With the NHL’s season over (finding the Cup, once again, residing in Detroit) and the draft a couple weeks away Caps Blue Line is introducing a series of posts entitled “Building the Prototypical Team”. The goal of this series is to look at what a prototypical NHL team would look like, not to build the best possible team out of current NHL players but rather to find players who seem to embody the terms “franchise player”, “checking forward”, “enforcer” and the like. It’s also worth nothing that I’m going to try my best to eschew the use of Capitals’ players, just for the sake of making things more interesting.

Face of the Franchise: Jarome Iginla (Calgary Flames).

Sure there are guys who score more points than Iginla, but “Iggy” has the total package when it comes to what you’d look for in a franchise player: he can score (89 goals in 152games over the last two seasons), he makes other players better (103 assists in that same time frame), he’s good defensively, he tied for the team lead among Flames forwards in hits in 2007-08, he’s a good leader and he’s willing to drop the gloves when necessary. He may not be the highest scoring player in the league and he may not be the best player in the league but Iginla is the one who brings everything you’d want out of your franchise player without the added caveat of questions about their postseason play (ahem, Thornton).

Iginla’s inclusion takes care of the right wing slot, so let’s focus on center. But first, a look at the other guys who were considered for this spot.

Other “face of the franchise” contenders: Thornton, Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Vincent Lecavalier, Ryan Getzlaf
Other first line right wings: Shane Doen, Daniel Alfredsson, Marian Hossa, Marian Gaborik

First Line Center: Henrik Zetterberg (Detroit Red Wings).

The only thing that prevents Zetterberg from being a serious contender for the “Face of the Franchise” tag is his limited physical play, because he excels in every other aspect of the game. The 2008 Conn Smythe Trophy winner and Selke Trophy nominee, Zetterberg not only contributes offensively (1.14 points per game over the last three seasons) but is responsible in his own end, won 55% of his faceoffs is 2007-08 and had only 34 minutes in penalties.

Other first line centers: Thornton, Malkin, Crosby, Pavel Datsyuk, Jason Spezza, Mike Richards, Ryan Getzlaf, Henrik Sedin

First Line Left Wing: Rick Nash (Columbus Blue Jackets)

Nash is one of the league’s most underrated offensive players, a somewhat dubious distinction that is primarily the result of playing generally weak Columbus teams, meaning Nash has never reached the postseason and hasn’t had a ton a help on the ice. Despite having never played on a team that finished with more than 74 points, Nash has established himself as one of the league’s premier scorers, averaging 39 goals per 82 games since 2003. Nash’s 6’4’’, 215 pound frame lets him be a presence down low in the offensive zone and make him difficult to knock off the puck. Despite this size, Nash does not hit particularly hard or particularly often and this, along with his still-developing playmaking skills, prevent Nash from being a prototypical franchise player.

Other first line left wings: Ilya Kovalchuk, Dany Heatley, Alexander Frolov, Daniel Sedin

And there you have it for today: your prototypical first line consists of Rick Nash, Henrik Zetterberg and captain Jarome Iginla.

The image of Jarome Iginla used in this post has been pilfered from Sharkspage.