When it comes to the NHL Entry Draft, all the teams who really need to select talent at the top would prefer having the first overall pick. It gives them the best chance at getting a star who can, in some cases, immediately step onto the team in a few months and make an impact. However, just because a team has the first overall pick does not mean they are going to get a guaranteed gamechanger for their franchise. It also works the other way as well. Just because a team does not have the first pick does not mean they cannot add a face of their organization. Like with every draft pick though, it can be a mixed bag of results on the actual draft spot. The fourth overall draft spot for the Washington Capitals, like in the case with their history of picking first overall, is also a mixed bag. They drafted a couple faces of their franchise, but that was not the case every time they held that pick.
Mike Gartner
The Capitals finished the 1978-79 season (their fifth in the NHL) with a record of 24-41-15. That was good enough to accumulate 63 points and finish fourth in the Norris Division. The best goal scorers at the time for Washington were Dennis Maruk, who posted 31 goals and 59 assists for 90 points; captain Guy Charron, who tallied 28 goals and 42 assists for 70 points; and defender Robert Picard, who had 21 goals and 44 assists for 65 points. The team still needed more firepower on their offense. They required a star to help make the team better than they were. Along would come winger Mike Gartner, who the Caps selected with the fourth overall pick in the 1979 NHL Draft.
Gartner had actually played the 1978-79 campaign in the World Hockey Association with the Cincinnati Stingers. He was in a locker room that included future Edmonton Oiler and New York Ranger captain Mark Messier, forward Rick Dudley, goalie Mike Liut, defenseman Barry Melrose, Robbie Ftorek, and Peter Marsh among others. Gartner had himself a solid season in Cincinnati. He finished with 27 goals and 25 assists for 52 points. He then headed to a Caps team hoping they could turn some things around and get to Stanley Cup contender status.
It took no time for Gartner to make an impact in D.C. In his rookie season in the league, he led all Caps on the roster in points with 68 (36 goals and 32 assists) in 77 games. Other offensive leaders on that team included Ryan Walter with 66 points, Bengt-Ake Gustafsson with 60, Picard with 54, and Rolf Edberg with 46. Gartner then shot up further in points in his second season with 48 goals and 46 assists for 94 points in 80 games. He finished second on the team in points, only behind Maruk who had 97 points (50 goals and 47 assists).
Gartner, in total, donned the Caps sweater for parts of 10 seasons. In that span of time, he chalked up 789 points. Below are all of those points broken down by season:
- 1979-80: 36 goals and 32 assists for 68 points in 77 games
- 1980-81: 48 goals and 46 assists for 94 points in 80 games
- 1981-82: 35 goals and 45 assists for 80 points in 80 games
- 1982-83: 38 goals and 38 assists for 76 points in 73 games
- 1983-84: 40 goals and 45 assists for 85 points in 80 games
- 1984-85: 50 goals and 52 assists for 102 points in 80 games
- 1985-86: 35 goals and 40 assists for 75 points in 74 games
- 1986-87: 41 goals and 32 assists for 73 points in 78 games
- 1987-88: 48 goals and 33 assists for 81 points in 80 games
- 1988-89: 26 goals and 29 assists for 55 points in 56 games
During his time as a Cap, he made four NHL All-Star Game appearances (1981, 1985, 1986, and 1988), and cemented himself as one of the best scoring players in team history. To this day, Gartner is fourth in scoring. Only Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Peter Bondra have more points than him for the franchise. Despite all of his individual success in Washington, the team itself was never able to capture a Stanley Cup. His time in D.C. came to an end in the middle of the 1988-89 season.
Related: Mike Gartner: Revisiting a True Hall of Fame Career
Gartner was dealt, along with blueliner Larry Murphy, to the Minnesota North Stars for forward Dino Ciccarelli and defender Bob Rouse. He only had a brief stint with the North Stars and finished the 1988-89 campaign having tallied 14 points in 13 games (seven goals and seven assists). He also had a nice partial season with Minnesota in 1989-90, posting 34 goals and 36 assists for 70 points in 67 games. Like the previous season though, Gartner was moved yet again, this time to the New York Rangers. He was a Blueshirt for parts of five seasons. Unfortunately, the season he was traded from New York to the Toronto Maple Leafs is the one where the Rangers won their first Cup in decades. In fact, Gartner’s deal to Toronto helped land New York Glenn Anderson as a reinforcement piece to get the Rangers over the top during that run to the Cup.
After his time in Toronto, Gartner also played for the Phoenix Coyotes for a couple seasons before officially retiring after the 1997-98 season. He hung up his skates after totaling 708 goals and 627 assists for 1,335 points in 1,432 games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame class of 2001 and is on the NHL’s Top 100 Greatest Players list that was created. The Capitals also retired his No. 11.
As much as a Cup was never a part of his time with Washington, Gartner will always be one of the best to ever don the Caps sweater. He is intertwined with the history of the organization; just like Ovechkin, Backstrom, John Carlson, Bondra, and the list goes on. He came in fresh off of being drafted and kicked the door down as a rookie. He was a face that ran the place when he was on the ice, and the fans loved him for it. He was the best fourth overall pick for the team for a long, long time; but the last number of seasons have changed that take. Gartner, though, will always be a Caps legend.
Alexander Volchkov
Following the 1995-96 NHL season, the Capitals held the fourth overall pick that they received from the Los Angeles Kings. The pick came in a deal that sent goalie Byron Dafoe and right winger Dmitri Khristich to L.A. With that draft pick, Washington chose left winger Alexander Volchkov. He had previously spent time in Russia playing for CSKA Moscow (now in the Kontinental Hockey League), before going to the Ontario Hockey League to suit up for the Barrie Colts. In two campaigns in Barrie, Volchkov put up the following stats:
- 36 goals and 27 assists for 63 points in 47 games
- 29 goals and 53 assists for 82 points in 56 games
The second season that Volchkov was in Barrie was after Washington drafted him. He then went to the American Hockey League (AHL) to play for the Portland Pirates and eventually to the IHL for the Cincinnati Cyclones. During his time between the Pirates and Cyclones, these are the stats he was producing:
- 1997-98 Portland Pirates: two goals and five assists for seven points in 34 games
- 1998-99 Portland Pirates: three goals and eight assists for 11 points in 27 games
- 1998-99 Cincinnati Cyclones: one goal and three assists for four points in 25 games
Volchkov was having problems even posting points in the AHL and IHL. It did not seem promising that he was going to have a real chance to become an NHL mainstay on the Caps or another team in the league. He did receive a call-up during the 1999-00 NHL season though for Washington. He suited up for three games during that campaign but went pointless.
Following those three games for Washington, Volchkov spent time in the AHL with both the Pirates and the Hamilton Bulldogs. He went back overseas prior to the 2000-01 season and never suited up for an NHL game again. He would play for different Russian and Belarusian teams before officially calling it a career following playing in five contests for the Kazakhstan league team, the Ertis Pavlodar, in 2010-11.
It was unfortunate that Volchkov did not pan out for the Caps or another NHL club. Looking at it from the Capitals’ perspective, they also missed out on using the fourth overall pick on someone else. Players who went after that pick included defenseman Ruslan Salei, defenseman Derek Morris, Marty Reasoner, they could have had Dainius Zubrus earlier than they did, Marco Sturm, or Danny Briere among others. Hindsight, of course, is always 20/20. However, this is a pick that former Caps general manager David Poile wishes he had back.
Nicklas Backstrom
As great as the Gartner pick was in 1979, the best fourth-overall pick for the Caps must be Backstrom when they selected him fourth overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Fans in D.C. were probably excited to have him as a member of the organization, but some of them probably couldn’t imagine how big of an impact he would have on the organization and fanbase. Besides Ovechkin, Backstrom is the best player statistically for the franchise. He came over to start playing for the Caps prior to the 2007-08 campaign. He had previously grown his game playing for Brynas IF, a squad in the Swedish Hockey League (formerly known as Elitserien) that also has other alumni currently in the NHL, like goalie Jacob Markstrom and defenseman Mattias Ekholm. Backstrom posted the following for Brynas IF, while developing into the star he would be known for in D.C.:
- 2004-05: zero points in 19 games
- 2005-06: 10 goals and 16 assists for 26 points in 46 games
- 2006-07: 12 goals and 28 assists for 40 points in 45 games
Fast forwarding to the present, Ovechkin leads the Caps all-time in points with 1,550 currently. Backstrom is second on that list with 1,033 points. Only Ovechkin and Backstrom have totaled more than 1,000 points as members of the Capitals. Bondra, who had the most points before Ovechkin and Backstrom jumped ahead, only amassed 825 points. Gartner had 789 for Washington, and Michal Pivonka only notched 599. Backstrom, along with Ovechkin, became the top two talents for the club in their history and did it in the same era. Obviously, the biggest accomplishment for Backstrom was playing a role in the Caps winning their first Stanley Cup in 2018. In that postseason run, he accrued 23 points in 20 games (five goals and 18 assists). Only Evgeny Kuznetsov (32 points) and Ovechkin (27) had more.
Backstrom spent parts of 17 seasons with the Caps. In eight of those seasons, he had at least 70 points under his belt. His career-best campaign came in 2009-10, when he hit the 100-point mark with 33 goals and 68 assists for 101 points. At this point in time, he has 271 goals and 762 assists for 1,033 points in 1,105 games. He also has 38 goals and 76 assists for 114 points in 139 playoff games. In his career, he also made the NHL All-Star Game in 2016.
It appears that Backstrom also may have played his last game for the team, although that is not official as of right now. There is a chance he could still return to continue playing for the Caps. He tried to play this past season but had to step away after eight games. It is unfortunate that injuries have had to factor into his remaining time with the club. The hockey world wishes that there could be a better ending and maybe there will be. Time will tell.
Overall, Ovechkin is always going to be the player everyone thinks of when the Capitals are brought up in the hockey world. Backstrom deserves so much credit for what he was able to do for the franchise as well. Just because a team has a talent at the level of Ovechkin does not mean that they are automatically going to be a championship-caliber team. It takes more than one superb talent to help win a championship. While Ovechkin crushed it season after season, Backstrom was right there with him. They both helped make the Caps engine run for years. It is the Ovechkin era, but Backstrom helped support it with his contributions.
Ovechkin will have his No. 8 retired, no question about it, but Backstrom absolutely will have his 19 right up there with his. At that moment, when the banner is raised, the fans will show him and his family how much he means to them. Not just because of what he did with Ovechkin, but what he accomplished in his own right. Gartner deserves all the credit in the world for his hockey career, but Backstrom is the best fourth-overall selection for Washington in franchise history.
