sonia's official thoughts on this whole kolzig thing

i actually had trouble falling asleep last night because this was pissing me off so much. so i am gathering my thoughts/argument here.



i'll start off by regurgitating the obvious. we all love olie kolzig, he's been mr. capital for over a decade, and i selfishly hope he retires because seeing him in another team's jersey would make me literally sick. (seriously. i don't ever want to see that.) but if he does join another team, and shows up at the verizon center wearing the other team's jersey, i would be among that sell-out crowd that shows up to give him that standing ovation thanking him for all he's done for the team. and while i think next year might be a bit soon to retire his number (i'm just old school like that), i fully expect to see #37 in the rafters within a few years.

but dude needs a reality check.

i understand that it would totally suck to have your cushy job pulled out from under your feet. actually, i don't. i will not pretend like i can know how much it sucks to have been a #1 goalie for over ten years, with no competition for your job, and then to wake up one morning and find out that you've been supplanted.

except that's not really how it happened. huet came in and the two were basically told to have it out. may the better goalie "win". (as a sort-of side note, i maintain that no matter how butthurt olie is being about all of this, JOHNNY is the one who REALLY got the shaft in all this. he didn't even have the chance to fight for his job. JOHNNY IS THE REAL VICTIM IN ALL THIS, DAMMIT!!!! anyhoo) kolzig had the chance to go out there and show everyone that he was better than huet. but the fact of the matter is he ISN'T anymore. back in the day, sure. but kolzig is 38 years old, he's pretty far removed from that vezina he won, and he simply is not the goalie he used to be. THIS HAPPENS. i wish olie would be more graceful about accepting that instead of touting this ludicrous belief that he is still a #1 goalie on any other team in the.

i think it is a shame that olie's last game with the caps had to be that 5-0 debacle in chicago. even though he was lit up, few if any of those goals were his fault. the team played like crap in front of him. but that wasn't the only time, it just was much more glaring that night- the team played better in front of huet than they did in front of kolzig. period. there is a reason for that: the team felt more confident with huet in net than they did with olie. it's simple as that.

i think there are people out there who are blaming george mcphee for all of this. i find that to be ludicrous. the huet deal fell in his lap and he would have been an IDIOT not to take it. if i recall all of this correctly, the caps traded a second round pick for huet. the second round pick that we received from anaheim when the caps gave them brian sutherby. so essentially, the caps traded sutherby for huet. that is what i would call a "fleecing". there were a few years when i was aboard that "fire GMGM!" bandwagon, but i have to say that the trades he pulled off this year? nothing short of magic.

without huet, we wouldn't have had a heartbreaking game 7 overtime loss fresh in our minds. we also wouldn't have had that thrilling come-from-behind win in game 1. because there wouldn't have BEEN a game 1. the caps WOULD NOT HAVE MADE THE PLAYOFFS without cristobal huet. period.

olie has been quoted numerous times this season as saying that he's "not a numbers guy", referring to his mediocre save % and GAA this year, that he's a "wins guy". that has to be one of the stupidest things i've ever heard. maybe i am wrong and maybe olie will find some team that is willing to give him their #1 job (at a significant pay cut from what he was receiving in washington, i'll assume). but i HIGHLY doubt that. i honestly think that kolzig is going to go out on the free agent market and discover that he's not as in demand as he thinks he is, that he'll be LUCKY to find a backup job. can his ego handle that? i'm honestly not sure.

ideally, and it's pretty clear that this is not going to happen, i would love to see some sort of huet/kolzig tandem next year, like a #1 and a #1A. split the games 50/30 or so. (johnny would have to be traded or be bought out, and that would suck- like i said, THE REAL VICTIM HERE!!!)

so yeah, what happened to kolzig really sucks. GMGM took an offer he couldn't refuse and kolzig couldn't hold on to his spot. that is no one's fault but his own. so what is really bugging me more than anything is his attitude about all this. granted, i am only going on how i am perceiving his actions and what he said in the washington post this morning. he hasn't even spoken with mcphee about the possibility of a next year, he basically just walked out on the team at the first moment he could, and is acting like he's been personally slighted by all this and is burning his bridges here. he is acting like a kid. newsflash olie: THE GAME IS NOT ABOUT YOU! it is a TEAM game. management did what was best for the TEAM, NOT what was best for YOU. dude, you got a $6 million-plus contract this year. do you think you really deserved that for any reason other than loyalty? it is time to man up and stop being such a dick about all this. you had a long, amazing run and washington loves you. no one will ever be able to speak about the washington capitals without remembering olie kolzig. just don't fuck that up by being a whiny bitch.


i feel like a crazy person for having written all that out.
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