Net-Crashing Knuble Ready to Blend In

In 1998, after his first full season in the NHL with the Detroit Red Wings, Mike Knuble found his name engraved on the Stanley Cup. But while there are few better feelings than winning hockey's ultimate prize, there was something missing for the rugged right wing.

Knuble appeared in only three playoff games that spring, recording a lone assist, and was on the ice for just more than 22 minutes. He had averaged about 10 minutes per contest in 53 regular season games.

"I had a taste of the Stanley Cup early when I was in Detroit and I hadn't even played," Knuble said. "Now I want to win one where I have had a bigger role on the team."

Since then, Knuble, 37, has found that greater role in stints with the Rangers, Bruins and Flyers. He has recorded six straight 20-goal seasons and become respected as one of the league's premier net-crashers.

On July 1, the Washington Capitals signed Knuble, a free agent, to a two-year contract worth $5.6 million. They hope that he will continue to provide a gritty presence on top of the opposing crease while offering blue-collar perspective to their stable of young stars. Knuble believes he can do just that and wonders if Washington might be where he finds that elusive second Stanley Cup.

"They're a team that has a chance to win, that has grown as a young group. I feel like they've got a lot of people's attention in the league," said Knuble, who was in town for some house-hunting this week. "They are a legitimate contender. Playing in the Southeast Division has always been seen as the lower-type teams, and I don't think that's the case now."

Since the 2002-03 season, when he was playing in Boston, Knuble has made a study of how to serve a complementary role alongside his team's skilled forwards. When Bruins forward Sergei Samsonov suffered a wrist injury that season, Knuble earned an opportunity to skate with Joe Thornton and Glen Murray.

He didn't need to be the primary goal scorer on that line and didn't need to be the setup man, either, so Knuble often went to the front of the net. He scored 30 goals that year and has stayed at a high level.

"I realized these guys are better than me and there's usually something left around the net," Knuble said. "I like to plug around and try to complement those guys and help them do their jobs better. I'm the guy who's willing to do the dirty work."

In Philadelphia, Knuble screened goaltenders for Simon Gagne and Mike Richards. The Capitals have him penciled in on the top line with Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom.

"We just felt we needed someone else, a player on [the top] line in particular with Ovechkin and Backstrom, that will go to the net," General Manager George McPhee said after Knuble signed with Washington. "Mike's made his living there. . . . We replaced a 13-goal scorer (Viktor Kozlov) with a 27-goal scorer, and the team is better as a result."

With the departures of veterans Sergei Fedorov and Kozlov to the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia, the Capitals also stand to gain from Knuble's presence in the locker room. As he prepares to enter his 13th NHL season, Knuble admits that he feels more responsibility to help his younger teammates, not publicly, but on the back of team buses or planes.

"I'm a guy that tries to blend in with a team, I just want to be a contributing member," Knuble said. "I came in as a third- or fourth-line guy. I know what it feels like to sit there the whole game. I know what it feels like to be thinking, 'Oh gosh, I need to get out of here. I need a trade.' At the same time though, I know the pressures of being consistent every night, the pressures of playing with the top players and not holding these guys back."