Editing Washington Capitals (section)

====Building a contender (2005–2007)====
[[File:Camp (35189192).jpg|thumb|The Capitals bench in 2005.]]
The Capitals finished the [[2005–06 NHL season|2005–06 season]] in the cellar of the Southeast Division again, with a 29–41–12 campaign, earning 12 more points than the 2003–04 season, good for 27th out of the 30 NHL teams. The team, however, played close in every game, playing in 42 one-goal games, although losing two-thirds of those games. Ovechkin's rookie season exceeded the hype, as he led all 2005–06 NHL rookies in goals, points, power-play goals and shots. He finished third overall in the NHL in scoring and tied for third in goals, and his 425 shots not only led the league, but also set an NHL rookie record and was the fourth-highest total in NHL history. Ovechkin's rookie point total was the second-best in Capitals history, and his goal total was tied for third in franchise history. Ovechkin won the [[Calder Memorial Trophy]], beating out Pittsburgh center [[Sidney Crosby]] and [[Calgary Flames]] defenseman [[Dion Phaneuf]].

Many longtime Capitals had career years, with [[Dainius Zubrus]] netting 57 points, Halpern having a career-best 33 assists, [[Matt Pettinger]] putting in a career-best 20-goal, 38-point effort and seven others on the relatively young team topping 20 points for the first time. Two notable landmarks were also hit by Capitals, as the team's longest-tenured player, Olaf Kolzig, won his 250th game in goal, and Andrew Cassels became the 204th player to play 1,000 games, although he did not finish his season with Washington. A notable first was that Washington area native Jeff Halpern was named captain of his hometown Capitals. At the 2006 [[NHL trade deadline]], on March 8, Brendan Witt was traded to the [[Nashville Predators]].

[[File:Semin and Ovechkin 2007.jpg|thumb|left|[[Alexander Semin]] and [[Alexander Ovechkin]] celebrate following a goal in January 2007.]]
In the 2006 off-season, Halpern left the Capitals to join the [[Dallas Stars]]; Chris Clark subsequently became the Capitals' new captain. [[Richard Zedník|Richard Zednik]] returned to the Capitals in [[2006–07 NHL season|2006–07]] after a disappointing 16-goal, 14-assist season in 2005–06 with the Montreal Canadiens, but was later dealt at the trade deadline to the New York Islanders after a disappointing and injury-plagued season. The Caps also signed former Philadelphia Flyers enforcer [[Donald Brashear]]. Despite the transactions, however, the Capitals finished with the same point total (70) in 2006–07 as they did the year before, although they won one fewer game. Ovechkin was the Capitals' lone representative in the season's [[55th National Hockey League All-Star Game|All-Star Game]], with Washington's campaign also seeing the breakout of [[Alexander Semin]], who notched 38 goals in only his second NHL season.