Jim Carey - goalie, '96 Vezina winner his first full season in the NHL. Got 4 yrs/11M. Started 17, 7 and 3 games in years 97-99
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KOLZIG: We were in the dressing room, and Dale Hunter was sitting across from us on the other side of the room. Dale was 35 at the time, and I remember Ace making a comment that he couldn’t see himself still playing hockey when he got to ‘Hunt’s’ age. Dale would play until they told him he couldn’t anymore. Ace never saw himself doing that.
The Capitals won the first two games of the playoffs against Pittsburgh, but Carey didn’t play well and was replaced by Kolzig. Carey went 0-1 with a 6.19 GAA and .744 SP, and Washington lost the series in six games.
JONES: When Jim got pulled early in the playoffs it showed that even Schoenfeld was thinking his success wasn’t as much about him as it was the way the team was playing in front of him. That was always the sense we had, and seeing that quick trigger kind of played into the way we were thinking. It all fell apart fast. I think the playoff series against Pittsburgh crushed his spirit.
ALLAIN: We were functioning on all cylinders to get the lead in the series, and the Penguins were one of those teams that figured they could ease into the playoffs and then turn it on. We were playing at our highest level, but then they kicked it up a notch, and we didn’t have an answer for that. I don’t think it was a Jim Carey thing. It was the Washington Capitals playing a superior Pittsburgh team.
JONES: He had a certain quiet confidence about him that year. Then in the playoffs, we lost against Pittsburgh like we usually did. Mario (Lemieux) and the Penguins lit him up high on his glove side. I don’t know if he was ever the same after that.
Carey was traded to Boston the following season, and he went 5-13-0 with the Bruins. He bounced between Boston and AHL Providence the year after that. His final NHL stop came in 1998-99 with the St. Louis Blues. He played three games with them.
BUTTON: I was shocked at how quickly it went south for him. I thought we were going to have a long run with him.
JONES: I don’t know that he really loved the game. I’d hate to pin somebody with that label, but I remember thinking to myself back then, “I wonder how much he really likes it?” There are some guys that just don’t enjoy it. They’re good at it or even great at it, which makes sense, but at the same time they don’t have much passion for it.
KOLZIG: I don’t think becoming an NHL player was something he looked at long term. It was more of a way to make a good salary and be able to set himself up for his post-hockey career. To each their own. I wouldn’t say he lived and died the game. He didn’t eat, sleep and breathe the game.
ALLAIN: If you ask me why he didn’t have a long career in hockey, I don’t think he enjoyed it as much as he could have. I think that was the real thing. It’s so hard to play goaltender in the NHL. It’s physically and mentally draining.
KOLZIG: Once Ace was out of hockey, he was out of hockey.
Jim Carey had a season to remember 20 years ago. Then injuries and a lack of interest killed his career.
thehockeynews.com
^^ eye opening quotes ... I imagine each team has 1 or 2 that look at his like a job vs dream job
