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Veteran savvy: Capitals sign Mike Knuble to one year extension

Mike Knuble

When a player gets older, getting more consistent with their game can make them an essential player to have for teams seeking a championship. In the case of Capitals forward Mike Knuble, he’s been consistently finding the net throughout his career as a big body presence in front of the net.

At age 38, Knuble has scored 20 or more goals in each of his last eight seasons including 24 more this season for the Caps. That kind of consistency and a dominating presence inside the locker room will get you to play in the league for a long time and the Capitals rewarded Knuble with a one year extension today. Mike Vogel of the Caps website reports the deal is worth $2 million for next season.

On a team that’s loaded with younger players at every position, Knuble’s veteran presence is invaluable and while Alexander Ovechkin is no doubt the captain of the team, Knuble makes the ideal assistant captain commanding the attention of his teammates with both his physical and gutsy play on the ice as well as his voice off the ice.

Not to mention that Knuble has a knack for scoring on the power play (seven power play goals this year) and comes up big against the Caps’ biggest rivals, it helps make fans in Washington appreciate him all the more. Take a look at his numbers just this season against a couple of teams the Caps seem to hate the most:

Pittsburgh: 3 goals, 1 assist (4 games)

Philadelphia: 2 goals, 3 assists (3 games)

His big numbers against the Flyers make all the more sense because that’s the team he last played with. Sticking it to your old team is always a lot more fun. Getting one more year out of Knuble is perfect for the Caps and makes sense given that he is going to be 39 next season, there’s no need to go any longer. Besides, Knuble might not want to play that much longer anyhow. One thing’s for sure, he’d like to close out his career helping bring the Capitals their first Stanley Cup.