At roughly 12 p.m. Tuesday, this column looked very different. Under the assumption that the Washington Capitals would likely sit idle as Tuesday's NHL trade deadline passed, I had already outlined my disappointment that there would be no additions to a team that sat just five points out of the third seed in the Eastern Conference. I was going to lament about how the recent downturn in the Capitals' play, five losses in their last six games, might have convinced the front office that this team would require too much help. I was going to talk about how the economics of the situation might have argued for such deadline augmentation. After all, boosting the team's playoff chances might pay dividends through the additional revenue stream such an appearance offers.
