Washington's second ever amateur draft selection (second round, No. 19 overall) in 1974, Marson became the second Black player in NHL history when he made the Caps' lineup as a 19-year-old in the fall of '74 and suited up for the first game in franchise history on Oct. 9 of that year. When he took the ice against the Rangers that night, Marson became the first Black player in the league in nearly a decade and a half, following in the skate-steps of Hockey Hall of Famer and pioneer Willie O'Ree, who played his final NHL game in 1961.

Marson was drafted from the Sudbury Wolves of the OHA (now OHL), where he led the team in goals (35) and points (94) in 1973-74. The next season, Marson went "from grade 12 to the NHL," as he put it. In order to try to keep prime young talent away from the budding World Hockey Association, the NHL opted to allow its member clubs to draft one "underaged" (18-year-old) player in the first two rounds of the '74 draft, and the Caps exercised that option in taking Marson with the first pick in the second round.

At an age when many of his peers were still in school or playing junior hockey, Marson was playing for the NHL's worst team and dealing with racism firsthand in what was an 18-city circuit in those days. A power forward with good speed, Marson scored a hat trick in his first preseason game in the NHL and he netted 16 goals in his rookie season. But the lowly Caps never had the luxury or the patience to try to develop Marson; he was force-fed at the NHL level and his first season turned out to be the best statistical campaign of a six-year NHL career in which he also played for Los Angeles.

After his playing days were done, Marson returned to the Toronto area where he took up karate and painting. Marson also opened a hockey training school where he used martial arts to help train budding young players.

Against all odds and in the season after he played senior league hockey in British Columbia, Bill Riley rose to the NHL and made his debut in the Caps' maiden season of 1974-75. Had his NHL career ended after that game, it still would have been a remarkable story. But Riley returned to the Caps two seasons later and he carved out a five-season, 139-game career in the league with Washington and Winnipeg.

When Riley debuted with Washington in December of 1974, he joined Marson to make the Caps the first NHL team to have two Black players in uniform for the same game.

The legendary Tom McVie - then coach of the IHL Dayton Gems - discovered Riley playing senior hockey for the BCSHL's Kitimat Eagles in 1973-74, signing him to a pro deal with the Gems. Already 24 years old at the time, Riley had been a dominant power forward at Kitimat, where he totaled 76 goals and 118 points in just 40 games.

With Dayton, Riley totaled a dozen goals and 28 points in his first pro season, leading to a one-game midseason trial with Washington. In 1975-76, Riley scored 35 goals and racked up 301 PIM - second most in the league - with the Gems, helping them to the Turner Cup championship that season.

With McVie manning the bench in Washington, Riley returned to D.C. in 1976-77, scoring 13 goals for the Caps in just 43 games and notching another 13 goals in 57 games with Washington in 1977-78.

Riley's NHL career concluded after a 14-game stint with Winnipeg in 1979-80, but he went on to enjoy three seasons with 30 or more goals at the AHL level, where he was a teammate of ex-Caps bench boss Bruce Boudreau at New Brunswick in 1980-81. When his playing days were over, Riley went into coaching and management at the junior level in his native Nova Scotia.

Reggie Savage was Washington's first-round choice (15th overall) in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft. As a 17-year-old playing in his first season in the QMJHL in 1987-88, Savage scored 68 goals in as many games for the Victoriaville Tigres. Maintaining a goal-a-game pace is nearly impossible in any league, but Savage almost did so, totaling 177 goals in 185 games in his three seasons with Victoriaville.

Savage turned pro with the AHL Baltimore Skipjacks in 1990-91, finishing third on the team with 32 goals in 62 games as a 20-year-old. The Montreal native also made his NHL debut with the Caps on Feb. 5, 1991 in a game against Vancouver at USAir Arena in Landover.

After another prolific season and a half in Baltimore, Savage returned to Washington in 1992-93, scoring two goals and five points in 16 games. He scored his first NHL goal on Nov. 18, 1992, tallying on a penalty shot on a Caps power play in a home game against the Minnesota North Stars and netminder Jon Casey. Savage became the fourth player in NHL history (at the time) to score his first career goal on a penalty shot.

The Caps dealt Savage to the Quebec Nordiques in the summer of 1993, and he finished the NHL portion of his playing career in a 17-game stint with the Nords in 1993-94. Savage didn't hang up the skates until he was 35, toiling in the AHL, IHL, UHL, ECHL and playing professionally in Italy and Switzerland as well.

Savage passed away on Dec. 24, 2023 in Florida at the age of 53 after a battle with cancer.

Born a few days after the Caps drafted Mike Marson, Toronto native Anson Carter was a 10th round draft choice of the Quebec Nordiques in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft, and he started a successful four-year collegiate career at Michigan State in the fall of '92.

By the time Carter finished playing at MSU in the spring of 1996, the Nordiques had pulled up stakes and moved to Denver, becoming the Colorado Avalanche. On April 3, 1996, the Avs dealt Carter to the Capitals for a fourth-round draft choice.

In the fall of 1996, Carter put together a solid training camp, cracking Washington's opening night roster and debuting in the league in the season opener against Chicago on Oct. 5, 1996 at USAir Arena. After two games with the Caps, Carter was sent to Washington's Portland (AHL) affiliate, where he played under Pirates head coach Barry Trotz. Despite being a 10th-round draft choice, Carter was a quick study at the AHL level. He put up 19 goals and 38 points in just 27 games with the Pirates; his only other taste of the minors was a brief stint in Utah while sitting out a contract dispute with the Bruins early in 1998-99. Carter split most of that first pro season between the Caps and Pirates, posting three goals and five points in 19 games with the Caps.

Less than a year after he was acquired from Colorado, Carter was on the move again. On March 1, 1997, he was part of a blockbuster six-player trade with the Boston Bruins, one of the biggest transactions in franchise history. Along with goaltender Jim Carey and winger Jason Allison, Carter went to the B's in exchange for Adam Oates, Bill Ranford and Rick Tocchet.

Montreal native Jason Doig was a big and dominating defenseman physically, but he was also a good skater with a hard shot who could play on the power play and contribute offensively. As one of the top blueliners in the Quebec League in 1994-95. Playing for Laval Titan - and future NHL coach Michel Therrien - Doig rolled up 13 goals and 55 points in 55 games, and he logged 259 PIM as well.

Winnipeg drafted Doig with its second-round pick (34th overall) in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, and he was the 12th defenseman chosen in that draft. As an 18-year-old that fall, Doig impressed enough to make the Jets' opening night roster, a huge feat for a defenseman or a second-rounder. On Oct. 7, 1995 against Dallas, Doig took a pass from Keith Tkachuk and beat Stars goalie Andy Moog, scoring his first NHL goal on his first shot and during his first shift.

Adversity set in soon after; Doig was diagnosed with dysrhythmia and was later sent to the AHL for conditioning. Loaned to the Canadian National Junior Team, Doig failed to make that roster and was subsequently returned to Laval. He was soon traded to Granby, a powerhouse team that went on to win the Memorial Cup in the spring of 1996, the first Quebec team to win it since 1971. Doig played 24 regular season games for Granby that season; the Predateurs lost only one of those games. He was a force in the playoffs as well, putting up 10 goals and 32 points to go along with an astounding 110 PIM in just 20 games.

For the next half decade, Doig's career took on a nomadic bent as he struggled to say healthy and in the lineup. From his draft season of 1994-95 through the 2000-01 campaign, he went seven straight seasons without playing in more than 55 contests in any, and he played in multiple cities in six of the seven seasons.

Grier had a pair of 20-goal seasons to his credit in Edmonton, but much of his value came from intangibles such as work ethic, durability and hockey sense. Built like a football player, Grier came from a football family; his dad Bobby was a longtime coach and executive in the NFL and his brother Chris is the GM of the NFL's Miami Dolphins.

Hours ahead of the start of the 2002-03 season, the Caps sent a pair of draft picks to Edmonton in exchange for two-way winger Mike Grier. Originally a ninth-round choice (219th overall) of the St. Louis Blues in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft, Grier's rights were traded from the Blues to the Oilers in the summer of 1995, while Grier was still playing collegiate hockey at Boston University, and months after he helped lead the Terriers to a national championship. The trade also brought longtime NHL goaltender Curtis Joseph from St. Louis to Edmonton.

After his third season at BU in 1995-96, Grier stepped directly from campus into the Oilers' lineup, scoring 15 goals as a rookie in '96-97 and becoming the first Black NHL player who was born (in Detroit) and trained entirely in the United States. He never played a single game of minor league hockey.

By the time he joined the Capitals on Oct. 2, 2002, Grier had been in the league for six seasons and was known as a strong winger with a defensive bent, one with good speed who could kill penalties and chip in offensively. He was also a beloved teammate and leader at each of his four NHL stops during a 14-year career in which he laced up the skates for 1,060 regular season games.

Grier spent just under two full seasons in D.C. He was traded to Buffalo for Jakub Klepis on March 9, 2004, the last player out the door in Washington's season-long fire sale during the 2003-04. Grier was dealt minutes before the NHL's trade deadline that season, a trade that was demoralizing to his former teammates, many of whom who were vocal in their dismay at his departure.

One of the most fearsome fighters of his era, Donald Brashear was born in Bedford, Indiana but his family moved to Quebec when he was young. Brashear grew up in a dangerous and dysfunctional family, and began playing hockey at the age of eight, after moving in with a foster family.

Brashear spent three seasons in the QMJHL with Longueuil and Verdun, and the Montreal Canadiens signed him as a free agent in the summer of 1992. He began a pro career that stretched over the better part of two decades in 1992-93, playing for AHL Fredericton in the Habs' organization.

After a season-plus with Fredericton, Brashear made his NHL debut with Montreal on Nov. 15, 1993 in Ottawa. He picked up an assist in his debut and scored his first NHL goal in his second game, a home contest against the Oilers at the fabled Montreal Forum.

Brashear spent parts of four seasons with the Habs, managing only three goals and 10 points in 111 games along with a whopping 358 PIM. Dealt to Vancouver early in the 1996-97 season, Brashear had his longest NHL tenure with the Canucks, where he spent five years and skated in 388 games. In 1997-98, he led the NHL and set a Canucks club mark with 372 PIM.

While with the Canucks in 1999-00, Brashear was the victim of a notorious stick-swinging incident when Marty McSorley took a two-handed swing at Brashear's head from behind, an ugly incident in which Brashear's head hit the ice - his helmet fell off - when he went down.

Brashear notched a career high 11 goals with the Canucks in 1999-00, and recorded a career best 32 points the following season, split between Vancouver and Philadelphia.

Like most Canadian boys, Joel Ward loved playing hockey and had aspirations of playing in the NHL. But when he went undrafted after playing four seasons with Owen Sound of the OHL, Ward's dream appeared to be over. He enrolled at the University of Prince Edward Island in the fall of 2001, shortly before his 21st birthday.

While earning a degree in sociology, Ward played collegiate hockey for the U. of PEI, finishing his collegiate hockey career in the spring of 2005, while the NHL was still in the midst of a season-long lockout that wiped out the 2004-05 campaign. When the lockout ended in July, teams frantically signed players ahead of the start of the 2005-06 season, but there were no knocks on Ward's door. It didn't seem as though a pro career would be in the cards for him. But he hooked on with Houston of the AHL, signing a pro tryout deal with the Aeros two days after his 25th birthday. He ultimately parlayed that deal into a distinguished, 726-game NHL career in which he established himself as a reliable middle-of-the-lineup winger who always seemed to step to the forefront when it mattered most.

Ward put up modest offensive numbers with Houston, but won over coaches, fans and teammates with his work ethic and his positive demeanor. The parent Minnesota Wild took note, signing Ward to an NHL pact in the fall of 2006. He made his NHL debut with the Wild in Vancouver on Dec. 16, 2006, two weeks after turning 26. That 11-game trial with Minnesota was a remarkable climb in and of itself, but Ward was far from finished.

He established himself as a bona fide NHL forward after signing with Nashville in 2008. With the Predators, Ward scored 17 goals in his first full season in the league in 2008-09. He flexed his playoff prowess in the spring of 2011, totaling a team-high seven goals and 13 points in a dozen postseason games, helping the Barry Trotz-coached Preds to their first ever playoff series win.

Born in Scarborough, Ont., Devante Smith-Pelly played his junior hockey nearby, skating three seasons for Mississauga of the OHL. Anaheim spent a second-round (42nd overall) pick in the 2010 NHL Draft on Smith-Pelly, and he cracked the Ducks' roster as a 19-year-old in the fall of 2011, months after playing in the Memorial Cup final with Mississauga.

Smith-Pelly made his NHL debut on Oct. 7, 2011, suiting up for the Ducks in a game against Buffalo, a contest that was played in Helsinki, Finland. In December of that year, the Ducks loaned Smith-Pelly to the Canadian National Junior Team. He spent parts of four seasons with Anaheim, leading the team with five playoff goals in 2014, three more than he scored in 19 regular season games with the Ducks in 2013-14.

Smith-Pelly was traded to Montreal on Feb. 24, 2015, and he was subsequently moved to new Jersey almost exactly a year later. He established career highs in goals (14) and points (25) in 2015-16, a season he split between Montreal and New Jersey.

After the Devils bought out the final year of his contract in the summer of 2017, Smith-Pelly signed a one-year deal with the Capitals for the 2017-18 season. Playing mostly on Washington's fourth line, he totaled seven goals and 16 points in 75 regular season games. But when the playoffs rolled around, Smith-Pelly's contributions loomed large. He scored seven goals - tied for fifth on the team - while skating in all 24 postseason games and joining his teammates as members of Washington's first ever Stanley Cup championship team.