Not Much Room in the Inn for Baby Caps

Washington Capitals Hockey

The Washington Capitals have developed one of the best minor league hockey systems with that being evidenced by two of their affiliates winning their respective championships last year. The Capitals future is looking bright indeed with the current lineup of young stars and a developmental system that has produced a goodly amount of talent the last few years. As with all things in life there is usually a downside to all positives and although many teams would love to have the Caps problem, the fact is there is little room at present for players to move up from the AHL, EHL, or other places because there just isn't a lot of roster spaces available. While Simeon Varlamov is certain to have a spot, there are quite a few players looking to fill one or two open spots. Who are some likely candidates to make the team? While Alexander Giroux had a fantastic year last year at Hershey scoring 60 goals in 69 games and has great offensive skills, the Capitals are in pretty good shape in that area with players such as Ovechkin, Semin, Backstrom and Green. Some think that Karl Alzner will be spending most of his time with the Capitals this year but the Capitals at present have 7 defensemen from last year that will probably be on the roster on opening night, so unless there's a long term injury or two to Caps defenders, the house will be crowded there as well. Caps management are also high on John Carlson, but at 19, he'll most likely spend the year at Hershey. Bottom line; there's not a lot of room in the Inn at present and many of the up and coming Caps may be spending the majority of the year in Hershey again.