5 random players you forgot were on the Washington Capitals
By Al Daniel
Washington Capitals: Rick Tocchet
The Capitals traded spryness for seasoning in a blockbuster deal on March 1, 1997. In exchange for Jason Allison, Jim Carey, and Anson Carter, they received Adam Oates, Bill Ranford, and Tocchet from Boston.
Of those return pieces, only Tocchet left before Washington’s surge from a 1997 playoff no-show to the 1998 Stanley Cup Final. Had he stuck, that would have been the fourth Cup final of his career.
Tocchet previously joined Philadelphia’s 1985 and 1987 runners-up, then won a title with Pittsburgh in 1992. The Penguins eliminated the Capitals in a seven-game division semifinal that spring.
Tocchet was a four-time midseason All-Star and three-time vote getter for the postseason All-Star teams during his decade on either end of Pennsylvania. He led the Flyers with 96 points in 1989-90, finished ninth on the Hart ballot the next year, and posted a career-high 109 points for the 1992-93 Penguins.
Between the lockout-delayed start to 1994-95 and a trade to Boston the next winter, Tocchet played nearly the equivalent of a full schedule for Los Angeles. He left the Kings with 71 points and 80 appearances on their all-time roster, then logged 54 points in 61 games over two partial seasons with the Bruins.
Conversely, the Capitals let him get away after 10 points in 13 altogether meaningless homestretch contests. He joined another Washington discard — coach Jim Schoenfeld — in Phoenix, where he led the Coyotes with eight playoff points in 1998 and remained until a late-season trade sent him back to Philadelphia in 2000.
Of the 17 seasons Tocchet finished, 13 featured a playoff run. His six-week ride with the Capitals was the last not to.
More recently, as a Penguins assistant coach, Tocchet took part in two more Capitals downfalls (2016 and 2017) en route to more rings.
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