The second dirty half of the glass

Moving on in our off season coverage of the Washington Capital prospects drafted in the second round. With another 2 selections in this round the capitals continued to focus on the forward position along with Ryan Leonard, Calum Ritchie and Kasper Halttunen taken in the first round.

With their first pick of the second round Washington selected Bradly Nadeau who is an undersized player with a high skill level. He was in the BCHL which is not the most notable place to play but that league has produced some very good players. A few things in Bradly's favor was that he was taken in the first round by the NHL Hurricanes who do not rush prospects and that he committed to playing in Maine of the NCAA despite there being some turnover in the program the young man kept his word and will suit up for the Bears. So our hope is that with some seasoning and that the young man puts on some muscle he can challenge for a spot in Carolina in a season or three. More likely 3 at that.

With the second pick of the second round Washington went with Danny Nelson a converted defenseman who transitioned from forward and back again while playing with the USNTDP. The kid has good size, skates well and is still learning how to play forward at the next level. An added factor is that he was taken by the NHL Islanders who do not have a very deep prospect pool so with some development time he will be at or near the top of the pecking order when called upon to produce at the NHL level. For this upcoming season he has chosen to play hockey at Notre Dame where he will play with his older brother Henry. It will be the first time the brothers have played together.

Last but certainly not least was the third pick in the second round when the Capitals saw Centerman Rasmus Kumpalainen's name still on the board. He has opted to come over the pond and play for the Oshawa Generals of the OHL. The center has good size, high compete with a decent shot and a developing power game. The Capitals are hoping to see him work his way to the crease in Oshawa and deposit rebounds. While his skating is a weakness it isn't the fatal flaw many believe it to be. He was drafted by the NHL Wild, so will fit in nicely with the other Minnesota prospects already in the Capitals cabinet in Liam Ohgren and Danila Yurov who came over in the Tom Wilson deal.

So the cupboard is quite well stocked with a nice mix of 6 forwards from this draft to go with the prospects in the original Capitals pipeline and the other players acquired through the various deals last season. Of particular note are Gleb Trikozov, Ivan Miroshnichenko, Connor McMichael and Hendrix Lapierre.

Next up the remaining six selections in the later rounds.