The Capitals is associated with the name of Ted Leonsis – the American billionaire has owned the club for over 20 years already. However, the founder of the franchise was Abe Pollin, thanks to whom the history of the Washington Capitals club began.
Spontaneous Idea
Abe Pollin was a famous businessman and billionaire. Unfortunately, his children died from an illness. Subsequently, to take their mind off things, he and his wife decided to create a basketball club. However, it did not net an income and the owner decided to create a hockey team.
The team was entrusted to Milt Schmidt, the legend of the Boston Bruins and one of the best players of the NHL. Certainly, Schmidt was looking for big guys, but he did not take into account the fighting qualities of the players. Unfortunately, the team stooped to a whole new low having the smallest number of wins, as well as the number of points, and that is not all.
New Blood
Abe Pollin asked 33-year-old David Poil to be the general manager. He sent an offer to Montreal desiring to exchange the team leaders for the defenders of Rod Langway and Brian Engblom, as well as forwards Doug Jarvis and Craig Laughlin. As a result, Poil had a brilliant deal. In the same year, in a draft, Poil chose defender Scott Stevens, who turned out to be one of the most outstanding and tough players. Therefore, it is not surprising that in the summer of 1982 the new history of the Washington Capitals club began. In 1998 the team reached the Stanley Cup finals. However, the Capitals won it only in 2018. Sadly, Abe Pollin did not live up to the first team award and died in 2009. By the way, he sold the franchise to Ted Leonsis in the late 90s.
We also advise you to read about how the NBA began to earn billions under the rule of David Stern.
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