R.I.P. Max McNab, 1924-2007

Former Caps General Manager Max McNab passed away over the weekend, and Vogs pays his respects to the man who drafted some of the Caps' all-time greats (and guys used to acquire some of the Caps' all-time greats), including Rick Green, Ryan Walter, Bengt Gustafsson, Mike Gartner, Bobby Carpenter, Gaetan Duchesne and a personal fave, Lou Franceschetti.

R.I.P. Gaetan Duchesne, 1962-2007

I hate to be the bearer of awfully sad news again, but TSN.ca is reporting that former Cap Gaetan Duchesne has suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 44.

Duchesne, a hard-working, defense-first forward with a bit of a scoring touch during his five seasons in Washington, had just been in town to play in the alumni game not two weeks ago.

Add this to Warren Strelow's recent passing and if these things come in threes... well, hopefully they don't.

UPDATE: Team President Dick Patrick had this to say on the passing:

The Washington Capitals are terribly saddened to hear of Gaetan Duchesne’s passing. Gator was a wonderful person and a popular player among his teammates, the organization and our fans. From his role on our first playoff teams until just recently, when he joined us for an alumni game here in Washington, we will always have fond memories of Gator.

Indeed.