Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Kevin Hatcher
Coming in at number 22 on our list of the greatest Washington Capitals players in franchise history is defenseman Kevin Hatcher. Hatcher is one of the greatest defensemen in franchise history. He spent 17 seasons in the NHL. The best ten of them came with the Caps.
Hatcher played in 685 career games for the Capitals during his ten season tenure with the team. He scored 149 goals and added 277 assists for a total of 426 points. He had a plus-minus rating of -10, but as usual, that’s not telling of how good of a player Hatcher was. He played against very tough competition and while time on ice was not documented when he played, he surely averaged over 25 minutes per game and probably pushed 30 minutes per game some years. They started measuring time on ice during the 1998-1999 season. During the last three years of Hatcher’s career, he averaged over 20 minutes of ice time per game each season.
Hatcher also accumulated 999 penalty minutes during his tenure with the Capitals. Hatcher’s career started to decline after he left the Capitals after the 1993-1994 season. He averaged 0.23 points per game with the Caps. He wouldn’t top that for any other team.
Hatcher was often forgotten about because of the Capitals other great defensemen, but Hatcher was truly an outstanding player.
Next: #21