Richard Zednik Returns To Washington

When I heard the news last night that the Caps had reacquired Richard Zednik from Montreal, I couldn't help but be taken aback by the realization that it had been five years since the team had sent Zed packing along with Jan Bulis in exchange for Trevor Linden and Dainius Zubrus.

Back during his first stint with the team, Zednik (or Dickie Z as my friends and I in Section 401 called him), was awfully popular, and his exile out of town wasn't exactly warmly embraced by the fans -- something that was only reinforced by the tepid performance of Linden in his brief stay in town (though to be fair to Linden, perhaps it was unfair to expect him to reach the same level of performance he had earlier in his career).

In any case, at just under $2 million a season, Zednik is an economic (a third round pick in 2007 going to Montreal) and sensible scoring upgrade from last season's roster -- and one that addresses the team's imbalance on the wings. I'm not going to pretend it transforms the roster, but it's still a nice small move nonetheless.

Then again, reaction on the team-sponsored message boards, while generall positive, features a few detractors.

Puckhead, as always, has some thoughts. HabsBlog thinks Zednik won't be missed in Montreal, a city Zed wanted out of in the worst way:

Will anyone really miss Zednik? The Zednik of old showed flashes of brilliance and was exciting to watch at times. AT TIMES. More recently Zednik was a floater whose patented ‘one hand on the stick’ power move never seemed to amount to anything.

Is it fair to say Zednik’s career changed completely after receiving a brutal elbow and being knocked out by Kyle Mclaren in the Playoffs?

He never seemed to be the same player after that and never cut to the middle or drove to the net ever again.

No doubt, that hit from McLaren seemed to derail a lot of forward progress we saw in Zednik's career after the trade.

Eric 12:10 PM

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Posted by: at July 13, 2006 10:24 PM

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