Baby you ain't seen nothing yet

Baby you ain't seen nothing yet

Its been a long hard road to this point. I've already written quite a bit about how the Caps embraced the suck after losing the initial team choice lottery. We actually came up last overall but fortunately the current GM for the Penguins was in the bush of Southern Africa so I was able to grab Washington who at least had a few prospects in the pipeline.

The players we did keep were mostly traded off for futures and we banked on some high end picks as well as a number of shots at the prospect draft over the last few years. Now those picks are starting to show up and its a great feeling. This piece will attempt to detail some of the players who are in or knocking on the door of the NHL.

Ryan Leonard made the club late last season and cemented his spot this year out of camp. He appears to be skating on the 3rd line which is more than acceptable to this GM for his rookie season. Very much looking forward to plugging this kid into our Karp lineup going forward.

Beckett Sennecke scored in the first period of his first game against Seattle, a nifty deflection after skating in deep to pressure the Kraken D behind the net. According to coach, he is penciled in on the 2nd line with Mason McTavish and Cutter Gauthier. A very promising start.

Michael Brandsegg Nygard surprised many by not only producing in the preseason but making the club to start the season. 3 rookies making the Wings off the hop is a bit surprising for a team that prefers to let younger players brew in the AHL. No complaints here, although his first game vs Montreal did not produce the best result with a -2 for his efforts.

Callum Ritchie skated in 7 games with Colorado last season before being part of the Brock Nelson trade to the 516. He scored 2 points in his first preseason game with Los Icelanders and was trusted by coach with late defensive shifts against NHL competition. His challenge to make the club is challenging as Patrick Roy has gone with Horvat, Barzal and Pageau as the top 3 pivots. Making matters worse he was put on the IR for a few weeks and will report to Bridgeport. C'est la guerre.

Ivan Miroshnichenko has been on the envelope for the Capitals for a couple of seasons now with almost 40 games played. He has an AHL championship under his belt and made the team for opening night. He was just sent to the minors the other day so will likely be the first call up in case of an injury, but that may likely be my rose colored glasses.

Hendrix Lapierre did however make the opening night roster for the Caps this season. He has played 84 games in the NHL prior so at least he is getting shifts in the show.

Liam Ohgren also made the Wild out of camp this season.

Danil Yurov has apparently made the Wild as well, but was scratched for opening night over Hunter Haight whom coach said “HH has experience playing in North America and he did score 20 for Iowa last season. So Danil is knocking on the door.

Plenty of reasons to be satisfied as far as this GM is concerned.

BTW while Neil Young gets much of the credit for being a great Winnipeg rocker, Richard Bachman is more than an honorable mention