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Ted Leonsis accepts DC Hall of Fame nod on behalf of Capitals’ 2018 Stanley Cup team

By Ian Oland

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June 23, 2019 4:26 pm

Monumental Sports and Entertainment founder Ted Leonsis was at Nationals Park on Sunday. Leonsis was there to accept the DC Hall of Fame nod on behalf of Washington Capitals’ 2018 Stanley Cup-winning team.

Before the start of the Braves-Nationals game, the Capitals championship team, as well as 10 other individuals, were officially inducted into the DC Sports Hall of Fame.

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Nationals PA announcer Jerome Hruska did the honors. Here’s what he said before Leonsis was given the plaque.

And today, the Washington DC Sports Hall of Fame proudly inducts its first-ever team of distinction, the 2017-18 Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals. The Washington DC Sports Hall of Fame introduced a new category of recognition of exceptional achievement. The team of distinction, the first recipient of this honor, the 2017-18 Washington Capitals, who captured the 2017-18 Stanley Cup – the first National Hockey League championship in the franchise’s 44-season history that ignited a passion and energized the spirit of the entire greater Washington DC area. Congratulations to the first team of distinction, the 2017-18 Washington Capitals. The owner of the capitals Ted Leonsis, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Monumental Sports and Entertainment and the DC Sports Hall of Fame inductee is accepting the induction plaque on behalf of the team.

The other honorees included Andrew Beyer, Tom Brown, Sasho Cirovski, Tom Dolan, Danny Ferry, Ray Flaherty, Charles Mann, Kevin Payne, Cathy Reese, and Allie Ritzenberg.

According to NBC Sports Washington’s Savannah McCann, Leonsis said during a press conference before the honor that the plaque will be displayed at Capital One Arena next season.

“Good thing we didn’t listen to the people who said the window was closing,” Leonsis said of the championship-winning team to the Washington Times’ Adam Zielonka. “I think we have a really, really good mix of veteran players and young players. It was great to see our draft, and we’ve had two or three drafts where we’re now developing those players slowly, the right way, in Hershey (who are) getting ready to take the next step. So I think this team, the core will stay together and I think we’re gonna be really good next year too.”

During his time at Nationals Park, Leonsis connected with DC HOF inductee Danny Ferry, who is still a candidate for the Washington Wizards GM job, and compared championship rings with Charles Mann, per Capitals Outsider’s Ben Sumner.

Congratulations, Ted and team.

Headline photo: @Capitals

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