Having the ability to predict the future is usually a must on the resume of any potential NHL General Manager so it must hurt when two players yours organisation said “Thanks but no thanks” to appear in this season’s Stanley Cup Finals while you’re leaning on your club at the course wondering what might have been.
That fate has befallen Washington Capitals GM Brian MacLellan who was responsible for bringing to an end both Eric Fehr and Joel Ward’s association with the franchise during last summer but now must watch as both players chase Lord Stanley’s mug for Pittsburgh and San Jose respectively.
WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 21: Eric Fehr #16 of the Washington Capitals celebrates scoring a third period goal with teammate Joel Ward #42 against the New York Islanders during the Capitals 3-2 shootout win at Verizon Center on February 21, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
Indeed Fehr, who had spent his entire career with Washington after being drafted in the first round back in 2003, was part of the Pittsburgh side, notching points in the process, as they ousted the Capitals in this season’s Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.
Both Fehr and Ward had built up quite the fan base during their time in DC, with Ward arriving as a free agent during the summer of 2011, thanks, in Fehr’s case, to his ability to pop up with important goals at the right times, including the game winner during the team’s first outing outdoors when they beat the same Penguins in Pittsburgh.
During their time in Washington both players played well over 250 games for the club with 30-year old Fehr notching 89 goals and 88 assists during his 454 game career in DC. Ward, on the other hand, recorded 57 goals and 64 points during four seasons including playing every game of his final two campaigns.
It was yet another shake up of the roster though that saw both players head for the exit door as the Capitals tried desperately to secure that first Stanley Cup title and lose the tag of being almost good enough but not quite that had blighted them since they went on a fire storm of a player sale prior to drafting Alexander Ovechkin during the 2004 NHL lockout.
Heading into the current playoff campaign there was a quiet optimism among Capitals fans but that hope was tinged by the fact that they had seen it all before. A dominant performance during the regular season, capturing the franchise’s second Presidents Trophy, is usually followed by a disappointing playoff campaign to say the least and it was to be those Penguins who would triumph once again when the two sides came to cross paths this time in the Conference Semi-finals.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing but could Washington have really kept hold of Fehr and Ward rather than releasing them to free agency at the end of last season and would it really have made a difference?
General Managers will also talk about the tough decisions that need to be made each summer and releasing players who have played a combined 704 games for the team must have been a tough call to say the least but looking back probably the right one given the talent that Washington had on their roster at that time and how it has expanded since then.
Maybe no matter what the Capitals do they will forever be one of those sides who will never win their sports major championships, such as the Boston Red Sox during the ‘Curse of the Bambino’ era and the city of Cleveland who have gone over 50 years since one of their sides was able to call themselves the best, but just like Boston things can come to an end and it is that hope that Washington fans must cling onto when October comes around.
As for Fehr and Ward maybe the events of last summer have served as extra motivation to prove Brian MacLellan and the rest of the top management in DC wrong and show that sending them on their way was the wrong move, only time will tell on that one and nether player will probably admit to such a thing, not in public anyway.
The NHL, since the 2004 lockout, is all about numbers and figures with General Managers needing accountancy qualifications along with everything else; with Washington having such a ‘heavy’ line-up in terms of the salaries of players such as Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Braden Holtby and T.J O’Shea something had to give with Joel Ward and Eric Fehr being the ones to make way this time.
Sport can be incredibly cruel sometimes and this appears to be one of those times when a General Manager will look back and wonder what might have been especially when one of his former employees hoists that Cup above their heads in just a few days time.
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