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Sunday, November 18, 2001

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

What in the name of Frantisek Kucera is going on with our nation's combustible, crumbling Capitals?

To hear them tell it, a rash of injuries is the reason they're 7-11-2. That they've won twice in their past 10 games. That they've allowed 61 goals, third-most in the NHL. That they were humiliated, 11-5, by the Senators on home ice Tuesday.

Sorry, that Dahlen don't hunt.

Once you see the Penguins go 2-2-2 while missing Mario Lemieux, Martin Straka and Alexei Kovalev, it's a bit difficult to shed a tear for a team that's forced to play without Steve Konowalchuk, Ken Klee and Calle Johansson.

Has to be something more to it, you would think. And there is.

Start with owner Ted Leonsis.

By acquiring Jaromir Jagr and signing him to a $78 million contract extension, he burst his own budget and raised the Capitals' payroll by 53.9 percent to $53.1 million. That has handcuffed General Manager George McPhee now when he most needs financial flexibility to make a roster move.

Fault Leonsis, too, for brazenly declaring this past summer that his team would be a Stanley Cup contender. It drew headlines and sold tickets, but it also falsely inflated hopes in the D.C. area and applied needless pressure to his staff and players.

Extend that blame to McPhee.

He failed to acquire a playmaker for Jagr when he rejected the Penguins' offer of Jan Hrdina for Dainius Zubrus and thus failed to accommodate the superstar the Capitals so long had coveted. Now, Zubrus has zero goals, and Jagr looks utterly disoriented. Like it or not, superstars expect special treatment. All Jagr asked was for someone who could get him the puck, and instead he was given Andrei Nikolishin.

Point to Ron Wilson, too.

Despite having added the world's most prolific scorer over the past four years, he stubbornly stuck with his dry defensive ways. Consider only that after his team was blanked, 5-0, Thursday in Philadelphia, he commented, "Defensively, we're not good right now," and you have a clear view of his approach. Wilson's style takes a heavy physical toll on players and requires a total commitment. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but when that commitment isn't there, 11-5 losses start happening and owners start issuing votes of confidence for their coach, as Leonsis did for Wilson this week.

Most of all, though, give a jeer to the players.

Olaf Kolzig, earning $6 million a year because of his status among the game's elite goaltenders, has been leaking in backhanders from center ice and other softies. Adam Oates, unhappy with the Capitals all summer, has one goal. Jeff Halpern, who held out of camp for more money, has justified the new contract management gave him by scoring twice. Chris Simon, once known for his touch as well as his toughness, has three goals and averages one hit per game. Jagr has been slowed by a nagging knee injury, but he can't be excused for posting a minus-8 rating in his past three games, and he surely didn't expect to be dueling with Kris Beech in the scoring race at this stage of the season.

Leonsis is trying to put a happy spin on his crisis.

"I really have to look and say it's a long, long season," he told the Washington Post. "And I'll bet we look back at this and chuckle about that game we lost, 11-5."

You can bet the Capitals won't be laughing if they fail to make the playoffs.

Neither will the Penguins, of course. Not with their annual first-round bye missing from the field.

Dejan Kovacevic can be reached at dkovacevic@ post-gazette.com.