Laich Gets A Shot At The Big Time

I was reading a terrific blog post by Paddy Miller on the significance of the big, long-term contract the Caps gave Brooks Laich. I realized, for all of my talk about reading tea leaves, I hadn't yet picked up on the obvious significance of the biggest deal the Caps gave out this year: Brooks Laich is the Caps' first line right wing.

Down the stretch last year, Knuble got a few looks on the second and third lines. Lach has had occasional shifts with Ovechkin, mostly on the power play. But he's never had the chance to play top line minutes full time, because the team had too much to lose.

The last time the Caps put young players with free agency ahead of them on Ovechkin's line, those players put up career years and signed big free agent contracts elsewhere. Jeff Halpern is finally back in a Caps uniform, eight million dollars richer. Brian Willsie is back, and helping out in Hershey. Dainius Zubrus may retire in New Jersey.

This phenomenon isn't unique to the Capitals. Sidney Crosby's best young wingers, Ryan Malone and Colby Armstrong, are now raking in high dollars in other towns. Malone even helped knock the Penguins out of the 2011 playoffs. The Penguins usually avoid this loss of young talent by signing only guys on the edge of retirement to play with Crosby, and the Caps have copied that with Mike Knuble, but even that doesn't always work for Pittsburgh. Crosby's first overage accomplice, Mark Recchi, went on to play several more years after rejuvenating his value in Pittsburgh and didn't retire until he won another Stanley Cup with Boston this year.

Laich plays a similar game to Mike, who has played on Ovechkin's right for the last two years, but is likely to retire some year soon, somewhere. Laich could easily take over the role of an agitator in front of the net to tip in a couple rebounds off Ovechkin's constant shots. Laich is younger and a little bit faster right now than Knuble. While he'd have to gain thirty-five pounds to cut as imposing a figure in the crease, he may still have greater potential to become a perennial thirty goal scorer if he gets acclimated to playing with Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. Laich's speed could also help get Ovechkin back over fifty goals a season.

Now that Laich is signed to play with the Capitals for the next six years, there is no threat of another team giving him a pay raise to leave town. The time is right. The future is here. Let's welcome Brooks Laich to the starting lineup of the Washington Capitals, now and for the next six years.