Capitals: 5 players you’d want to be quarantined with
It’s been several weeks since the Washington Capitals last played a game as everyone from the players to the fans have quarantined themselves.
There is no telling when Washington Capitals hockey will come back but that’s okay as long as we’re keeping safe. It had us thinking who would be the best Caps players both past and present would be fun to quarantine with.
Hopefully, you’re keeping active and staying in shape like these following players have been doing. Maybe you’ve been playing video games such as NHL 20. No matter what you’ve been doing like these players were about to talk about, you’re just highly anticipating the return of hockey.
We’re all in this together and we can defeat the novel coronavirus. Thankfully there has been good news in that no Capitals players have tested positive for this virus so no matter who you would pick to quarantine yourself with you couldn’t go wrong.
Who are your top 5 players you would want to quarantine yourself with from the Capitals both past and present? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
For more information about COVID-19, visit the CDC’s website or the website for your state’s Department of Health.
#5 Brenden Dillon
Coming in our list at number five is the newcomer Brenden Dillon. He may have only been in D.C. for a few weeks but Dillon makes this list simply because of his killer dance moves as we saw the other day on the popular app TikTok.
Many athletes have taken to TikTok to post dance challenges including Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards from a local sports standpoint. Brenden Dillon and his wife posted a video the other day partaking in the “Dip and Lean” challenge.
Being in quarantine with Brendan Dillon means countless hours on TikTok having fun. It’ll be a great way to pass the time as we wait for hockey to resume.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-fPSi7J89w/?utm_source=ig_embed
Dillon has played in 10 games and hasn’t recorded a point on the offensive end but he won the fans over in a brawl with Evgeni Malkin when the Caps took on the Pittsburgh Penguins in late February.
In an interview with Brodie Brazil of NBC Sports Bay Area, Dillon talked about how his disdain for Pittsburgh began when he was a member of the San Jose Sharks.
“[The Capitals] obviously have a lot of history with Pittsburgh and being in the same division. Guys were trying to give me a rundown, like hey this is a big game, these ones are usually physical, it’s a big rivalry. And I was like, OK, this is my kind of game, you know? A lot of skating and physicality and it just happened to be Malkin. I mean, it could have been anybody who was kind of jamming at the goalie. Next thing you know, it was kind of gloves off.”
#4 Peter Bondra
Coming out as #4 on this list is Capitals legend Peter Bondra who has a pretty decent set up in his basement with a game of table hockey. Bondra also has a cool display of all the hockey jerseys he’s worn throughout his professional career. He even has a dog!
“Always hockey at our house. Even Toby is a huge fan, taking front row! Also, I hope everyone is staying safe during this pandemic.” Bondra tweeted out on National Puppy Day a few weeks ago.
Always hockey at our house 🏒 Even Toby is a huge fan, taking front row! #NationalPuppyDay Also, I hope everyone is staying safe during this pandemic. @Capitals @MSE pic.twitter.com/HHUqvsEUkl
— Peter Bondra (@PeterBondra12) March 23, 2020
Bondra was the biggest scoring face on the Capitals before Alex Ovechkin. He was drafted in the eighth round at 156th overall in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft. He scored 12 goals in his rookie season while his sophomore year began his uptick in scoring with 28 goals.
Bondra’s third season earned him a trip to the All Star Game and he scored 37 goals that season. Perhaps his most memorable game came in his fourth season where he had a five-goal game against the Tampa Bay Lightning when he was 25 years old.
So far in this quarantine we’ve listed Brenden Dillon and Peter Bondra as those we’d want to quarantine ourselves with. If neither of those are your cup of tea we have three more options.
#3 Nicklas Backstrom
Being in quarantine with the most underrated player in the league has it’s perks. One will be unlimited street hockey if you’re into playing outside. That’s exactly what you’ll get if you’re stuck in quarantine with Nicklas Backstrom.
It would be fun playing street hockey with both Nicklas and his three year old son Vince. He and his fiancee Liza recently gave birth to their third child whom the named Alizee.
Backstrom hasn’t seen the popular Netflix show Tiger King yet so maybe if you’re into that you can introduce him to the show.
The best quality of Backstrom isn’t just his playmaking abilities but perhaps his loyalty to the area. He recently signed a five year extension worth $46 million keeping him in Washington for the rest of his career. Backstrom has 12 goals and 42 assists on the season for 54 points.
Backstrom recently talked to reporters about the uncertainty of waiting for the season to resume and compared it to bye weeks and injuries.
“The biggest difference is that when you’re hurt or when you have a bye week, you have a goal in mind. You know when you’re going to start again. But these days, no one knows when we’re going to start again and no one knows if we’re going to finish the season. No one knows anything.”
Three down and two to go.
#2 Tom Wilson
If you love dogs you’ll definitely want to be quarantined with Tom Wilson who just adopted a new puppy not long after (or before?) the NHL season went on a pause.
Wilson and his girlfriend adopted an eight week old puppy who they named Halle. Halle is a lab mix from the Wolf Trap Animal Rescue. Like Wilson has said on social media, there will be lots of puppy time during the quarantine.
Tom Wilson talked more about Halle to Taryn Bray of WashingtonCaps.com:
“Taylor is a huge advocate for dogs as has done a lot of volunteering at humane societies, shelters, etc. Halle was a dog that definitely needed rescuing coming from a pretty bad situation.”
Being in quarantine with Tom Wilson won’t just mean puppy time. You can also binge watch shows with him or maybe even chat about how much fun it is to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins and having a whole city’s head that you live rent free inside of.
Wilson is also making sure to stay in shape for when hockey season comes back so he can hit the ground running. He has 21 goals and a career-high 23 assists for 44 points this season and needs just one more goal to match a career high in that category.
That’s four players to be quarantined with. One more left.
#1 Alex Ovechkin
Last slide but simply not least in that he’s first on this list, Alex Ovechkin is the number one Capitals player to be quarantined with. Being quarantined with Ovechkin means training with the best player and goal scorer in the league in his private gym which can sometimes get interrupted by baby Sergei turning the workout session into a dance party.
https://twitter.com/Capitals/status/1245411858359574528
Ovechkin also plays NHL 20 and you’ll be gaming with the best player which is another reason why quarantining with Alex Ovechkin is number one on any Caps fans list.
Ovechkin sits at 48 goals and 19 assists for 67 points through 68 games played. There’s no telling what would’ve happened in an alternate universe of if there was hockey still going on but as nice as milestones are it’ll be even nicer once we can all get back to hockey.
NHL 20: Simulating Capitals end of season results. light. Trending
There’s our list of five Caps players you’d want to be quarantined with. Who are your top 5? Let us know in the comments or on any of our social media platforms and keep it locked on Stars and Sticks for more Caps stories to keep you entertained during the quarantine.
For more information about COVID-19, visit the CDC’s website or the website for your state’s Department of Health.