A glass half full

A full calendar year into the multi season building project here in Washington we have a pre season piece that hopefully show the glass as more than half full. Going into the draft the Capitals found themselves with three first round picks, three second round picks and one pick in each of the following rounds.

Granted that prospects are suspects the club has a good feeling about many of the players they drafted so here is a brief overview of the young men in development for the team. In part one we will look at the players selected in the first round of the draft.

The first pick for the team was forward Ryan Leonard. While dropping down from number 2 overall was a tough decision there were enough picks in the deal to make the decision to pull the trigger. More darts at the board could well result in a better overall return on investment in a year or three. For those paying attention Leonard pretty much appears to be the kind of young man a team can build around. He plays a complete game, has the size and speed to be a difference maker and also displays grit that makes him a very high end forward. Very happy to see him fall to us in that spot.

The next pick was Calum Ritchie a center who put up pretty good numbers especially when considering he had a busted wing for the season. An added bonus was that Burnaby Joe saw the same upside as the brain trust here in Washington did. No rush on this kid and Colorado will hopefully let him stew for a season or two as a result. A nice addition is that the Avalanche do not have an abundance of high end forwards in the pipeline so Calum just has to stay the course and should get a decent chance at cracking the NHL roster sometime in the future.

The final pick in the first round was Kasper Halttunen who is a center/right wing with good size who was drafted by the NHL San Jose Sharks. While many who provide content on this kid point to his power forward potential, his slow start or the expectations upon him, they also failed to mention the a concussion he sustained. Further he was only 17 and playing in a mens league. One of the main criticisms is his skating, however as many of us who struggle with that a few tips and practice can greatly improve in that area, never mind he has access to NHL coaching. After all one of the main comments on Luc Robitaille was his skating and it didn't seem to hurt his ability to play at the NHL level.

All three players have the ability to play pivot although there are so many factors that go into a players final position on an NHL roster. Perhaps all 3 end up on the wing, who can say but it will be a happy problem for the team if each of these players make it to the show.