Caps Draft Recap: Heavy On The D

Not surprisingly, the Caps loaded up on defensemen in yesterday's draft, taking five blueliners in the seven round draft, including packaging their picks #47 and #52 to grab the #27 pick. Here are your newest Caps-to-be:

1. (14th overall) Sasha Pokulok, D, 6'5", 220
2. (27) Joe Finley, D, 6'7", 229
3. (109) Andrew Thomas, D, 6'2", 196
4. (118) Patrick McNeill, D, 6'0", 195
5. (143) Daren Machesney, G, 6'0", 163
6. (181) Tim Kennedy, LW, 5'9", 170 (traded to Buffalo for a 6th round pick in 2006)
   
7. (209) Viktor Dovgan, D, 6'2", 200
   

There's a decent draft-day blog on WashingtonCaps.com that discusses many of the picks, and a very good recap (albeit from the team) here.

There's a nice capsule summary in the WaPo article. Not that anyone at the WaPo has any credibility as far as evaluating hockey talent, but they described the Caps two first round picks as "a surprise" (translation: "they could have waited and taken him later") and "a project," respectively, which is hardly encouraging.

The WTimes draft recap is here.

The Toronto Star recaps the Caps picks here and the entire draft, pick by pick, here.

The Caps' official message board has a thread with an extensive discussion of first pick Sasha Pokulok.