#6 Michael Nylander
Michael Nylander is the dad of current NHL player William Nylander. The elder Nylander was drafted by the Hartford Whalers in he third round at 59th overall in he 1991 NHL Draft. The Caps knew about his skillset and twice brought him on board but he mostly blossomed during his time with the New York Rangers.
He spent two seasons in New York centering a line with former Cap Jaromir Jagr and Martin Straka making it a Czech connection. His first season with the Rangers saw him score 23 goals and 56 assists for 79 points and then the next year had 26 goals and 57 assists for 83 points.
The Caps signed him in the summer of 2007 to a four year and $19.5 million contract. He had a combined 50 assists in his only two seasons in Washington. Nope that’s not a typo.
In 2007-08 Nylander scored 11 goals and added 26 assists for 37 points and the next year had just nine goals and 24 assists for 33 points.
Nylander’s time with the Caps ended on Jan. 28, 2010 when he was re-assigned to Finland’s Jokerit Helsinki. The center easily wasn’t a Nicklas Backstrom nor Evgeny Kuznetsov and looking back I don’t think he was a Lars Eller or a Nic Dowd either.