You remember ol’ #76 for your Washington Capitals, right?

Darcy Verot played 37 games for Glen Hanlon’s Caps during the 2003-04 season:  his first, and probably only, stint in the big show of the NHL.  In those 37 games, Verot racked up 135 PIM and was, to this fan, a ray of light across a bleak Capitals landscape created in the aftermath of the great fire sale of that season. 

On many of those 37 game nights, watching Verot’s relentless effort, limitless passion, and often reckless play, on the ice was, perhaps, the sole reason for tuning in, or turning out.  I was one of the few spectators who lept out of my seat at MSG after watching Verot pound Matthew Barnaby, during a game in March of 2004.  (And heck, I even chose jersey #76 on my first organized rec team up here in NYC, in the summer of 2004.)

DV established himself right away at the first Capitals training camp to which he was invited, in September of 2003.  His early presence precipitated some now-legendary altercations with several fellow Caps campers, including Mel Angelstad.  Read more about the bloodbath in Odenton here.  Here’s a quite candid and fascinating article on Verot and his family, and the life of a journeyman athlete, written soon after he signed with the Capitals organ-eye-zay-tion.

Verot is now, in a very real sense, a pioneer, leading a movement in Mother Russia toward a more North-American style of play in the KHL.  Read:  hard-hitting, fisticuffs, and mayhem.  He “lets him know he’s there” out there in the Kontinental League, and is “among the most-feared players on the ice.”

The KHL has, of course, been maligned lately for other, much more critical reasons.  But whatever you might think of the brand of pugilism brought to the KHL, the trend has certainly allowed for Verot to make a good living in hockey for a few more years, for him, his wife, and two daughters.

He’s been playing for Chekhov Vityaz since 2007 (wearing #7), now fulfilling his second of consecutive one year deals with the club.

Last season, Verot led the Russian Superleague, now KHL, with 511 PIMs, in just 43 games.  (The second highest player total was 251 PIM.)

So far this season, he’s earned 72 PIM in 14 games with Vityaz.  Watch a recent bout from this season here.

Interestingly, one Chris Simon skates for Vityaz as well, having signed on for his first season with the club.  He actually leads the team with 109 PIM, also in 14 games.

With both Verot and now Simon on this Vityaz team, known as the “bad boys” of the KHL, you’d figure that the team’s GM would be a former NHLer:  14 season veteran center Alexei Zhamnov.

Enjoy this fan compilation of Verot’s fights in the Superleague from last season, including a tussle with Sergei Fedorov’s brother Fedor (the musical accompaniment starts out well enough with Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls,” but I’d humbly suggest muting your computer for the remainder):

We still think fondly of you back home, DV.  You made a dismal chapter of Capitals hockey a lot more fun to watch.