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.
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.
posted by Washington Post at 8:11 AM
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