The Washington Capitals are no strangers to reclamation projects. The Capitals organization has a history of giving struggling NHL players second chances, and its track record is pretty good. In recent seasons, the Caps have seemingly rolled the dice on Brett Connolly, Devante Smith-Pelly, and Michal Kempny, and all of them have found success in Washington. Michal Kempny has even said, on several occasions, that his trade to Washington saved his NHL career.
This season, the Capitals gave two more players a chance; they signed center Nic Dowd to a one-year, $650,000 contract on July 1st and claimed winger Dmitrij Jaskin off waivers from the St.