The news is making the rounds pretty quickly in the Capitals’ blogosphere, but for anyone who hasn’t seen it, Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post is reporting that Olaf Kolzig will not be returning to the Capitals:

Olie Kolzig, the Washington Capitals goaltender through some of the best and worst moments in the team’s history, confirmed yesterday what had been suspected for weeks: He has played his final game for the franchise that drafted him in 1989.

I don’t think there’s all that much I can add about what Kolzig has meant to the Capitals both on the ice, where he backstopped the team the 1998 Stanly Cup Finals and won a Vezina in 2000, and off the ice, where he was the face of the organization for more than a dozen years, an active member of the Washington area community and the NHL’s 2006 recipient of the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, awarded “to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and who has made a significant humanitarian contribution in his community”. I do want to make two notes in the wake of this article.

The first is that Kolzig is most likely headed for retirement. The odds of anyone wanting to hand Kolzig their starting netminder job are slim; the odds that Kolzig would be willing to fight for the number one role, or serve as a backup on a team other than the Capitals are even smaller. As a Capitals fan who grew up playing goalie, it’d be hard for me to see Kolzig toiling for another club, but as someone who admires Kolzig as a player and a person it’d be even more difficult to see him forced out of the league before he’s ready. Hopefully Olie is given the chance to do what he wants to this winter.

The writing was on the wall with regards to Kolzig’s future as a Capital, so that he won’t be bad isn’t particularly surprising. What is surprising is the fact Kolzig seems poised to move out of the D.C. area, as his house is already up for sale. Like many Capitals fans, I had hoped Kolzig would remain a part of the Capitals organization after his playing days were over in a public relations, coaching or other front office role. Kolzig already has a front office role though, as owner of the WHL’s Tri-City Americans, whom he helped coach during the NHL and lockout and had spoken of returning to when his playing days were over. Perhaps a return to Kennewick, Washington is in the cards for Olie if he doesn’t get an NHL offer he likes. It would be nice if Kolzig would at least consider returning to the Capitals in a non-playing capacity. At this point, it’s hard to imagine hockey in Washington without him.