Re-Drafting the 2006 NHL Draft
By David Rouben
The Washington Capitals, like the Flyers, also found tremendous value in the first round when they got Semyon Varlamov in the first round. But if this draft was redone, he would land in the top 10, meaning the Capitals would be left having to address their other issue.
The Capitals needed offense any which way they could get it. Alex Ovechkin scored 92 points in 2006-07 but it wasn’t enough to get them out of the basement, and secondary scoring dried up beyond Alex Semin.
Even though Shawn Matthias has never scored more than 27 points in his career, you’d be hard pressed to find a guy that works harder in that role. Having started out on the Panthers, Matthias got better with each season, and grew into a valuable role player. His best season was in 2011-12 when he scored 24 points in the Panthers’ run to the playoffs.
Matthias became known when he was included in Florida’s package to take back Luongo, but he put up his best season offensively with the Canucks. And while he was a guy that took lots of penalties, he cleaned up his game, and became very disciplined.
With the help of Bruce Boudreau and Nicklas Backstrom, the Capitals turned their season around and won the division title in 2007-08. Ovechkin put up a 112-point campaign on the way to the Hart, but when the playoffs rolled around, that’s when they could’ve used someone like Shawn Matthias to provide secondary scoring and important bottom six minutes to take the pressure off the top guys.
They fell behind 3-1 to the Flyers then lost in game 7, but have since recovered from that loss. But while the Caps remain playoff contenders, their window to win a Cup won’t last much longer as Ovechkin gets older.
Next: 24. Buffalo Sabres