First, the Montreal Canadiens signed leading scorer Tomas Plekanec to a six-year, $30 million contract on Tuesday. Then, the San Jose Sharks sign Patrick Marleau to a four-year contract a week before he would have become a free agent. This eliminated the two best (albeit pricey) options the Caps had to fulfill a glaring need: second-line center.
So we panic right? I mean, it’s over, Johnny, right?
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Is this Washingtonian photo contest (where my picture “ Taking in the Sights” is in second place and could use some votes) over? Nope. (Mostly because voting ends June 30th. Seriously go vote for me.)
Bet you’re asking, “Then who, hot shot?”
We’ll tell you who.
Because even though this NHL free agent season is sure to be overshadowed by a “scary” NBA Free Agent class, there’s a second-line center available that the Caps should target: Matthew Lombardi.
Don’t believe us? Okay, fine. Keep sitting there, re-reading the Plekanic and Marleau signings and entering numbers on Capgeek trying to figure out how the Caps can make a trade for one of them.
Keep on sitting there, ignoring that Lombardi brings blinding speed to the table and is one of the fastest players in the NHL contributing to a career-high 53 points in 2009-10.
Keep sitting there, ignoring that he plays good two-way hockey and is aces on the power play with 16 power play points while leading PHX skaters with 3:20 of TOI/Gm on the Power Play.
Okay, okay, he’s not a No. 1 center, but you get the point, right? I mean, Caps have a pretty good number one center now.
Speaking of things that should be number one, please go vote for me.
