As first reported by Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News, ex-New York Ranger and Florida Panther forward Wojtek Wolski has signed a one year contract with the Washington Captials. The contract is worth $600,000, which was confirmed by the team and Washington Capitals senior writer Mike Vogel.
Wolski was born on February 24th, 1986 in Zabrze, Poland. He is the only current Polish-born player in the NHL and is only the 6th in league history. Wolski was drafted in the 1st round (21st overall) in the 2004 NHL Draft by the Colorado Avalanche. According to Ben Guerrero, who works in the Capitals media relations department, he’s tied for 6th place in scoring among his draft class.
Wolski has struggled in the last few seasons with the Rangers and the Panthers, but wants to show that he still has enough left to have a bounce-back season. “I think I had one bad year, and this year it was tough with the injuries,” Wolski said in a press conference with the media “but I think this year is a great time for me to bounce back and to show that I am still a great player and I have a lot of life left in me. It’s definitely, you know, I’m at a point in my career where I am at a crossroads and I’ve got to make it work and I think I’m ready and able and it’s going to be a great year.”
This signing is medium-reward, low-risk and, if Wolski can play like he did in Colorado, can easily eat into the deficit the Capitals will have as far as goal production goes with the loss of Alexander Semin. According to Eric T. over at Broad Street Hockey, Wolski’s even strength points/60 in the last five years are: 2.54, 1.52, 2.78, 2.04, and 1.77. If he can get that number back up to roughly 2.00, it will make this signing well worth the cap hit.
