Washington Capitals: Top 10 best scorers of all-time

The Washington Capitals have been blessed with some exciting goal scorers over their four plus decades. One goal scorer we’re lucky to have and we’ll be telling our grandkids about. But believe it or not the Caps have had more scorers in their history besides Alex Ovechkin.

These scorers have made you jump out of your seats with their highlight reel plays. They have lit the lamp night after night and they helped the Caps to some big wins. We’ll take a look at the best of the best among those that were able to put the puck in the net.

#10 Dennis Maruk

In 1978, Dennis Maruk was traded from the Minnesota North Stars to the Washington Capitals. He scored 50 goals in 1980-81 and 60 goals the next season. He also added 76 assists in the 1981-82 season for 136 points which remain Capitals records for a single season in those categories. Maruk was the first Caps player to record 100 points in a season.

In 1982-83, Maruk scored 31 goals and added 50 assists for 81 points helping lead the Caps to their first playoff appearance. Despite this, he would get traded back to the North Stars where he would finish out the remainder of his career. Maruk recorded 182 goals and 249 assists for 431 points during his five years with the Capitals.

#9 Bob Carpenter

Bob Carpenter or “Bobby” became the first high school player to make the jump to the NHL. At age 21 he was a 53 goal scorer but he would never approach that total again. He played 18 seasons in the NHL and won a Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 1995.

Carpenter was selected with the number three overall pick by the Capitals in 1981. He graced the cover of Sports Illustrated and was dubbed the “can’t miss kid” after killing it with St. John’s Prep in Danvers, Massachusetts. Carpenter made the squad out of training camp and made an immediate impact, scoring 32 goals and 67 points as an 18 year old in his rookie season in 1981-82.

In 1982-83, Carpenter scored 32 goals and a nice 69 points to help the Caps qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in their franchise history. He followed that up with a career year in 1984-85, scoring 53 goals and 95 points to become the first American born 50 goal scorer.

Carpenter’s numbers would unfortunately dip after that to 27 goals and 56 points in 1986-87 and after a slow start the next season, the Capitals traded him to the New York Rangers on New Years Day. Over seven seasons with the Caps, Carpenter recorded 188 goals and 207 assists for 395 points.

#8 Dave Christian

Dave Christian is the one Olympic gold medalist who is on this list, having played on the 1980 Miracle on Ice team. He was drafted in the second round at 40th overall by the Winnipeg Jets. In 1983 he was traded to the Washington Capitals for a first round pick.

In Christian’s first season with the Caps, he scored 29 goals and led the team with 52 assists for 81 points. The next year he added 26 goals and 43 assists for a nice 69 points. He broke out in the 1985-86 season with 41 goals and 42 assists for 83 points.

He dropped off a little bit in the 1986-87 season with 23 goals and 27 assists for 50 points but rebounded the next season with 37 goals and 21 assists for 58 points. 1988-89 was his final full season in Washington where he recorded 34 goals and 31 assists for 65 points.

In 1989-90, Christian played in 28 games with the Caps and had just three goals and eight assists for 11 points. He would get traded midseason to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Bob Joyce.

Christian spent seven years with the Washington Capitals and recorded 193 goals and 224 assists for 417 points in 504 games. Like T.J. Oshie, Christian hails from Warroad, Minnesota which is also known as Hockeytown, USA. Christian spent 15 years in the NHL playing for five teams.

#6 Alexander Semin

Alexander Semin was drafted 13th overall by the Capitals in 2002 but didn’t make his debut until the 2003-04 season where he recorded 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points in 52 games. During the 2004 lockout he returned to Russia to play for his country and also serve in the army over there. He returned to the Caps in the 2006-07 season and had a breakout year with 38 goals and 35 assists for 73 points.

Semin scored the team’s first goal of the season that year in a game at The Garden against the New York Rangers. In the next game against the Carolina Hurricanes which was the Caps home opener, Semin recorded a hat trick and became an instant fan favorite.

Later that season, Semin recorded a natural hat trick against the Tampa Bay Lightning, scoring three goals on three shots in the span of 7:04. He would later earn the nickname “The other Alex” as him and Ovechkin led the team in scoring. His 38 goals that season was 13th in the NHL.

His career high season came in 2009-10 when he scored 40 goals and 44 assists for 84 points. In his Capitals career over seven seasons, Semin recorded 197 goals and 211 assists for 408 points in 469 games. He would finish out his career with the Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens.

#5 Mike Ridley

Mike Ridley battled injury setbacks which caused him to get undrafted. Despite this he later fulfilled his NHL dream by signing as a free agent with the New York Rangers. Halfway through his second season, he was traded to the Washington Capitals.

He made a name for himself with the Caps. He finished that 1986-87 season with 15 goals and 19 assists for 34 points in 40 games. In Ridley’s first full season with the Caps he potted 28 goals and added 31 assists for 59 points. In 1988-89, he broke out with 41 goals and 48 assists for 89 points.

The next year his numbers dipped. Ridley scored 30 goals and 43 assists for 73 points. The next year he scored 23 goals and 48 assists for 89 points before rebounding the next year with 29 goals and 40 assists for a nice 69 points.

Ridley’s final two seasons with the Capitals saw him score back to back 26 goal seasons. That included 56 assists for 82 points in 1992-93 and 44 assists for 70 points in 1993-94.

On June 28, 1994, Ridley was traded by the Capitals to the Toronto Maple Leafs. He would finish out his career both there and with the Vancouver Canucks. In Ridley’s eight years with the Caps he recorded 218 goals and 329 assists for 547 points.

Ridley’s story is proof of how far you can go if you never give up.

#4 Nicklas Backstrom

Yes the best passer in the game has made it onto this list as the fourth best goal scorer in Washington Capitals history. Nicklas Backstrom, in addition to his playmaking assists, has also had his share of highlight reel goals. Like Ovechkin, Backstrom has recently achieved the milestone of playing in 1,000 games. Backstrom now enters the season 20 points away from 1,000 career points.

Backstrom’s rookie season saw him make an immediate impact and he would later get paired on the top line with Ovechkin. He finished that season with 14 goals and 55 assists for a nice 69 points. The next year he added 22 goals and 66 assists for 88 points.

Backstrom really broke out in the 2009-10 season like a majority of that Presidents’ Trophy winning team. He scored 33 goals and added 68 assists for 101 points. His goal numbers would start to dip the next several seasons but one thing that remained constant were his apples.

Last season, Backstrom finished with 15 goals and 38 assists for 53 points while playing in all but one game. Not too shabby for a shortened season. In his career so far, Backstrom has recorded 258 goals and 722 assists for 980 points. Like I pointed out earlier, he is on his way to 1,000 career points and will likely get it this season. The question is how soon?

#3 Mike Gartner

Mike Gartner is one of the lucky few Washington Capitals that have his number retired. It is also the last time a number has been retired to the rafters. That took place on Dec. 28, 2008.

Gartner spent the first 10 seasons of his 19 year NHL career with the Capitals after the Caps selected him in the first round at fourth overall in the 1979 NHL Draft. He led the team in goals five times and in points four times, scoring at least 35 or more goals in his first nine years in D.C.

When Gartner was traded 56 goes into his 10th season in 1988-89 he had 26 goals. He left the Caps as its all time leader in games played, goals, assists, points, power play goals, and game winning goals.

Gartner was a member of the first six Capitals playoff teams and led four of those squads in playoff scoring. In 47 playoff games, Gartner recorded 43 points with 16 goals and 27 assists. At time of his trade, he led the club in playoff scoring.

Gartner played in a total of 1,432 games with five teams in his career. He recorded 708 goals including 397 goals over the span of 10 years with the Caps. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001.

#2 Peter Bondra

Peter Bondra was the leading scorer in Washington Capitals history, that is, until Alex Ovechkin came along. Bondra scored the first 472 of his 503 NHL goals with the Capitals including two 52 goal seasons. That is a lot of goals for someone that wasn’t drafted until the eighth round at 156th overall in the 1990 NHL Draft.

Bondra was born in Lutsk, Ukraine which was a part of the Soviet Union at the time. When he turned three, Bondra and his family moved to Czechoslovakia. By the time he turned 18, Bondra played in that country’s top league and was one of the top scorers when the Caps drafted him four years later.

Bondra scored 12 goals in 54 games as a rookie in the 1990-91 season. He broke out the next two seasons scoring 28 and 37 goals, respectively. In the lockout shortened season in 1994-95, Bondra led the NHL with 34 goals in 47 games and then scored 52 in 1995-96.

Bondra would later score 52 goals again in 1997-98 which tied Teemu Selanne of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for the NHL lead before adding seven goals in 17 games during the Stanley Cup playoffs, helping the Caps to their first ever finals appearance.

In 14 years with the Caps, Bondra scored 472 goals and 353 assists for 825 points in 961 games. Can you guess who number one is?

#1 Alex Ovechkin

Alex Ovechkin is the number one scorer of all time not only in Washington Capitals history but in NHL history. Once he breaks Wayne Gretzky’s record he will cement it if he hasn’t already.

As I am writing this, Ovechkin has just returned to D.C. and has taken part in Caps informal workouts at MedStar Capitals Iceplex ahead of training camp which opens on September 22nd. Fresh after signing a five year contract extension, Ovechkin needs to average just 33 goals over the next five seasons to catch the great one.

The Caps posted an Instagram pic of a smiling Ovechkin with the caption “yo bro who got you smiling like that?”

Ovechkin is coming off a 24 goal season where he added 18 assists for 42 points in 45 games. He has 730 goals in his career and needs 164 to catch Gretzky. Once he scores his first goal of the season, he will tie Marcel Dionne for fifth place on the NHL’s all time scoring list.

It is going to be a lot of fun getting to watch Ovechkin climb up the goal scoring ladder for the next five years. It is a storied career, great memories and memories to come that we cannot take for granted.