Welcome Home, Richard

Ordinarily, offseason stuff doesn't really interest me. I can't be bothered to keep track of who is signing where and what players are getting traded. If its not happening on the field (or, in my case, the ice) I just can't bring myself to care. As such, I hadn't planned on talking about any offseason NHL stuff on the blog, but today, something glorious happened.

The Washington Capitals traded a second round pick in the 2007 draft for RW Richard Zednik. Zednik was a fan favorite in Washington until he was traded, along with Jan Bulis, to the Montreal Canadiens at the trade deadline in 2001. To this day, I can still tell you exactly where I was when I heard the news that he had been traded (In a car headed north on Georgia Ave, at the intersection of Georgia and Shorefield Rd in Wheaton). At the time, it seemed like a terrible trade, netting only a washed up Trevor Linden and a prospect named Dainius Zubrus, neither of whom contributed much to the teams 1st round playoff exit at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins. However, here we are five years later, and Zubrus has finally developed into a pretty good player (with a lot of help from his more notable linemate) and it doesn't seem so bad, especially as he is now one of the longest tenured, most well-respected vetrans on the team. (Siobhan's Note: Dainius Zubrus. Jesus, I wonder what's Lithuanian for "I'd hit it.") Hopefully, this means a chance to see a line consisting of Ovechkin-Zubrus-Zednik, if only because I could call it the OZZ line. Because I like pointless acronyms. And goal scoring.

Once again, much thanks to DCSportsChick for the heads up on this one.

EDIT: It was actually a third round pick. I guess I just put too much value on Richard Zednik.