Washington Capitals: Top 5 greatest right wingers of all-time

#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.