Take away some playoff disappointment and these are the best of times for Brett Connolly.
Earlier this week, the 25-year-old Prince George product signed a new contract with the NHL's Washington Capitals, a deal that will pay him $3 million over the next two years. Connolly is also on the verge of getting hitched. He and his girlfriend of six years, Katrina, will share wedding nuptials on July 21 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, just a short drive from Niagara Falls.
"Things are really good," Connolly said on Wednesday from Toronto, where he has a house and lives during the off-season. "I'm getting married in three weeks - it's a crazy summer so far. It's good timing for this deal to come in, for sure."
Connolly, a former captain of the Prince George Cougars and a star with the Cariboo Cougars and local rep teams before that, is coming off an NHL season that saw him score a career-high 15 goals - impressive considering he played in 66 games and averaged 11 minutes of ice time per night. He added eight assists for a total of 23 points and finished at plus 20 on the plus/minus scale.
Connolly had been on a one-year, $850,00-contract with the Capitals and was a restricted free agent. Signing the new pact gives him some stability at the NHL level, something he hasn't really enjoyed with his previous teams, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins.
"My career has had ups and downs and I've managed to stick with it," he said. "I had a good season last season. The organization was really happy with me and they're believing that I can play some more minutes next year. I felt really comfortable there this year and I feel I can take the next step next year. I'm going to play a little more, have a little bit bigger of a role so I'm extremely excited to be there for two years."
Connolly was a first-round draft pick of the Lightning, who chose him sixth overall in 2010. He played 134 games over four seasons for Tampa, which had him with its AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, for most of 2012-13 and 2013-14. The Lightning dealt him to the Bruins in March of 2015 and, after a broken finger limited him to five games with Boston at the end of that season, he was back in black and gold in 2015-16 on a one-year contract worth $1,025,000. Connolly dressed in a career-high 71 games for the Bruins and put up 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) but Boston didn't offer him an extension.
With the Capitals, Connolly was at his best from late December through to the end of the regular season when he was skating as the third-line right winger with Lars Eller as his centre.
"We got put together around Christmas and we became pretty close friends," Connolly said. "We had (Andre) Burakovsky, a really good young player, on the other side for three months and it just clicked. I thought we all got along really well and each player kind of brought a bit of a different thing to the table. We had a good second half of the year and managed to score some goals and get some points and help the team get that first place in the league."
Connolly's second half was his most memorable stretch as an NHL player.
"It just felt like everything was easy and it was fun and enjoyable," he said. "It went so quickly because we were playing so well and having so much fun. It was by far the most fun I've had playing in the NHL, just consistency-wise and production. It was a ton of fun and hopefully I can do that for the next couple years."
For Connolly, the only shadow on the season was a second-round playoff exit at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who went on to win their second consecutive Stanley Cup. Washington and Pittsburgh played a seventh and deciding game on May 10 and the Penguins emerged with a 2-0 win in the Caps' home rink.
In the opening round, the Capitals knocked off the upstart Toronto Maple Leafs in six games.
"Obviously playoffs didn't go as well as anyone would have liked," said Connolly, who was getting his first-ever sample of the NHL post-season and was used sparingly by head coach Barry Trotz, who had him in the lineup for just seven of Washington's 13 games.
"I would have liked it to go better for myself as well but at that time of the year coaches are going to play who they want to play at the time," Connolly added. "Do I agree with it all the time? No, but at the end of the day coaches have to make decisions. Hopefully next year I'll be more prepared and I'll have a more defined role and I can step in there and be a difference-maker and help the team win, like lots of guys did last year. I got my first taste and I'm used to it and hopefully next year I can take that next step in the playoffs."
