Here is a nice article on OFB about some of our young players.
I must admit that other than Alex Ovechkin, we do not have a single player on our roster that a fan hasn’t demanded that we trade, cut or put on waivers via an email to me. 
Our coaches, scouts and GM know the players best. They see them play up close and personal at every game. They watch how they practice; how they study; how they take care of themselves; and they see how they develop statistically and emotionally. They gauge their upside.
We believe in young players as the core of our team. We believe in having upside in their development and maturity. We think we will improve as a team as our young players get more experience and more comfort playing in the NHL. They know the system, their teammates and they know what is expected of them.
We have many young players waiting to make their way into our lineup as well. The future is still bright.
We have patience. Rome wasn’t built in a day. We believe in our youth movement and it is certainly paying off. Just review our core of young players and then review the other great or up and coming teams in the NHL. For the most part, they are being built around young drafted and developed players.
This is a good blog post. Thank you.
Get Kovalchuk! He will give Caps a discount. Ask Ovy to talk to him during Olympics. He wants to be on a team like Capitals.
Slow and steady. Nicely done so far, I like where the team’s headed (especially with the two young-gun goalies)! Holiday best!
Ted,
It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who said, “Patience toward paradise.”
You and the entire Capitals organization are leading by example on how to build for the long term, a bonafide SPORTS DYNASTY (from my mouth to God’s ears!).
I was a Caps season ticket holder in the mid 80′s. I used to schedule my business trips in PA ,NJ & NY around the Caps road schedule just so I could be at the road games vs the Flyers, Devils & Rangers. I eventually moved to Florida & NJ in the mid 90′s.
A few years ago I returned to the DC area and the Caps are a major contributing factor to why I remain in the area!
As a young boy I grew up in the Bronx during the Mickey Mantle-Roger Maris-Whitey Ford days so I know what a sports dynasty is all about. My dad used to cut school as a kid to watch the Yankees and hang out with “the Babe.”
My first wife was from Boston so my visits to the old Garden
and watching the Celtics as a kid reinforced my familiarity with sports dynasties.
At the same time my love for the NY Mets and the NY Knicks
made me aware of the difference between short term champs and what it takes to build and maintain a perennial winner, a true sports dynasty.
I believe you and your fabulous organization have put the pieces together to do just that!
May the Washington Capitals be an inspiration and shining example of “what it takes” in showing the world “how it’s done” for many healthy and blessed years to come!
May this year be the first year of the Capitals Stanley Cups
with many many “Cups to come.!”
You’ve put together what I believe will be for American Hockey what the Yankees and the Celtics were to baseball and basketball respectively.
I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.
May you, your family and the entire Washington Capitals
organization, “Live long and prosper.”
God bless you sir,
L’Chaim,
Brian Samtur
torahwalk@gmail.com
301 768 6278
Silver Spring, Maryland
I just wanted to thank you. Sometimes on this blog people give you more than an uninvited two cents, so it’s nice to see a lot of kinder responses today. We’ve got a great club, an amazing coach, and half of an exciting season of hockey ahead of us. Happy Holidays. Here’s to lots of Caps Red in the New Year!!!
Your leadership is just what this club needed. While there are some nights that I wish one of the “young” players had a better game, I have never thought to myself that one of them should be traded. Benched maybe, but not traded. These guys will make mistakes but it is these mistakes that will make this team truly great! The face that the teams lineup is so deep and the fact that so many of these young players get called up to “show what they can do” in the NHL is why I have season tickets. You never know which of the young guys is going to light the lamp and while I love to see the “Young Guns” I have seen more “first” NHL goals in the past 3 years then I would of ever guessed. Keep up the great work!
Though I am not demanding it, nor would I ever, it would be interesting to see what Ovechkin would get in return for a trade.
With all of the young stars already in Washington and the group of great talent in Hershey, the Capitals will be a league leader for years to come. Happy Holidays Mr. Leonsis and best wishes in the New Year to the Capitals family and all of their fans!
Your approach is right on the money. Our society is so “NOW”, and intolerant of patience. By saying “no” essentially to moving young players along too quickly you are making things better in the long run. And we are excited to see that the long run is here, now, AND to come.
Good work. To be applauded.
PS. We still need a veteran goalie who can split time with the youngters who are still learning. (How about Biron?)