He was pretty much all smiles. Washington Capitals forward Jeff Halpern stood at a Capitals banner in his new locker room at the Capitals practice facility in Ballston, VA. and met with members of the media Wednesday.
Caps fans might recognize the 35-year-old. He is Potomac, Maryland native and was a fan favorite during his six seasons in Washington (1999-2006), Halpern captained the Caps in his last full season (Alex Ovechkin’s rookie year). Halpern played 438 games for the Capitals and tallied 214 points (87 goals, 127 assists) in his career with Washington, including a career-high 46 points (19 goals, 27 assists) during the 2003-04 season.
But that doesn’t mean he is coming back to take over the duties as captain.
“I’ve played with a few guys here, but you don’t want to come in and start ranting and raving right off the bat,” Halpern said. “You want to blend in and mix in. This is a tremendous group that’s playing here and you want to add to it, you don’t want to dig into it too much.”
Halpern has been a floater the last five seasons. He’s worn jerseys for the Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning, Los Angeles Kings and Montreal Canadiens. And he said, at 35, he is happy to come back “home.”
“Honestly, I said that the first team that would call, I’d jump on,” he said. “But obviously, I’ve always kind of hoped to come back to Washington.”
And it’s two fold. The Capitals have one of the best practice facilities in the league and, recently, one of the best fan bases in the league.
“This has turned into one of the best places to play in the league if you ask any player,” Halpern said. “The players have given a product to people and they’ve responded to it. Since that’s happened here, I’ve always enjoyed coming back to play. It’ll be a treat to be on the other side.”
Halpern was originally signed by the Capitals as an undrafted free agent on March 29, 1999. He represented the United States in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey and in five World Championships (2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2008).
Listen to the entire press conference below…
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