Washington Capitals: Top 10 defensemen of all-time

#5 Yvon Labre

Number five on our list is Yvon Labre, the original captain of the Capitals. He began his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins before stops in the minors before he was ultimately selected by the Caps prior to their inaugural season in the 1974 expansion draft.

He was a fighter like a Tom Wilson or Donald Brashear. But the very first fighter the Capitals ever had. His stats weren’t really the biggest but he still provided the Caps a good backbone on some of the roughest days of the franchise as an expansion team.

Labre scored four goals in his first season in Washington and added 23 assists for 27 points. He played in 80 games his next season scoring two goals and 20 assists for 22 points.

Overall Labre spent seven years with the Caps playing in 334 games. He scored 12 career goals and added 84 assists for 96 points. In the 1980-81 season his knee gave out forcing Labre into early retirement from the game. He was invited to center ice where the Caps acknowledged his career and later when they moved to the MCI Center, Labre’s number seven was hung to the rafters.

Even though his playing career ended early, Labre stayed on with the organization as a director of special programs.