"It's going to happen no matter what, because guys want to feel comfortable," said Washington Capitals captain Chris Clark. "[For example], if I went into another country during the lockout to play, I'm going to hang out with the English-speaking guys."
That multi-nationalism was at the core of the most successful off-season in George McPhee's 10 years as general manager of the Capitals. Center Viktor Kozlov was signed to play with his friend Alexander Ovechkin and to serve as a mentor for both the young Russian star and countryman Alexander Semin. Center Michael Nylander was signed, in part, to serve as a role model for a fellow Swede, rookie Nicklas Backstrom. American defenseman Tom Poti was signed to quarterback the powerplay and to help continue to develop a Capitals backline that has only one player — Milan Jurcina — born outside of North America.
"Some teams go for the best available player on the ice, no matter what. Sometimes it really disrupts a locker room. I think we made the right choices, and we did get the best available for what we were looking for," said Clark.
The challenge for Clark, goaltender/de-facto-captain Olie Kolzig and the rest of the Capitals leadership is to make sure those cultural relationships don't upset the balance of the team's overall chemistry.
"It's some of the older guys' jobs to get everybody to dinner. You don't want it to get to the point where these guys are always doing something together; for the most part, we have a team where everybody likes to hang out with everybody else," said Clark, in his third year with Washington.
Nylander, one of the prime contributors during the Capitals' eye-opening 3-0 start this season, said he understands his role as a veteran mentor for Backstrom.
"I think it helps to have a few Swedish friends here, like me," said Nylander, beginning his second tour of duty with the Capitals after a 79-point campaign with the Rangers last season. "[Backstrom] knows how to play hockey himself. It's just an adjustment to America and to the NHL style. There are some things he'll learn on his own, and there are other things that you can't teach. I think it's more of an adjustment outside of hockey."
But Coach Glen Hanlon doesn't want to see Nylander exclusively tutor the Capitals' potential Calder candidate — or have any national allegiances overrule the team's overall chemistry.
"We like to think of it as Michael Nylander will mentor everybody. It's easy to say that Kozlov's going to mentor the Russians, but we don't want that; we want Kozzy to mentor other centers and show them how good he is at protecting the puck. We don't want Michael Nylander grabbing Nicklas Backstrom after practice and leaving out Alex Semin," said Hanlon.
"We like to think we have a good core group of guys. We're encouraging a lot of things, but certainly not the segregation of countries."
POWERED UP?
If the Captitals can avoid the pitfalls of cliques, the next great chemistry test will be in an area that could make or break the team's playoff aspirations: on the powerplay.
The Capitals were 24th in the NHL last season in power-play percentage, with 51 of the team's 67 goals coming from four just players (Ovechkin, Semin, Clark and Dainius Zubrus).
In Poti (32 powerplay points) and Nylander (37), the Capitals added two special-teams specialists to a group that needed more skilled players on the man-advantage.
"Sometimes it's important to have a guy like Nylander," said Ovechkin. "He's had a great career, and he can take the puck and save it from going out of the zone."
Clark said that much like a successful locker room, a successful powerplay demands cohesion between teammates.
"A lot of it is chemistry, but a lot of it is having guys who are patient with the puck," he said, pointing to the veteran savvy of Poti and Nylander. "They know how to work a system and they’ve been on playoff teams."
Based on the preliminary results this season, they might be on one again.
