# 2004–05 Washington Capitals season

The 2004–05 Washington Capitals season was their 31st National Hockey League season. Its games were cancelled as the 2004–05 NHL lockout could not be resolved in time. As a result, Alexander Ovechkin, the first overall pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, would not make his NHL debut until the start of the 2005–06 season.

## Schedule

The Capitals preseason and regular season schedules were announced on July 13 and July 14, 2004, respectively.
2004–05 schedule :
Preseason
GameDateOpponent
1September 23Philadelphia Flyers
2September 30@ Philadelphia Flyers
3October 2@ Pittsburgh Penguins
4October 6Pittsburgh Penguins
5October 8@ Carolina Hurricanes
6October 9Carolina Hurricanes :
Regular season
GameDateOpponent
1October 16@ Atlanta Thrashers
2October 19Atlanta Thrashers
3October 21Montreal Canadiens
4October 23New York Islanders
5October 29@ Tampa Bay Lightning
6October 31@ Florida Panthers
7November 3New Jersey Devils
8November 5Ottawa Senators
9November 6@ Philadelphia Flyers
10November 9@ Montreal Canadiens
11November 11Detroit Red Wings
12November 13New Jersey Devils
13November 16Phoenix Coyotes
14November 18Pittsburgh Penguins
15November 20New York Islanders
16November 23@ Toronto Maple Leafs
17November 24Philadelphia Flyers
18November 26New York Rangers
19November 28Florida Panthers
20December 1@ Anaheim Mighty Ducks
21December 2@ Los Angeles Kings
22December 4@ San Jose Sharks
23December 6@ New York Islanders
24December 9@ New York Rangers
25December 11Atlanta Thrashers
26December 14New York Rangers
27December 17Dallas Stars
28December 18@ New York Islanders
29December 21@ Pittsburgh Penguins
30December 22St. Louis Blues
31December 26Tampa Bay Lightning
32December 28Ottawa Senators
33December 31@ Atlanta Thrashers
34January 1Pittsburgh Penguins
35January 3Nashville Predators
36January 5Carolina Hurricanes
37January 8@ Atlanta Thrashers
38January 9Buffalo Sabres
39January 12@ Florida Panthers
40January 14@ Tampa Bay Lightning
41January 16Minnesota Wild
42January 17@ Carolina Hurricanes
43January 20@ St. Louis Blues
44January 22Florida Panthers
45January 24Philadelphia Flyers
46January 27@ Boston Bruins
47January 28Montreal Canadiens
48January 30Atlanta Thrashers
49February 1@ Ottawa Senators
50February 3@ Toronto Maple Leafs
51February 4@ Pittsburgh Penguins
52February 6Boston Bruins
53February 8Tampa Bay Lightning
54February 10@ Buffalo Sabres
55February 15@ Boston Bruins
56February 19@ Phoenix Coyotes
57February 20@ Dallas Stars
58February 22@ Buffalo Sabres
59February 24Colorado Avalanche
60February 26Carolina Hurricanes
61February 27@ Carolina Hurricanes
62March 1Chicago Blackhawks
63March 3@ Philadelphia Flyers
64March 4@ New Jersey Devils
65March 7@ New York Rangers
66March 8@ Montreal Canadiens
67March 11@ Florida Panthers
68March 12@ Tampa Bay Lightning
69March 15@ Carolina Hurricanes
70March 16Columbus Blue Jackets
71March 18Florida Panthers
72March 20Toronto Maple Leafs
73March 22@ Calgary Flames
74March 24@ Vancouver Canucks
75March 26@ Edmonton Oilers
76March 28@ Ottawa Senators
77March 31Boston Bruins
78April 2Tampa Bay Lightning
79April 4Carolina Hurricanes
80April 6Buffalo Sabres
81April 8Toronto Maple Leafs
82April 9@ New Jersey Devils :

## Transactions

The Capitals were involved in the following transactions from June 8, 2004, the day after the deciding game of the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals, through February 16, 2005, the day the 2004–05 season was officially cancelled.

### Trades

| Date | Details | Details | Ref |
| June 26, 2004 (2004-06-26) | To Washington Capitals 3rd-round pick in 2004 | To Dallas Stars 3rd-round pick in 2005 | |

### Players acquired

| Date | Player | Former team | Term | Via |
| August 2, 2004 (2004-08-02) | Jeff Paul | New York Rangers | 1-year | Free agency |
| August 24, 2004 (2004-08-24) | Louis Robitaille | Portland Pirates (AHL) | 1-year | Free agency |
| August 24, 2004 (2004-08-24) | Jason Ulmer | Portland Pirates (AHL) | 1-year | Free agency |

### Players lost

| Date | Player | New team | Via |
| July 1, 2004 (2004-07-01) | John Gruden | | Contract expiration (UFA) |
| July 1, 2004 (2004-07-01) | Brad Norton | | Contract expiration (UFA) |
| July 11, 2004 (2004-07-11) | Roman Tvrdon | Nottingham Panthers (EIHL) | Free agency (UFA) |
| July 16, 2004 (2004-07-16) | Joel Kwiatkowski | Florida Panthers | Free agency (UFA) |
| August 5, 2004 (2004-08-05) | Craig Johnson | Hamburg Freezers (DEL) | Free agency (III) |
| August 10, 2004 (2004-08-10) | Francois Methot | Augsburger Panther (DEL) | Free agency (VI) |
| August 11, 2004 (2004-08-11) | Colin Forbes | Carolina Hurricanes | Free agency (UFA) |
| August 12, 2004 (2004-08-12) | Mel Angelstad | Belfast Giants (EIHL) | Free agency (VI) |
| September 2, 2004 (2004-09-02) | Rick Berry | Phoenix Coyotes | Free agency (UFA) |
| September 10, 2004 (2004-09-10) | Todd Rohloff | Buffalo Sabres | Free agency (VI) |
| September 14, 2004 (2004-09-14) | Sebastien Charpentier | Saint-Hyacinthe Cousin (LNAH) | Free agency (VI) |
| September 27, 2004 (2004-09-27) | Chris Hajt | Augusta Lynx (ECHL) | Free agency (VI) |
| December 5, 2004 (2004-12-05) | Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre | IF Troja-Ljungby (Allsvenskan) | Free agency (UFA) |
| December 7, 2004 (2004-12-07) | Jean-Francois Fortin | Portland Pirates (AHL) | Free agency (VI) |
| December 10, 2004 (2004-12-10) | Matthew Yeats | Reading Royals (ECHL) | Free agency (UFA) |
| December 26, 2004 (2004-12-26) | Kip Miller | Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL) | Free agency (III) |
| February 21, 2005 (2005-02-21) | Bates Battaglia | Mississippi Sea Wolves (ECHL) | Free agency (UFA) |

### Signings

| Date | Player | Term | Contract type |
| June 30, 2004 (2004-06-30) | Brian Willsie | 1-year | Re-signing |
| July 1, 2004 (2004-07-01) | Jason Doig | 1-year | Re-signing |
| July 2, 2004 (2004-07-02) | Darcy Verot | 1-year | Re-signing |
| July 6, 2004 (2004-07-06) | Jakub Klepis | 3-year | Entry-level |
| July 8, 2004 (2004-07-08) | Josef Boumedienne | 1-year | Re-signing |
| July 8, 2004 (2004-07-08) | Trent Whitfield | 1-year | Re-signing |
| July 20, 2004 (2004-07-20) | Jeff Halpern | 1-year | Re-signing |
| July 28, 2004 (2004-07-28) | Graham Mink | 1-year | Re-signing |
| July 28, 2004 (2004-07-28) | Matt Pettinger | 1-year | Re-signing |
| July 28, 2004 (2004-07-28) | Nolan Yonkman | 1-year | Re-signing |
| August 2, 2004 (2004-08-02) | Maxime Ouellet | 1-year | Re-signing |
| August 2, 2004 (2004-08-02) | Stephen Peat | 1-year | Re-signing |
| August 2, 2004 (2004-08-02) | Dwayne Zinger | 1-year | Re-signing |
| August 17, 2004 (2004-08-17) | Brendan Witt | 1-year | Arbitration award |

## Draft picks

Washington's picks at the 2004 NHL entry draft, which was held at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina on June 26–27, 2004.
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | Team (league) |
| 1 | 1 | Alexander Ovechkin | Left wing | Russia | HC Dynamo Moscow (RSL) |
| 1 | 27 | Jeff Schultz | Defense | Canada | Calgary Hitmen (WHL) |
| 1 | 29 | Mike Green | Defense | Canada | Saskatoon Blades (WHL) |
| 2 | 33 | Chris Bourque | Left wing | United States | Cushing Academy (Mass.) |
| 2 | 62 | Mikhail Yunkov | Center | Russia | Krylja Jr. (Russia) |
| 3 | 66 | Sami Lepisto | Defense | Finland | Jokerit (SM-liiga) |
| 3 | 88 | Clayton Barthel | Defense | Canada | Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL) |
| 5 | 132 | Oscar Hedman | Defense | Sweden | Modo Hockey (SEL) |
| 5 | 138 | Pasi Salonen | Left wing | Finland | HIFK Jr. (Finland) |
| 6 | 166 | Peter Guggisberg | Right wing | Switzerland | HC Davos (NLA) |
| 7 | 197 | Andrew Gordon | Right wing | Canada | Notre Dame Hounds (SJHL) |
| 8 | 230 | Justin Mrazek | Goaltender | Canada | Estevan Bruins (SJHL) |
| 9 | 263 | Travis Morin | Center | United States | Minnesota State Mavericks (WCHA) |