Friday, October 05, 2007

Season Preview: Dave Steckel

I held out on doing Steckel's bio for a while. I started out doing a lot of the checking line guys, but I didn't want to have to do a guy that wasn't going to stick with the team. Then he hung around. And hung around. And hung around, and lo and behold, he's still here. I guess I should have done him earlier, and just passed on Josef Boumedienne.
Dave Steckel has the potential to be one of the best penalty killers in league history. No really. With his long wingspan, Steckel makes a 5 on 3 seem like a 5 on three-and-a-half. When put out there with Boyd Gordon (as he so often was in Hershey), Steckel and Gordon become an extremely potenet PK combo, something that will only help the Caps, as their special teams have really been their downfall the last few years.

Did we also mention he's great at faceoffs? During the Carolina preseason game, Steckel beat Face-off wizard Rod Brind'Amour in 6 straight faceoffs in the third period, and in the Caps/Flyers preseason game in which the Caps managed that great comeback, Steckel was seen taking faceoffs in both the offensive and defensive zone for Victor Kozlov, helping the Caps chances at gaining control of the puck.

Look for Steckel to bounce between the third and fourth line this season, depending on who is healthy. Also keep an eye out for him any time the Caps are down a man, and any time they really need to win that faceoff.

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