Is it smart to bench the 5 Million Dollar man?
If ya can't beat 'em, join 'em...right?
Bruce Boudreau said that there was possibly going to be an end to this situation as of today, yet with word that Michael has skated in practice and taken the team picture, it seems highly unlikely that Nylander will be skating anywhere else but Washington in the near future...that is unless he gets into a game for the Caps on the road.
Michael Nylander is the healthiest he has been since he signed his deal with the Washington Capitals in the summer of 2007, but you wouldn't know it unless you were privileged enough to watch a Capitals practice.
Despite coming into camp as strong as he possibly could be, the Caps have yet to give the veteran pivot one single second of ice-time.
And why is that, you might ask?
Well, let me tell you!
Michael Nylander and Bruce Boudreau have not seen eye to eye since Gabby staked his claim as Capitals bench boss almost 2 years ago. Nylander, who signed with the team before Boudreau ever thought he would be moving from Hershey to DC, was brought on board in order to give the Capitals a stable, offensive centerman, one who could mentor the young Nicklas Backstrom as well as provide sniper Alex Ovechkin with outlet passes.
At the time of the signing it was considered to be a serious coup for George McPhee, yet no one could have ever predicted how Nylander's time with the Caps was going to unfold.
Initially, Nylander fit right into the Caps system and was playing his role to a tee, yet his fortunes did not last as Washington would bring in Boudreau as the new head coach and promptly switch the team's playing style. This wasn't that big of a deal at the time because Nylander was healthy and playing at nearly a point a game pace, but that did not last. Unfortunately for Michael, he injured his shoulder in early December of '07 and saw his game take a serious hit. Yet, despite being injured in December, Nylander fought through 6 more weeks of play, allowing the Capitals to have a centerman while they waited for Captain Chris Clark to return. In mid-January, once Clark was proving to the team that he was close enough to a return, and once Nylander's shoulder had gotten bad enough, Michael and the team decided that it would be best if he went on the IR in order to get the surgery needed to fix the shoulder and the time to properly heal.
Nylander had the best interest of the team at heart when he played through 6 weeks of pain, yet who really knows if those 6 weeks did not cause more undo damage to his playing career than he could have ever expected?
During the 6 weeks that Michael played through the pain Nicklas Backstrom began to slowly emerge as the elite player that he has become. Boudreau slowly but surely entrusted more responsibility and ice-time to the young Swede, eventually creating what we now know as one of the most dangerous duo's in the league of Ovechkin-Backstrom. Nicklas' early rise to stardom wasn't expected, yet it was gladly welcomed and a great deal of thanks should go to Michael Nylander for mentoring him on the ice and his family for the phenomenal job they did in helping Backstrom acclimatize to the North American lifetsyle and easing his transition from Sweden.
In conjunction with Nylander's decision to go on the IR and Backstrom's quiet rise to success, the Caps also received some salary cap freedom and used it to acquire Sergei Fedorov.
These three events occured within the span of about a month and are, essentially, what has led to Nylander getting pushed out of the picture.
The Capitals sprinted into the playoffs in the spring of '08 on the backs of newly acquired Cristobal Huet and Sergei Fedorov and Nylander watched all the while from home.
Obviously Nylander wanted to be there, yet his rehab schedule did not coincide with a possible return until late in the 2nd round or early in the 3rd, when the Caps lost in 7 games to the Flyers, Michael promptly turned his attention and training towards the '08-09 season and a return to stardom.
Yet that was not meant to be.
George McPhee resigned Sergei Fedorov in the summer of '08, essentially signing away what was expected to be Michael Nylander's position for the upcoming season.
That did not sit well with Michael and as a result he entered his second season with the team on a sour note. It's hard to knock Nylander for feeling let down. He was brought to the Caps for a specific reason and, after giving everything he had on the ice for the Caps(even though it was only 40 games), simply saw it all slip away without ever having the chance to redeem himself.
Nylander's discontent was never meant to be a public affair, but if you watched the team, it was pretty hard not to notice his unhappiness in his body language and demeanor.
Of course this did not lend well to Nyls' relationship with Boudreau and Gabby eventually turned his attention away from Michael and to his other players.
The '08-09 season was easily Michael's least important season in terms of a role. He saw limited ice-time and was not always included in the situations where he was needed most. And not because he wasn't capable, but more because of his slow drop down the totem pole.
Backstrom has become an elite centerman in a very short span of time and the Capitals have become an offensive dynamo in the short span of time that Boudreau has been coach of the team. Yet everytime that Nylander seems to think he will finally get his chance to return to an important role with the Capitals, he seems to be shutdown.
As with what happened in the summer of '08, so was it the same in the summer of '09 as George McPhee went out and signed free agent centerman Brendan Morrison to a one year deal, once again signaling that Michael would not be returning to a role as 2nd line center with the Capitals.
The signing of Morrison was a smart one by McPhee. It was a cheap one year deal that can only turn out two ways, an absolute success as BMo returns to success or a cheap attempt at finding the Caps a compatible 2nd line center.
And the whole time Nylander just sits by and watches "his" team continuously give away his spot on the roster.
At least he still makes his money.
In all reality, how can you blame the guy for being upset? He has been more or less railroaded over the last 2 seasons and alot of it simply has to do with bad timing.
If Michael had not gotten injured and was healthy through the '07-08 season there is an extremely strong chance that he would have put up over 70 points(at least) and that Sergei Fedorov would never been acquired.
But, as we all know, that was not how things went down.
In defense of the team and their handling of this situation, they have always been on course with their plan to build a contender. It just so happens that George McPhee has still managed to continue building this franchise into a contender year after year, despite paying a high scoring centerman to play a 3rd line role, or not at all.
The Caps are on their way to competing for a Stanley Cup or two or three, but, as is the case every year, it is never a sure thing.
So, considering all of the trouble the team has gone through and all of the various ways to move Nylander's salary that have been attempted without success, wouldn't it make sense to just give the guy another try?
With Nylander dangling his NMC over McPhee's head and with ZERO GM's interested in taking on an asset who hasn't gotten the chance to prove himself over the last 2 years, there is little to no room to make a move.
Michael is not going home to Sweden. He will not be playing in Russia.
He likes it in the U.S. and he likes the elite competitive level of hockey that is the NHL. You won't find a greater on-ice product anywhere else, so can you blame the man for wanting to remain in the league?
He is 2 years older than when he signed his deal, but no one really knows if his game has truly gotten worse or if he just has not been giving the minutes to prove he can still contribute.
Therefore Washington is left with two real options; play the guy to see if he can still contribute or if you can prove he still has value or get him to agree to pass through the waiver wire and then find a new home somewhere else at half the cost.
Playing Nylander would only make sense at this point as keeping him off the ice doesn't help the Capitals in any way, shape or form. He can challenge Morrison for the 2nd line center spot and can gain value along the way.
Before his time in Washington, Michael racked up 199 points in 200 games playing for the Rangers. That's why the Caps signed him, so why not give him another shot to see if he is still capable of playing up to his value?
Sitting him and continuing to push him to the outside won't help either side.
If Washington really does not want to keep Michael around then I recommend that they get him to pass through waiver wires. They will have to bite the bullet of half of his salary, but they would provide themselves with a roster spot and cap space that they currently do not have.
If they choose to not to bite the bullet of paying Michael half his salary over the next 2 years, then let him earn it on the ice with his current team.
As it stands, Michael Nylander is a Washington Capital.
In the best interest of the team, I say let Nylander play as a Capital.
What have they got to lose?
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