanted three scoring lines he’d perhaps consider rolling out Fleischmann, Perreault, and Giroux on the third line.

Wrap-Up

The Caps are tied for fewest regulation losses in the NHL with three. Buffalo, Colorado and Dallas are the others. They have collected points in 14 of their 17 games.

Some key questions ahead: Will Tomas Fleischmann show he is a reliable, top-six talent? Will  Mathieu Perreault show he can stay in the big league this season? How will Eric Fehr contribute? What do we think of Alexander Semin’s play — most particularly in the past week — in this the most important year of his NHL career to date?

We may well have the answers to these questions by the midway point of the season.

Chat about the game here.

“I was pleasantly surprised Saturday morning, as I sat with my 3 year old watching the
injured Caps skate, to see Brian skating with the
boys. Best wishes on his recovery and whatever he decides to do.”

It was on the day of the Capitals’ uniform unveiling in June 2007, when she served as OFB photographer for the day, that she decided that she liked Pothier best.

Why Pothier? We were grazing on the food and drink in the player/media area before the event when I pointed out Pothier sitting a few feet away. He was with his wife and children; the youngest munchkin was standing between Pothier’s legs, trying to put spaghetti into dad’s mouth as he spoke to his children.

“Daddy’s going to go skate around for a little while . . . you can watch me through the window, okay? I’ll be back soon,” he reassured them. It was like a dad telling his kids, “I’m going out to mow the lawn — don’t worry, I’m not leaving, you can watch me through the window!” Except Pothier’s lawn-mowing was watched by a legion of fans. It was a sweet scene; most hockey players are generally down-to-earth nice guys, but seeing this moment up close was really heartwarming. And having witnessed said moment, Mrs. OC was an instant fan of Brian Pothier.

Pothier’s hockey career — and life — took a dramatic turn 11 months ago from a brutal collision with the Boston Bruins’ Milan Lucic. The resulting concussion has not just prevented him from playing hockey, but it has wreaked havoc with his family life as well.

With the Bruins in town, The Washington Times‘ Corey Masisak published a top-notch article in Wednesday’s paper, available online here. I heartily encourage everyone to read Corey’s article through the end . . . it’s not only a piercing tale of Pothier’s struggle as a hockey player and father to recover from his injury, but it shines a bright light on the truly scary nature of concussions.

A quote from Pothier in Corey’s article:

“My goal right now is to be able to function like a normal person. I
want to be able to go to the park and play tag football with my kids,
and be able to run and chase them as fast and as hard as I want to and
not feel like I am going to explode.”

Corey, thanks for providing this terrific insight into Brian’s fight to return to normalcy. My wife and I, and all of us at OFB, wish Brian the best of luck for a full recovery.