Connolly comes around

Hockey is easy again for Brett Connolly.

Once a blue chip prospect, it looked awfully difficult for Connolly during his first four NHL seasons. He couldn’t produce like he did in junior ranks or the minors, was traded and hit bottom when the Bruins decided not to extend a qualifying offer last summer. That move allowed him to become a free agent.

The Washington Capitals expressed interest in Connolly right away and signed him to a bargain-basement $850,000, one-year deal on the first day of free agency. That looks like a steal now with Connolly on the verge of tying his career high in goals and on pace to shatter his career high in points.

“This game is all about confidence,” Connolly said yesterday at Washington’s practice facility in Arlington, Va. “When you’re confident, you’re a completely different player and when you don’t you’re not a good player. It’s just a matter of finding that.”

Linemates Lars Eller, another newcomer, and Andre Burakovsky have been Connolly’s compass on his journey to being a productive NHL player. After being a healthy scratch 14 times in the first half of the season, the 24-year-old is now a lineup mainstay and has six points in his past four games.

Shaking off the frustration that mounted during unsuccessful stints with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Bruins, along with the signer’s remorse that came with sitting so much early this season, Connolly finally looks like the player who was the sixth overall pick in 2010 and considered a future star.

Connolly has 11 goals and five assists in 40 games, so he’s not overshadowing Alex Ovechkin or Nicklas Backstrom, but he is part of the league-leading Capitals’ elite scoring depth.

Elsewhere in the NHL — Winger Martin Havlat announced his retirement after 14 seasons with six teams.