Washington Capitals: Top Ten Goal Scorers
Washington Capitals Top Ten Goal Scorers: Gonchar
Sergei Gonchar is the lone Washington Capitals defenseman on this list. That tells you how good he was at scoring goals. What’s more impressive is that Gonchar did his goal scoring for Washington Capitals teams that didn’t always encourage offense.
Under Jim Schoenfeld and Ron Wilson, the Caps were not a very high scoring team as they were under Bruce Boudreau. Because of this, with all due respect to Mike Green, I consider Gonchar to be the best offensive defenseman in Washington Capitals history.
His rocket from the point was as close to unstoppable as I’ve ever seen.
He had 144 goals for the Washington Capitals over the course of ten seasons and 654 games. He scored .22 goals per game and had 151 goals created. He had 159 adjusted goals.
"Sergei Viktorovich Gonchar (born April 13, 1974) is a Russian professional ice hockey defenseman and an alternate captain for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). He has also played for the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins. Sergei Gonchar began his professional career in 1991 with Traktor Chelyabinsk in the Russian Super League. He also played two seasons for Dynamo Moscow. Gonchar was the 1st round pick, 14th overall, of the Washington Capitals in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft. He began his North American career in 1994, suiting up in two playoff games for the Capitals’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Portland Pirates. He continued with Portland in 1994–95, before making his NHL debut, with the Capitals, on February 7, 1995 against the Buffalo Sabres. He would appear in 31 games total during the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season. The following year, in his first full-length campaign in the NHL, Gonchar would tally 41 points, showing his potential as an effective offensive defenseman. – Ice Hockey Wiki"
Next: #9: Konowalchuk