Don Beaupre

Don Beaupre entered the NHL with a bang.

In his first season, Don was an All-Star, helped the North Stars win the Norris Division and advance to the Stanley Cup finals where they fell just short against the New York Islanders. It was the start of a pro career that young goalies usually only dream of.

None of the teams Don played for ever reached that lofty status again. But Don said that the first NHL season was a blessing in disguise.

"When I got drafted, before I went to training camp my parents had a party for me and a bunch of friends came over and stuff like that," Don said. "It was kind of a good luck party, and I really shouldn’t have made it that year. I wasn’t thinking I should or shouldn’t make it, it was just the next step and you go and see what happens. If I was thinking, 'Boy, I really have to go and make it,' I probably wouldn’t have. The pressure would have probably got to me. Being naive probably helped my chances then."

Don enjoyed a pretty good junior career with the Sudbury Wolves and made the First All-Star Team in 1980. His fine play prompted Minnesota North Stars to pick him 37th overall that year.

Don's rookie season in the NHL was sensational and he played like a seasoned veteran. As mentioned previously, he made the All-Star team, helped the North Stars win the Norris Division and also helped them reach the Stanley Cup finals.

"That was quite a year," Don admitted. "Just to make it to the NHL, we won a few games, I made the All-Star team out in Los Angeles and I'd never been there before, and we were in the finals. It was quite a year, no doubt, and I never had anything like that again."

Don played in two of the games in the finals (Gilles Meloche played in the other three). Don earned the lone North Stars victory when his team was facing elimination, down 3-0. They eventually lost the series in five games as Don played in the fifth and final game.

"We had a lot of young guys with energy and enthusiasm, and we had a pretty good group of guys," he said. "Perhaps the difference between winning and not was that most of the talent was in the young and inexperienced guys. We had older guys with a lot of heart, but most of the talent was in the guys 25 and under, so maybe that was the difference."

Don spent seven fairly successful seasons in Minnesota although none as good as his rookie season. He was then placed on waivers and sent to the minors early on in the 1988-89 season. It didn't sit well with Don who demanded a trade. His wish was granted and Don was traded to Washington for rights to Claudio Scremin on November 1, 1988.

At first, Don was sent down to the minors and it seemed that his situation wasn't going to improve since Clint Malarchuk and Pete Peeters were between the pipes in Washington .

"That took some of the excitement away," Don said. "I knew I had to put in my time, but it was tough, it was probably the toughest point of my career. Pete Peeters and Clint Malarchuk were there. I had to unseat them. You could play as well as you could, but if they are playing well for the Caps you aren’t going to get a shot. It was tough, because the rumor was that a couple of teams wanted to make a trade for me because they had injuries, and the Caps didn’t want to make any deals. It was pretty frustrating."

But soon Don got another chance and seized it. He not only made his way back to the NHL, but went on to make his mark in the Capitals' record book. Don held the franchise record in career wins (128) until Olaf Kolzig broke that mark.

The Capitals had a strong team defensively with a defense-first mentality, anchored by blueline stalwart Rod Langway.

"No doubt, those were some of the most fun times in my career," Don said. "I was playing all the time, we were winning in a tough division, it was real satisfying for me.

"I had five shutouts in one year [league leading in 1990-91], and I struggled to get one in every other year I think. It was fun to play with guys like Rod Langway and Mike Gartner, real good players and respected players. It was a good experience, and I really enjoyed living in Washington D.C., too."

Don's 2.64 GAA in 1990-91 was a career best and he played in his second All-Star game in 1992. Don was eventually traded to the lowly Ottawa Senators in 1995. There he played a total of 71 games between 1995 and 96 and was then traded to the NY Islanders who the same day shipped him to Toronto. Don finished his playing career by playing the majority of his games for St.John's Maple Leafs (AHL). He also saw time with Utah Grizzlies (IHL) and the Maple Leafs.

"I was fortunate to play 17 years professionally, and it went by quick," Don said. "The NHL was done with me, and I think I was pretty much done with it and could leave it behind.

Today Don lives in Minnesota, where he and a partner run a construction equipment rental business called Power Lift Inc. The company rents man-lifts, scissor-lifts, booms and other heavy gear used in construction.

"We started with about 78 machines and now we have 350 in a year and a half, and things are going OK," Don said. "It was rough early with the capital expenditure to buy the equipment, but it's going OK, we’re happy. It’s been a good learning experience to not only get involved in a business regularly, but to help run it."

Washington Capitals Greatest Players

Greg Adams Don Beaupre Peter Bondra Bobby Carpenter Dave Christian Dino Ciccarelli John Druce Gaetan Duchesne Mike Gartner Bengt-Ake Gustafsson Kevin Hatcher Alan Haworth Dale Hunter Al Iafrate Joe Juneau

Rod Langway Jack Lynch Mike Marson Dennis Maruk Alan May Bill Mikkelson Kelly Miller Andrei Nikolishin Pete Peeters Mike Ridley Bill Riley Scott Stevens Ryan Walter Bugsy Watson Bernie Wolfe

Kevin Hatcher

I'm really not sure why, but I never truly respected Kevin Hatcher quite like I did his younger brother Derian.

Derian was one of my true favorites, mostly because of his mean streak and his commitment to team defense. Kevin on the other hand was a giant who, at times, liked to throw his weight around but was most notably an offensive defenseman.

I suspect I never warmed to Kevin because for all his skill and impressive scoring ability, never maximized himself like he could have. That's a pretty easy thing for me to say, with my grand total of 0 NHL games. Perhaps we fans just placed too high expectations on Kevin Hatcher, like so many other players over the years.

Regardless, he was never reputed to be as good in his own zone as he was in the other team's. He seemed susceptible to making boneheaded, risky plays, overhandling the puck and hurting his team defensively. He did not always maximize his size, taking nights off. Outside of the 1992-93 season he just never really could put it all together and be one of the game's truly dominant defenders.

Kevin Hatcher was a powerful straight ahead skater, which he displayed whenever he could by jumping into or leading the rush. With his giant stride he could catch even the speediest of transition attackers on the way back. Defensively he could look awkward when turning, but he compensated for that with his gigantic reach.

He had a devastating shot from the point, and would often come crashing in from the blue line looking for a surprise garbage goal. When he was on his many offensive rushes he was an excellent give and go player. Otherwise he was good passer, but not a greatly creative player.

Physically he could dominate. He was imposing at 6'4" and 225lbs, and he enjoyed banging bodies, sometimes with a mean streak. Other times, especially as his career advanced, he seemed quite disinterested in the physical game, which for someone of his size is extremely frustrating for coaches and fans alike. He lost a few fights early in his career and seemed to back down over time. Perhaps this was simply because his coaches wanted him on the ice, not by the ice box.

He could be guilty of getting out of position to make a big hit. Since he didn't have the lateral mobility to recover he could get burned by such bad reads. He was usually a safe defender when it came to clearing the puck, usually breaking a man with a good pass. He could be guilty of overhandling the puck, and when he did cough up the puck in his own zone, he usually did so royally.

Drafted by Washington 17th overall in 1984, Hatcher went on to play in 1,157 career NHL games, scoring 227 goals and 450 assists for 677 points. He also registered 1,392 career penalty minutes. He put together one of the most impressive offensive seasons by a defenseman in 1992-93 when he scored 34 goals and 79 points. Impressively he reached double digits in goals scored 12 times in a row in his career, including seasons of 24 and 19 goals.

Despite these impressive scoring stats, he was never truly among the game's elite defensemen in the 1990s, but rather firmly just a notch below.

Andrei Nikolishin

I think one of the most underrated players in the National Hockey League around the turn of the century was Washington Capitals center Andrei Nikolishin.

A quick glance at his numbers hint at nothing special. He never scored more than 14 goals in one season and outside of a 51 point campaign with Hartford back in 1996, he would challenge the 30 point mark regularly in Washington. He would play in 10 seasons in the NHL, seeing 628 games. He scored 93 goals and 187 assists for 280 points. In 43 career playoff games, he had just one goal and 17 helpers.

I always felt Nikolishin's game was much stronger than his output ever suggested.

He was a very strong skater, blessed with a powerful stride. He literally could turn on a dime, shaking many defenders, and had great balance.

He was nifty puckhandler with a pass-first mentality, almost to a fault. Unfortunately he never really had the chance to play with a triggerman on the wing who could convert his slippery passes.

Nikolishin was used more in a checking role, a role he eagerly accepted but soon became trapped in. He read plays well, backchecked with determination and killed penalties and blocked shots with authority. He almost seemed content to let his defensive game carry him. It would have been nice to see him a more offensive role, because I think he would have done well at it.

Though he was not very big (he was listed a 5'11" and 180lbs) he adapted well to the more physical North American game. He was very popular with his teammates as he had exemplary work habits.

The Caps let Nikolishin go in 2002. After failed stops in Chicago and Colorado, Nikolishin went home to Russia during the NHL lockout season of 2004-05. He never returned to the NHL, but continued to play hockey in Russia for many years.

Alan May

Do you know which NHL player was traded the most times on NHL trading deadline day?

According to an official NHL press release the answer is Alan May, who was traded 4 times (1988, 1989, 1994, 1995). That is one more time than Dan McGillis, Mark Jannsesn, Mike Gartner and Steve Konroyd.

Who?

Other than famed goal scorer Gartner, why would NHL teams be so interested in these already all but forgotten names at the trading deadline? In May's case in particular, why would teams in the heat of a playoff drive be so interested in a pugilist who in his best season scored just 7 goals and a scary 339 penalty minutes?

Alan May was a hard working and hard nosed hockey player. He showed little promise in junior hockey, rarely playing in the WHL and never being drafted by the NHL. After a 1986-87 season in the lowest of the minor leagues, an old "Slap Shot-like" league called the ACHL, he signed with the Boston Bruins before being traded to the Edmonton Oilers, who were known for stockpiling goons as well as superstars.

To his credit May worked his butt off to get on to the NHL's radar. A rugged kid from the industrious farms and forests of Barrhead, Alberta - about 75 miles northwest of Edmonton - May was never shy of hard work. Over the next couple of seasons he took on all comers in the AHL, but also worked on his skating, defensive coverage and puck skills. A bit of a late bloomer, he was beginning to show he could play the game some, as well as being as tough as nails.

And the NHL noticed. The Oilers gave him a three game audition, and he even scored a goal.

But it was not until the 1989-90 season that May arrived in the NHL. The Washington Capitals had acquired May from Edmonton via Los Angeles in a draft day trade. May would become the Caps resident tough guy for the next 4 and 1/2 seasons.

Make no mistake, the 6 foot, 205 pound winger was in the NHL for his ability to throw punches. Though maybe not a true challenger for hockey's heavyweight title, he handled his own, surprising many by punching with both hands.

May was an intelligent goon in that he knew when and when not to fight, in terms of impacting the flow of the game. If his team was going well, he would not interrupt the trend. But if his team needed a pick-me-up, he was more than willing to look for a way to fire up the bench.

And despite his high penalty minute totals, it was rare that he left his team shorthanded. He usually took someone from the other team to the penalty box as well.

While he was there to fill the goon role, he brought more to the table than just fists of fury.

First and foremost, he was an excellent teammate. He was universally loved on the bench and in the room. This allowed him to take on a leadership role, whereby his devotion and intensity rubbed off on teammates of much higher skill levels. He worked hard on every shift and in every practice, setting the tone for every player.

He also was a decent role player, able to play a few minutes each game and contribute more than just glove-dropping intimidation.

With a decent amount of quickness and balance on his skates, May's skating allowed him to launch himself into opponents when bodychecking, maximizing his physical game. When forechecking he was like a heat seeking missle, zeroing in on defensemen who were anxious to get rid of the puck. He did some nice work along the wall and in the corners, too, often freeing pucks from those heated scrums.

Unfortunately, May had next to no skills with the puck once he freed it. He had no vision whatsoever, and no creativity other than to immediately fire it on net with his heavy shot, or to put back along the boards and fight for it again.

Still, May was able to carve out a nice 393 game career, toiling with Dallas and Calgary late in his career. In that time May scored 31 goals, 76 points and registering an unforgiving 1346 penalty minutes. Unlike some goons, he played in the playoffs, too. He got into 40 post season games, contributing 1 goal, 3 points and 80 PIMs.

Upon retirment May opened up his own physical training business in Dallas after dabbling in coaching in the minor leagues.

Jack Lynch

When people remember the 1970s Washington Capitals, people unfailingly bring up the disastrous 1974-75 expansion season.

That season the Capitals posted a horrendous 8-67-5 record with just 21 points in the standings. The team only scored 181 goals while surrendering a record 446 goals against.

Amidst that disastrous season, defenseman Bill Mikkelson posted a record that no NHL player wants - the worst plus/minus in NHL history. Somehow, Mikkelson found himself ranked at -82 in just 59 games played.

Everyone likes to bring up the story of Mikkelson's frigid -82 rating, but it was not like he did not have some company with poor plus/minus ratings. Most members of that Capitals teams finished the season in the -30 to -40 range. A few others hit -50 and -60.

While Mikkelson's -82 is amazing, so too was Jack Lynch's performance that year.

Lynch played most of the year in Detroit, a team only Washington could consider strong. Lynch was brought into Washington in a late season trade in order to help shore up the weary Washington blue line.

Lynch arrived with 20 games left, and somehow post a -54! That is every bit as amazing Mikkelson's record of inferiority.

The difference between Lynch and Mikkelson was Lynch lasted long enough to see the turn around in Washington. While Mikkelson was gone the next year, Lynch stuck around for four more seasons. He even post a +2 rating in his final season, 1978-79.

Lynch, who was known to do the "Stork Shuffle" on those rare occasions he scored a goal, was from Oshawa, Ontario. His final two seasons in the NHL were severely truncated due to a horrible knee injury he suffered after a collision with Vancouver's Hilliard Graves. He would retire and turn to broadcasting.

Bill Mikkelson

You can bet that every season that goes by Bill Mikkelson is hoping some player has a terrible, disastrous season.

Mikkelson goes down in NHL infamy as having the worst season in terms of the plus/minus statistic. It is the record no player wants.

In just 59 games played in the 1974-75 season, Mikkelson post a frigid -82! Two years earlier, with the New York Islanders, he posted a -54 rating.

How do you post such a terrible plus/minus such as -82?

"While we were playing, it never crossed my mind," he said. "I just went game to game. You look back, and in a sense it's, 'Boy, that is bad.' It's almost embarrassing. But I still check the minus ratings. I follow it every year."

First of all, the plus/minus statistic is flawed to some degree. Players on the worst teams get dinged severely while players on good teams are generally padded a bit. Mikkelson was definitely on two of the weakest teams of all time - the Islanders and Capitals combined for a total of just 20 wins out of a possible 158 games. That's ridiculous!

The plus/minus stat all comes down to relativity. Mind you, -82 is bad even on a team loaded with players who were -30 and -40.

Actually, you could build a case that Mikkelson was not the worst defensive player on the ice anyways. Perhaps the coach knew Mikkelson was actually better than some of his other options, and put Mikkelson on the ice against the top lines on a regular basis. Of course his plus/minus is going to take a beating in that case. The real weak defensive players don't get out on the ice against the Phil Espositos, Guy Lafleurs and Bobby Clarkes, right?

What I'm trying to say is don't judge Bill Mikkelson by his gaudy plus/minus record. He was a solid player with the Brandon Wheat Kings and later played with the Winnipeg Jets of the old Western Canada Hockey League while attending University of Manitoba. He turned pro in the Los Angeles Kings organization and put in a couple of AHL seasons before NHL expansion/WHA dilution opened jobs for minor league players.