Time was, drafting 24th in the first round as the Capitals will this Friday night, while a sign of standings success, was somewhat an occasion for frustration and lament -- all the really good ones are gone by then, generally. Not so now, not in light of the haulings made late each June by the Caps' talent acquisition team of late. Can George McPhee and his scouts pull another John Carlson or Mike Green or Simeon Varlamov rabbit out of a hat in Montreal?The Capitals are not yet Detroit when it comes to finding jewels outside of the lottery. Not yet. But they are hands down the best drafting team in their division, and one of the best in the Eastern conference if not the league. When have you been able to say that before of the Caps? More importantly, the Capitals today are rightly regarded as an elite NHL team; that cannot be achieved without annually performing well on Entry Draft weekend. One man does not a contending hockey team make, and so the Capitals status today is on...
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