the Nashville Predators. In the 2006 off-season, Halpern left the Capitals to join the Dallas Stars; Chris Clark subsequently became the Capitals' new captain. Richard Zednik returned to the Capitals in 2006–07 after a disappointing 16-goal, 14-assist season in 2005–06 with the Montreal Canadiens, but was later dealt at the trade deadline to the New York Islanders after a disappointing and injury-plagued season. The Caps also signed former Philadelphia Flyers enforcer Donald Brashear. Despite the transactions, however, the Capitals finished with the same point total (70) in 2006–07 as they did the year before, although they won one fewer game. Ovechkin was the Capitals' lone representative in the season's All-Star Game, with Washington's campaign also seeing the breakout of Alexander Semin, who notched 38 goals in only his second NHL season. The Capitals signed Swedish phenom Nicklas Backstrom, the fourth overall pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, to a three-year entry-level contract. They also signed 19-year-old Semyon Varlamov to a three-year entry-level contract. They then went on to fill needs at defense, signing puck-moving defenseman Tom Poti; right wing, by signing Viktor Kozlov; and center, by signing playmaker Michael Nylander. As a result of these signings, there was much more hope for the 2007–08 season and players were looking towards the playoffs. After starting the season 6–14–1, the Capitals fired head coach Glen Hanlon and replaced him with Hershey Bears head coach Bruce Boudreau on Thanksgiving Day, 2007. On January 10, 2008, the Capitals signed Ovechkin to an NHL-record $124 million contract extension at 13 years, the second-longest term of any contract in the NHL after New York Islanders goaltender Rick DiPietro's 15-year contract. Despite the Capitals' young defense and injuries to key players such as Michael Nylander and Brian Pothier, Boudreau engineered a remarkable turnaround. Aided by key acquisitions at the trade deadline (Matt Cooke, Sergei Fedorov and Cristobal Huet), Ovechkin's NHL-leading 65 goals, and Mike Green's league defensemen-leading 18 goals, the Capitals won the Southeast Division title for the first time since the 2000–01 season, edging out the Carolina Hurricanes for the Division title on the final game of the season. Washington's remarkable end-of-season run included winning 11 of the final 12 regular-season games. The Capitals became the first team in NHL history to make the playoffs after being ranked 14th or lower in their conference standings at the season's midpoint. For the postseason, the Capitals drew