Washington Capitals | CollegeHockeyPlayers

27Mar

Alexandre Giroux(12) Springfield Falcons

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High 5’s for 11-year Springfield Falcons‘ veteran center Alexandre Giroux(12) for scoring his 700th career AHL point, a goal last weekend.

He has 364 goals and 336 assists in 764 regular season games played, which is a pretty incredible feat.

He’s not exactly having a career year for scoring this season with 24 goals and 26 assists in 58 games; yet he’s still in the top 20 for points in the league.

In the last three seasons, he’s either won top scorer or come in second.

He’s skated in 48 NHL games scoring 6 goals and 6 assists.

At 6’3″ 202 lbs. he’s a pretty big power forward and has the ability to get in tight and score some goals but has never quite been given the chance.

We remember two and a half great seasons when he was with Hartford Wolf Pack, signed to New York Rangers, who he only played one game for.

He’s only signed with Columbus Blue Jackets for a year, but we hope they re-up with him for another season.

19Mar

Matt Ford(25) Adirondack Phantoms

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4th year right wing, Matt Ford(25) may have been a bit surprised when he was traded in his first season signed to an NHL contract with Washington Capitals. He was mostly playing for their AHL affiliate Hershey Bears putting up a very respectable 10 goals and 18 assists in 39 games.

Dealt before the trade deadline, he has found a formidable home in Philadelphia Flyers‘ organization with Adirondack Phantoms and has lit the lamp fairly big striking for 11 goals and 5 assists in 19 games.

He was originally picked in the 8th round of the 2004 draft (#256 overall) by Chicago Blackhawks but never signed with them and instead started his pro career in the ECHL with Charlotte Checkers before being called up to Hartford Wolf Pack and then Lake Erie Monsters, a team he stayed with for a couple of seasons.

If he continues to work hard and find the back of the net, he could find himself with a spot in the show with the Flyers out of training camp next season.

16Mar

Trent Whitfield(23) Boston Bruins

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14 years into his pro career and Boston Bruins‘ round 4 pick in the 1996 draft (#100 overall) center Trent Whitfield(23) has put in NHL game minutes for 10 of those seasons, including this one as he was recently recalled to play for a Bruins‘ team that’s looking just about anywhere for some answers, fill-ins.

He’s played 194 NHL games scoring 11 goals and 18 assists.

He has one more year on his current contract and assumes the role of team captain for Providence Bruins.

The 34-year old isn’t ready to quit and rightfully so, because he’s always an effective player out there and a contributor. In 41 AHL games he has 5 goals and 6 assists, but more importantly anchors a young Baby B’s core.

He’s played a phenomenal 755 AHL regular season games scoring 236 goals and 342 assists. We hope he makes it 1000.

28Feb

Andrew Gordon(10) Vancouver Canucks

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Vancouver Canucks added more depth at forward position by acquiring 5th year right wing Andrew Gordon(10) from Anaheim Ducks and reassigned to Chicago Wolves before anything even settled.

He started the season playing 37 NHL games (2 goals, 3 assists) but was reassigned to their AHL affiliate Syracuse Crunch in mid-January and skated in 19 games (3 goals, 5 assists) with them up until his trade from an organization he wasn’t even with for a full season.

Originally drafted by Washington Capitals in the 7th round of 2004 (#191 overall) he spent his first 4 years as pro in their system, playing 12 NHL games with them (1 goal, 1 assist). He was mostly known as being one of the team leaders for Hershey Bears, where in 313 regular season and playoff games he put up 124 goals and 136 assists.

He won back-to-back Calder Cups with the Bears in 2009 and 2010.

In his rookie season, he even played some games in the ECHL with South Carolina Stingrays but overpowered the competition in that league with 8 goals and 6 assists in 11 games.

02Feb

Joel Rechlicz(19) Washington Capitals

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Washington Capitals is in desperate need of adding some necessary roughness to their game and turn 5th year undrafted tough guy Joel Rechlicz(19) contract into an NHL deal and he’s immediately recalled from his AHL team, Hershey Bears. In 27 games he has 1 goal and 1 assist to go along with 184 penalty minutes, which pretty much equal career highs all around for him in a season.

In a pair of games for the Caps he’s played a minute and a half and 2:37 of ice time in each of the games with no fighting majors (yet). This season he leads the AHL in penalty minutes.

He did have 23 games of NHL experience with New York Islanders, a team he spent a couple of seasons with, first playing in the ECHL with Utah Grizzlies and AHL with Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

He has one assist to his scoring credit and 95 pims. At 6’4″ 220 lbs. he could convert himself into some sort of power forward but doesn’t have the most deft hand abilities, except for fighting. He’s very much a Dale Hunter, coach of the Capitals‘ style of player.

30Jan

Boyd Kane(12) Hershey Bears

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14-year veteran, Hershey Bears‘ left wing Boyd Kane(12) got the nod to captain the 2012 Eastern Conference All-Star squad for the Atlantic City, Boardwalk Hall match-up vs. the West.

He won back-to-back Calder Cups, first with Philadelphia Phantoms in 2005 and then with Hershey in 2006. He also won the AHL title with the Bears again in 2010.

His last three seasons have been spent in Washington Capitals‘ farm system and 5 of 6 seasons before that with Philadelphia, except the stop back in Hershey. He started his pro career with four years with New York Rangers‘ AHL (Hartford Wolf Pack) and ECHL (Charlotte Checkers) affiliates.

In 31 NHL games (23 with the Flyers, 8 with the Capitals) the 31-year old has three assists but has yet to pot his first goal. At 6’2″ 225 lbs. he’s easily more relied upon for his physical game.

23Jan

Christian Hanson(21) Hershey Bears

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Undrafted 3rd year center Christian Hanson(21) signed a one-year, two-way deal with Washington Capitals in the offseason as an unrestricted free agent. He spent his first couple of seasons in Toronto Maple Leafs‘ system and got his first NHL goal in 2009 fresh out of college.

In 42 NHL games he has 3 goals and 6 assists, all with the Leafs.

He spent most of his pro career with their AHL affiliate Toronto Marlies and continues in 2011/2012 with Hershey Bears, where he’s put up 8 goals and 10 assists in 42 games this season.

He has yet to be called-up but with his rather large 6’4″ 228 lbs. frame, he probably deserves a look before his current contract expires.

He is the 25-year old son of Dave Hanson, who was made famous for his role as one of the brothers in the movie Slapshot.

17Jan

Tomas Kundratek(34) Washington Capitals

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Originally a New York Rangers‘ 3rd round pick in 2008 (#90 overall), 2nd year defenseman Tomas Kundratek(34) was traded to Washington Capitals in the 2nd year of his 3-year two-way entry level deal. Word has it he asked for out of town.

Whatever he did it worked, because he was recently recalled to play in his first NHL games and so far he’s appeared in three, all wins for the team. He’s averaged roughly 10 hours of ice time per game. The Caps are fairly stocked on defense but as guy’s continue to get healthy, he’s making the most of his chance to play.

In 21 games with Hershey Bears, he has 6 an AHL career high 6 goals and a pair of assists.

01Jan

Shaone Morrisonn(26) Rochester Americans

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10th year veteran defenseman Shaone Morrisonn(26) was waived at the beginning of the 2011/2012 by Buffalo Sabres to get the team under the salary cap and reassigned to their AHL affiliate Rochester Americans. Accepting the designation he has appeared in 27 games. More importantly he is helping the team stay very much in the thick of the playoff race and has even put up a couple of goals and 7 assists.

He was signed to a 2-year contract by the Sabres last season, appearing in 62 games tallying only a single goal and four assists.

Originally a Boston Bruins 1st round pick in the 2001 draft (#19 overall), he spent a year and a half with them before getting traded to Washington Capitals, where he played for 6 seasons.

To his credit he has 480 NHL games played and only just turned 29 years old.

07Dec

Keith Aucoin(11) Hershey Bears

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It didn’t take long for Hershey Bears‘ 11th year veteran center Keith Aucoin(11) to be named Reebok/AHL Player Of The Week.

He’s the league leading scorer with 6 goals and 30 assists but had a particularly productive four-game stretch where he put in another couple of goals and 6 helpers to help the team win 3 of the 4.

Originally undrafted, he has played in the Washington Capitals‘ system for the last four seasons, winning back-to-back Calder Cups with the Bears.

In 78 NHL games, he’s put up 8 goals and 18 assists but in the AHL he has scored the most points of any American born player.