Jeff Halpern and the Lightning are in the Stanley Cup.
Jeff Halpern is a unique alumni of the Washington Capitals. He got to live out his dream of playing for the hometown team. The Potomac, Maryland native signed with the Caps in March of 1999 as a free agent. He scored 18 goals and added 11 assists for 29 points in his first season as a 23 year old. His next season he scored 21 goals and 21 assists for 42 points.
Halpern’s numbers took a dip the next year with five goals and 14 assists for 19 points. In 2002-03, Halpern recorded 13 goals and 21 assists for 34 points. He was even better in that down season of 2003-04 with 19 goals and 27 assists for 46 points. In 2005-06 he scored 11 goals and added 33 assists for 44 points. In the summer of 2006 he signed with the Dallas Stars as a free agent.
Halpern came back to the Caps in 2011, signing with them as a free agent. In his second tour with Washington, he scored four goals and added 12 assists for 16 points. Overall, Halpern spent seven seasons with the Caps and played in 507 games recording 91 goals and 139 assists for 230 points.
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Halpern also played for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Montreal Canadiens, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers, and Phoenix Coyotes. Over his 14 year NHL career, he played in 976 games and scored 152 goals and added 221 assists for 373 points.
Halpern retired after the 2013-14 season at the age of 37. He has since taken on an assistant coach role with the Tampa Bay Lightning. They’ll take on the Dallas Stars beginning tonight in the Stanley Cup Final after they bested the New York Islanders in six games.
Halpern was the first member to come to the Capitals from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. He looks to continue the success of the last two Cup winners, the entire Washington Capitals team in 2018 and former Caps player Craig Berube who coaches the St. Louis Blues.
In 2016, Halpern served as an assistant with the Syracuse Crunch, the Lightning’s AHL affiliate. In 2018 he was hired to be an assistant coach. He just missed that year’s conference final series against his former team.
Another Caps connection in this Stanley Cup Final is Kevin Shattenkirk. He was brought on in the trade deadline in 2017 but the addition didn’t quite workout. They traded for him from the St. Louis Blues and he just watched his former teams win the Cup. Now he has a chance.
Stars and Sticks would like to wish Halpern and I guess Shattenkirk luck in the Stanley Cup Final. It should be an entertaining series.