Have The Caps Found Another Keeper?
Matthew Phillips tallies a goal and an assist to pace Caps to win over his former team.
The Washington Capitals broke into the win column last night with a 3-2 win over the visiting Calgary Flames in a shootout. Early on, things were looking like the last two periods against the Pittsburgh Penguins last Friday night, as Calgary outshot Washington 18-3 while taking a 2-0 lead. The Caps righted the ship in the second period, scoring twice to even the game. But what was encouraging was not just seeing the team claw back from a two-goal deficit, but who was involved in both goals.
The first score was from Matthew Phillips, who the Caps signed as a free agent away from Calgary in the offseason. Phillips had been stuck in the minor leagues for a few years with the team, never quite being able to break into the lineup at the NHL level. Last season, veteran head coach Darryl Sutter wasn’t willing to give Phillips a chance, something that caused Calgary General Manager Craig Conroy some heartache.
Tired of waiting for a one-way deal that gave him a shot at playing regularly in Calgary, Phillips spurned Conroy’s offer of a two-year, two-way deal to opt for a one-year, one-way deal from Capitals General Manager Brian MacLellan. With roster spots at a premium, and big-money veteran Anthony Mantha fighting for his NHL career, the diminutive Phillips made the team out of training camp with the proviso that he would have to continue to earn that roster spot.
The message hit home. Phillips must have had October 16th circled on his calendar, pulling off this nifty give and go against his former team with winger Sonny Milano.
Three minutes later, Phillips assisted on Connor McMichael’s first goal of the season to tie the score. While this is admittedly a small sample, the early returns are encouraging, and it looks like MacLellan has knitted together a third line — Phillips, Milano and center Dylan Strome — of players other teams had given up on. If you’re going to win in a league where your budget is constrained by the salary cap, you’re going to have to get it done by playing the arbitrage game and finding bargains. Credit needs to go to MacLellan and his scouting staff for keeping an eye on Phillips and knowing that Calgary wasn’t willing to give him a legitimate shot.
And let’s take a moment to applaud Phillips as well. He could have taken a deal with Calgary that gave him guaranteed money for two seasons, but he opted for a one-year deal where he would get a chance to play regularly on the NHL level and set himself up for a big contract after what amounts to a one-year audition. And with free agent acquisition Max Pacioretty waiting in the wings and rehabbing from a torn Achilles tendon, someone on a forward line will lose a roster spot when he returns. MacLellan wants to win as Alex Ovechkin — still without a goal this season — pursues Wayne Gretzky in the record books. When the time comes to make the call, he’ll make the hockey decision, and Phillips will make it an easy one if he keeps scoring.
When asked after the game last night how it felt to score against the team that drafted him, Phillips said, “It feels pretty good … I’ll leave it at that.”
That response was classy and professional. After all, as his former general manager said in the above interview, hockey is a small world and you can’t discount the possibility that the two parties might reunite at a later time. I’ll be keeping a close eye on Phillips the rest of the way. I’ll be rooting for him, and you should be too.