Washington Capitals: Top 5 greatest right wingers of all-time
The Washington Capitals have had numerous great players suit up for their team over their 40+ year history. Which right wingers were the top 5 best of all time? Read on to find out.
#5 Craig Laughlin
Before Craig Laughlin became a longtime color commentator at NBC Sports Washington, he was an integral face in helping to turn the Washington Capitals franchise around. He was acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Montreal Canadiens as part of the Save the Caps campaign. The Caps also acquired Doug Jarvis, Rod Langway, and Brian Engblom.
Locker scored 17 goals in his first season in D.C. while adding 27 assists for 44 points. The next year he scored 20 goals and 32 assists for 52 points. He had a breakout year two seasons later with 30 goals and 45 assists for 75 points. Laughlin would get traded to the Los Angeles Kings in February of 1988.
Overall, Laughlin spent six seasons in the Nation’s Capital appearing in 428 regular season games and recording 110 goals and 173 assists. He also played in 27 playoff games with the Caps. He’s been on their broadcasts since 1990.
We are very lucky to have Locker alongside Joe Beninati bringing Caps hockey to our living rooms for the last few generations. He’s the best player color commentator there is.
#4 Dino Ciccarelli
Acquired in a trade from Minnesota in exchange for Mike Gartner and Larry Murphy in March of 1989, Dino Ciccarelli comes fourth in our list. Ciccarelli finished off that season with 12 goals and three assists with the Capitals in 11 games. The next year he broke out with 31 goals and 38 assists for 79 points.
In the 1990-91 season he had 21 goals and 18 assists for 39 points in 54 games. He followed that up with 38 goals and 38 assists for 76 points. In the summer of 1992 he was traded to the Detroit Red Wings for Kevin Miller. Over four seasons with the Capitals, Ciccarelli scored 112 goals and 97 assists for 209 points.
Ciccarelli helped the Caps to the playoffs in his first season. He scored his first goal with the Caps on March 11, 1989 in a 4-2 win over the New York Rangers. Seven days later he had a four goal and seven point game in an 8-2 win over the Hartford Whalers. He scored his first playoff goal against Ron Hextall and the Philadelphia Flyers. He finished that series with three goals and six points in what resulted in a loss.
In his first full season he scored 41 goals and even had a four goal game against the Quebec Nordiques in a 12-2 win. In 2011 he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
#3 Mike Gartner
Drafted by the Washington Capitals in the 1979 NHL Draft, Mike Gartner is the most recent Capitals alumni to have their number retired.
His first season saw him score 36 goals and add 32 assists for 68 posts and there wasn’t a single time where he didn’t score less than 30 goals. He won the team’s rookie and MVP awards at the end of the season. In 1980-81 he scored 48 goals and added 46 assists for 94 points. Gartner added 35 goals and 45 assists for 80 points the next season then went on to score 38 and 40 goals in respective seasons.
In the 1984-85 season, Gartner scored 50 goals. The next season he added 35 goals and 40 assists for 75 points in 1985-86. In 1987-88 after a 41 goal season the previous year, Gartner scored 48 goals and added 33 assists for 81 points. The next year, Gartner added 26 goals and 29 assists for 55 points before he was traded in midseason to the Minnesota North Stars.
Gartner had his jersey number retired by the Caps on Dec. 28, 2008 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001. He holds the NHL record for most consecutive 30 goal seasons with 15 which is tied by Jaromir Jagr and Alex Ovechkin. Crazy Capitals trifecta there. Ovechkin would’ve broken that if last season was longer.
#2 T.J. Oshie
T.J. Oshie has cemented himself as the second best center all time because he is finishing his career as a Washington Capital after being protected by the team in the Seattle Kraken expansion draft.
This was the trade that won the Capitals the Stanley Cup. This was also the contract extension that put them over the edge. Oshie was acquired from the St. Louis Blues in a trade for Troy Brouwer. Oshie was well known for what he did with Team USA a year prior and we all know he looks good in the red, white and blue.
In his first season with the Caps, Oshie scored 26 goals and 25 assists for 51 points. He even had a hat trick in a playoff win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of the second round. The next year, Oshie had a career high 33 goals and 23 assists for 56 points.
Despite his numbers taking a dip, Oshie overcame a serious injury the next season and helped the Capitals to their first Stanley Cup. In the regular season he had 18 goals and 29 assists for 47 points while adding eight goals and 13 assists for 21 points in the playoffs.
Oshie followed that up with 25 and 26 goals the next two seasons. Last season he scored 22 goals and 21 assists for 43 points.
#1 Peter Bondra
Peter Bondra deserves to have his number retired next. It’s odd the Washington Capitals haven’t done that yet but he does get the distinct honor of finishing number one in our top 5 right wingers of all time.
Bondra was drafted in the eighth round at 156th overall in the 1990 NHL Draft. He scored 12 goals in his rookie season. He added 28 his second year. In his third season, Bondra broke out and scored 37 goals and 85 points. Despite these impressive numbers we still hadn’t seen Bondra’s best game but that came the next season.
In a contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Bondra scored five goals on Feb. 5, 1994. Four of those goals came in the first period.
Bondra led the league with 52 goals and 13 game winning goals in Washington’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in 1997-98. In the playoffs he had seven goals and five assists including a clutch goal in overtime of Game 3 in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Buffalo Sabres that gave the Caps a 2-1 series lead.
Bondra’s numbers dipped the next two seasons from 31 to 21 goals but he rebounded the next year with 45 goals including a league leading 22 on the power play.
More. Washington Capitals: Breaking down Connor McMichael’s bright future. light
Those are our top 5 right wingers in franchise history.