As the Capitals look for a bright future in more young Russians, it’s sometimes interesting to take a look back to see which other players the Capitals once believed in. So we backtrack ten years, when the Caps were beating up on Southeast Division opponents but losing in the playoffs to the Penguins. Uh…
The Capitals selected Brian Sutherby in the first round at #26. Despite only scoring 26 goals, he lasted eight years in DC and Portland before being traded to Anaheim. In the second round (43rd), the Caps also had faith in Matt Pettinger, who scored twice as much with 52 goals before being traded to Vancouver for Matt Cooke in 2008.
The others? Jakub Čutta of the Czech Republic, Ryan Van Buskirk of Canada, Ivan Nepryaev of Russia and Bjorn Nord of Sweden. None panned out for the Caps. Not their strongest draft, but at least they got some mileage out of Pettinger and Sutherby.
