Forgotten Washington Capitals: Matt Cooke

When hockey fans remember former NHL player Matt Cooke, they may picture him either as a Vancouver Canuck or Pittsburgh Penguin. Both cases are fair. Cooke was in Vancouver for parts of nine seasons, while he was a member of the Penguins for five seasons. He also won a Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh in 2009 in the organization’s rematch with the Detroit Red Wings. However, despite these two teams being his main time in the league, Cooke also suited up for two more teams. He finished his career with the Minnesota Wild and played for them from 2013-14 to 2014-15. The other franchise he played a brief amount of time with is the Washington Capitals.

Cooke’s Career in Vancouver

Cooke was selected by the Canucks in the sixth round (144^th overall) of the 1997 NHL Entry Draft. He debuted in the NHL for the team during the 1998-99 season. He played in 30 games and registered two assists in that span. Cooke scored his first goal in the league the following campaign and ended up finishing the 1999-00 season with five goals and seven assists for 12 points in 51 games.

Cooke gradually gained more points as the seasons went on and was a nice complementary piece on a Canucks roster that already had offensive weapons like Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Markus Naslund, Todd Bertuzzi, and Brendan Morrison among others. During his time in Vancouver, he posted the following stats:

While in Vancouver, Cooke helped the Canucks make the postseason five times. In those five runs, he produced the following:

Cooke built a reputation as a solid player over his time with the Canucks and he was nice depth for the franchise. In the middle of the 2007-08 season, however, Cooke’s time in Vancouver came to an end.

Cooke’s Cup of Coffee in Washington

Cooke was traded to D.C. from Vancouver in exchange for forward Matt Pettinger. He joined a Capitals lineup who had the likes of Alex Ovechkin, a rookie named Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green, Alexander Semin, Sergei Fedorov, and Viktor Kozlov among others. The Capitals had also months earlier fired their head coach Glen Hanlon and replaced him with a first-time NHL bench boss by the name of Bruce Boudreau. Cooke played in 17 regular-season games for Washington and an additional seven in the 2008 Playoffs. He accrued seven points in the regular season (three goals and four assists), while going pointless in the postseason. After that, Cooke was not brought back. He played a handful of games for the Capitals near the end of the 2007-08 campaign, and then he found his way out through free agency.

Cooke’s Remaining NHL Time

Cooke joined the Penguins prior to the 2008-09 season. He was able to go on a playoff run with Pittsburgh and helped them win a Cup. He stayed on with the Penguins until the 2012-13 NHL campaign, before spending parts of two seasons with the Wild. He retired from the NHL following the 2014-15 season and finished his career having suited up for 1,046 games between the Canucks, Capitals, Penguins, and Wild. He amassed 167 goals and 231 assists for 398 points and also played in 110 playoff games and tallied 38 points during that span (13 goals and 25 assists).