Okay I was mostly pulling your
old chain. I looked it up and Maruk played for Caps 79-83 (so your old ass had whiskers that were 12).
I did not know, but he played for MNS until 89. Looking back at some of the old rosters....I started watching Caps in around 83 or so. I remember all the guys on the 83 roster so I likely saw Maruk play but I remember him as "the" famous Cap that I never really saw. I look at the 82 roster and I don't recognize 1/2 the guys. I certainly didn't know Brian Engblom played D for the Caps
I think I became a pretty die-hard fan about 85 or so. Rod Langway was one of my favorites along with Scott Stevens. I don't remember Langway being traded TO the Caps (prior 82-83 season) so he was already the captain when I truly started watching. I remember absolutely hating seeing Stevens go to another team. I remember clearly watching Bobby Gould brake Mario's face. I remember "Loooooooouuuuuuuu" Franceschetti, remember Gustafsson being an excellent face-off guy. Certainly remember watching Gartner, Dino, Ridley, Miller, Murphy (and his purse), Duchesne, Christian, Pivonka, Druce (on the loose), Sheehy, Corriveau, and of course, Alan May. Most of these guys came along/thru in the mid-late 80's
I remember watching on channel 20 (WDCA) Fornes and Koken the announcers. I can't stand Koken as a play-by-play guy - very knowledgeable, but sucks at actually following/calling the game when he fills in)
Dale Hunter was my favorite Cap of all time. Emulated my style of play
. Actually named my dog after him about 1989 or so.
Bondra was my favorite after that. Now it's Ovie. Ovie certainly made hockey popular in Washington so props for that.
Sorry for the long post - Jeez I can't wait for the season to start. Sure hope it's not a total shit-show this year.