Capital Bust

In tonight's match up one of the key players to watch will not be Eric Fehr. You might see someone out there playing good hockey that resembles him but that is the similarly proportioned Viktor Kozlov, not the 2003 1st round bust Eric Fehr.

Fehr, who was picked at number 18 by the Caps in that year's draft, has compiled an unimpressive 18 points in 72 games during parts of 4 seasons with the Caps. Some blame his lack of professional scoring on a herniated disc he suffered last season, while I blame it on him sucking ass. Besides the Rangers throwaway pick Hugh Jessiman at 12th, Fehr might be the biggest bust in a strong class. Not counting Shawn Belle of the Blues, who was the last pick of the round. Who was picked after him you might ask...oh just Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kessler, Mike Richards, Corey Perry, and Patrick Eaves. And that's just in the first round.

I've always had trouble respecting players who are Fehr's size (6'4, 210 lbs.) and play like they're Danny Briere. No, actually, weaker than Danny Briere. At least Briere tried to shed the mitts with Eric Perrin last year and had a great fight with Mike Comrie earlier in his career. And I'm by no means using hockey fights as the sole measuring stick for grit, but when you play hard fights happen sometimes. He's a big pussy and he plays like it. When he's wondering why he ended up playing for 11 teams before he eventually rounds his career out in Europe it'll be because he didn't play hard enough.

Hockeys' Future had this to say about Fehr's future - "Fehr's window of opportunity with Washington is closing regardless of his talent." Damn right. We even checked in with the Caps to find out if he was one of those fan favorites that just hasn't really blossomed yet and they reported back that to date only one Fehr jersey has been sold. That means his dad didn't even want one.

Let me ask you Caps fans a question - are you going to go watch Fehr play in Long Island next year when the Caps don't even choose to re-sign him?