Washington Capitals Draft Review

6/21/09 - Washington Post-

Today was a day of intense decision and speculation. The questions that Washington faced going into the draft were if they would stick with their game plan..or.. opt out of it if they saw studs available. "We had a lot of decisions and we made the best one. We are very thrilled to make these two swedes a part of our franchise." And ya know what, that is rightfully so. When it comes to Swedes, Washington has their way. Out of the 4 picked prior to the 2008 draft, three out of the four have made it to the NHL (Tobias Enstrom, Loui Eriksson, Oscar Moller) and the one (Christofer Lofberg) didnt cut it. Reports had it that Lofberg suffered from off-ice family issues which drove him to not succeed like many expected. Sviland, including this years draft and last years draft, swedes are taking over. Add in Erik Karlsson, who was ranked in the top 10 prospect in the world not in the NHL, David Ullstrom who reminds many of a young Johan Franzen, and two more studs who could end up becoming something special.

66 Overall - Anton Lander - Forward - Sweden

Analysis:
A strong, hard working center with both offensive and defensive skills. He a has a pretty good shot but he´s more of a playmaker than a scorer. He played a very sound, physical game and excels around the boards. He's a very offensively skilled player who uses his vision and instincts more then many people give him credit for. He's a natural born leader it seems. He always sports the captain "C" on almost every team he ends up playing on because of the large amount of character involved.

Some will say that his biggest flaw is his skating while others say his size will ruin his draft status. Sometimes his competitive edge can get the best of him.



This is the type of player who will make the NHL if he wants to simply because of his character and hard work. He's the type of player that builds champions because he never stops working. If his skating boosts, he could become a deadly player.

Potential:
Max: First line complementary player who will do everything to help the others.
Min: A third liner who plays a very skilled, smart game and plays a solid two-way game.
Style comparisons: Poor man's Forsberg (remember, i said styles) or Alfredsson. Ive heard both. I feel like he might play a little like Moller in LA or Hagman in Toronto.

72nd Overall - Anton Rodin - Forward - Sweden

Analysis:


Displayed a phenominal offensive ability when he played in tournament player. He displayed a immense hockey sense, skillset, impressive skating ability and creativity with the puck. He doesnt shy away from the physical contact, which is a positive sign.



Like Lander, he isnt overly big and will need to bulk up in order to play harder against men. Honestly, there really isnt a weakness to his game, "perhaps the fastest-rising and most improved talent in Sweden at the moment"

Potential: Sky is the limit?
Comparisons: No idea, more to come...

108th overall - Sergei Andronov - Right Wing - RUS

Analysis:
Andronov is a prospect of high interest to many clubs. First of all, he was an overager who could step in right away or within a year and not look out of place playing against men. He played in the KHL last year and saw 12 pts in 47 games, which is pretty good for someone his age. Many scouts and managers are high on his kid and his skill set is to many likings. He had good technical skills, meaning he has a solid game when he does not have the puck. Not someting you see in most Russian players. He's got a hell of a release and a pretty damn good skater as well.

His talent analysis is unknown but he could become a scoring complementary second liner who could flourish in the right system.

2009 Draft Special

(6-11-09) - Washington Post

It's no rumor that the Washington Capitals are opting out of this years draft, trading out all their respected picks for a total of 6 picks in the 2010 draft. "Yea I had to do it. Every year I drop a player I dont want to and it makes no sense anymore to do that. If I have faith in a kid, ill keep him from here on out. No reason to just go to the draft for the sake of drafting. If your going to waste a pick and drop the kid a year later, what sense does that make? We love our draft history but that does not matter right now. We care about re-tooling our farm and this right now is the best way. We are still scouting heavily and we may swing a deal on the draft day for a pick. If we do that, it most likely will be in the later round. We are scouting heavily to draft in the fourth round and thats where we currently stand. We snagged Andrei (Loktionov) last year and his stock is huge now. We plan on finding a similar player this year"

The 2010 draft seems to be a solid draft, but some compare the 2009 draft to the 2003's younger brother. "We know this, but at the time of deciding what path to take, the staff was not overly thrilled with what was talked about in the 2009 draft. If its a good draft then we should find plenty of free agents and a solid 4th round pick. Im not worried" Sviland said.

Breaking down the glarring holes in the system, here is how it looks:

1. Top goaltending prospect - Outside of Jimmy Howard who might be promoted next year, the only goaltending prospects are Jeremy Smith and Andrew Engelage. Washington needs to solidify this position in the next year or two.

2. Enforcer - Its hard to draft an enforcer, but Washington needs to find an upgrade over the likes of Patrick Kaleta. We like him, but he doesnt play enough (healthy scratches at times) to warrant this spot full time. Hopefully that changes.

3. Safe, offensive forward - Frolik and Moller graduated and they both look like the real deals. One is a poor man's Marian Hossa while the other is a better Niklas Hagman. We get that. But with kids like Dick Axelsson, Evgeni Dadonov, Akim Aliu, Louie Caporusso, Alex Vasyunov and Andrei Loktionov, there is a lot of talen here, but its all raw. The team could use more safe-offensive studs like Frolik and Moller.


The future holds a lot of bright future in Washingtton. Ending at 6th is a great sign of improvement and hopefully next year with the fresh addition of Brenden Morrow full time and an added Karlsson to the blueline should help big time.