As the Washington Capitals embark on their first journey into the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup playoffs in five years, Alex Ovechkin has staked his claim as the game's most dynamic player and D.C. has gone "Cup-crazy." This moment would be a perfect time to push pause and reflect.
Minor league sage Bruce Boudreau and youngsters like Mike Green and Brooks Laich, not to mention oft-discussed Ovechkin, helped to resurrect the Caps - a team that appeared to be dead on arrival as late into the season as Thanksgiving.
If one were to listen to the less than hockey-savvy local media, one would begin to believe that the team-imposed rebuilding period had come to a close. But in today's NHL, a salary-capped league since the lockout of 2004, it's almost a requirement for clubs to have a loaded pipeline of young talent.
For example, look at the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Stanley Cup 2004 champions. A handful of key players led the team to hockey's promised land, but the team is now handcuffed to these high-salary players as they sink back to the league's cellar. They will be the first team to pick in this year's entry draft and General Manager Jay Feaster will likely be looking for a job.
The Capitals have been slow and steady in their effort to rebuild through the draft. The team has chosen wisely and highly, selecting current mainstays such as Ovechkin, Green, defenseman Jeff Schultz and playmaking rookie Nicklas Backstrom. Most hockey analysts roundly criticized Caps General Manager George McPhee because they believed he took too much time to bring the club back into prominence.
But the kids he selected never wavered in their progress and they eventually made it to the big leagues. These days, they make big league contributions. Green led all NHL defensemen in goal scoring; Backstrom is among the leading rookie scorers and Laich broke the 20-goal barrier.
But that is not all McPhee has up his sleeve these days. The Caps are awaiting the arrival of highly touted defenseman Karl Alzner, who bagged two gold medals with Team Canada at the World Junior Championships in 2007 and 2008, as well as sniper Fran?ois Bouchard and Russian goalie Simeon Varlamov.
So as D.C. celebrates the end of a dark recession on the local hockey market, the better news is that the boom should last for a while. Can the Caps go all the way this year? Maybe. It is tough to bet against a team that has overcome such a deficit in such a small amount of time. But the team's deep farm system should ensure their place as an NHL power to be reckoned with for some time.
