If Devante Smith-Pelly didn’t make the Washington Capitals’ roster last autumn, he didn’t know where his career would have headed.
Talented enough to have been drafted in the second round and 42nd overall by the Ducks in 2010, the sturdy winger had since been bouncing around from Anaheim to Montreal to New Jersey to the indignity of being set adrift last June 30 after the Devils bought out the remaining year on his contract.
Two of his longtime friends, Capitals forwards Brett Connolly and Tom Wilson, told him their team was looking for grit up front but it had to come at a reasonable price because of salary-cap constraints.