And With The 199th Pick In The 2007 Entry Draft, The Washington Capitals Select...

It's hard enough to guess who the Caps will take with the 5th pick overall, but here's a name I'll throw out as a prediction for their second seventh round pick, 199th overall:

Patrick Cullen

Cullen, who will attend RPI in the Fall, is a local kid from Ashburn, VA who attended Gonzaga and led the Washington Junior Nationals in goals (38) and points (70) this past season. He was drafted fourth overall in the USHL draft last month and, like Jeff Halpern and Stephen Werner before him, is an alum of the Little Caps.

Not surprisingly, Cullen wants to be a Washington Capital. Asked by whom he would prefer to be drafted (that is, if he is drafted), he answered:

Getting drafted by anyone is an honor and I would be ecstatic. But if I had to make a choice I would say the Washington Capitals. I think it would be really cool to play in front of all my family and friends' night in and night out.

Now, Cullen isn't ranked among Central Scouting's Top 210 North American Skaters, but playing in the Atlantic Junior Hockey League, it's hard to get noticed. One thing you can bet on, however, is that the Caps know who Cullen is. After all, they play most of their games at Kettler Capitals Iceplex, and was coached by former Cap Mark Tinordi.

Red Line Report's Kyle Woodlief also knows who Cullen is:

The Atlantic Junior A League is not heavily scouted, but one prospect there really caught our eye this year: Washington Jr. Caps left winger Patrick Cullen.

Cullen was the only '89 birthdate in the loop's top 10 scorers with 38-32-70 totals, putting up good numbers in a league filled with overagers. He's got great speed and acceleration, a laser shot, and is very patient with the puck. Virtually unknown heading into the season, Cullen is coached by former NHL tough guy Mark Tinordi, who believes he has "tremendous upside and pro potential and is just starting to mature as a player." Cullen had been flying way under the radar, but lots of NHL chief scouts saw him at the recent Beantown Classic, and Red Line feels he'll get drafted off that showing.

Maybe he's not such a well-kept secret after all.

Hockey's Future: Capitals Top 20 Prospects

Hockey's Future has updated its Top 20 Caps Prospects (with a couple of paragraphs on each player) and the only thing that really jumps out at me is that Francois Bouchard has leap-frogged Tomas Fleischmann. Travis Morin's low ranking and the omission of Viktor Dovgan have some scratching their heads, but all in all, the list is rather unsurprising (and it's great to see two goalies so high on the list). Here it is, with a cherry-picked, not-always-in-context money quote for each player:

1. Nicklas Backstrom, C - "has the potential and maturity to center a first line as soon as next season"
2. Eric Fehr, RW - "with his impressive offensive prowess and ongoing success in the AHL, Fehr will not be a man with two teams for much longer"
3. Semen Varlamov, G - "quick legs, and a very quick glove, which lets him excel at breakaways, especially shootouts"
4. Francois Bouchard, C/RW - "he might not just contribute, but be an impact player"
5. Tomas Fleischmann, LW - "with great hockey sense, along with an impressive shot and playmaking ability, Fleischmann has excellent offensive potential"
6. Michal Neuvirth, G - "a well-rounded butterfly style goaltender who shines under pressure situations. Rarely getting rattled, his mental toughness is remarkable for his age."
7. Chris Bourque, LW/RW - "has all intangibles -- great hockey sense, excellent skating, leadership, competitiveness, and above all, the ability to put himself in the right positions to score"
8. Jeff Schultz, D - "all the physical potential to become a keystone defenseman at the NHL level"
9. Patrick McNeill, D - "has enormous offensive potential, and is defensively sound"
10. Keith Seabrook, D - "has an incredibly hard shot from the point, and an ability to find open shooting lanes"
11. Oskar Osala, LW - "has incredible offensive talent, and at 6'4 his great speed and skating ability is very rare"
12. Sami Lepisto, D - "One of the best young defensemen in Finland, Lepisto excels at puck control; with a very calm demeanor he makes good passes and exudes confidence with the puck."
13. Joe Finley, D - "His incredible size, mixed with a certain aggressiveness, gives him the ability to take control of a game from a defensive standpoint."
14. Maxime Daigneault, G - "With good size, and an aggressively challenging style, Daigneault covers a lot of space in the net and uses his butterfly technique and quick glove to stymie shooters."
15. Sasha Pokulok, D - "Out of all the defensemen in the Capitals prospect system, Pokulok may be the most well-rounded."
16. Andrew Gordon, RW - "Gordon has what every club in the NHL looks for in offensive players: consistency at a high level."
17. Travis Morin, C - "His great playmaking skills, matched with excellent puckhandling, makes Morin successful on the power play."
18. Mathieu Perreault, C - "has enormous offensive upside"
19. Stephen Werner, RW - "Werner is a good playmaker and makes good decisions. He has a hard shot and is good through traffic, but his calling card is his speed."
20. Jamie Hunt, D - "extremely quick and a very good skater for his size"

A Quick Rundown Of The Days' Caps News

The WaPo profiles prospect Jeff Schultz (read the article and insert "Caps/choke" joke here), while the WTimes profiles local would-be Cap Stephen Werner.

Finally, much has been made lately about whether or not Alex Ovechkin will (or should) replace Jeff Halpern as the Caps next captain. Kara Yorio thinks so, and she should know, having spent countless days travelling with the team and hours behind closed doors in the locker room after games and practices. Wait, no she hasn't. Neither has just about anyone speculating about the future of the team's captaincy.

A hockey team's captain isn't about individual points, hits or potential, and while Alex is clearly a strong leader on (and by all accounts off) the ice, if and when he's ready to captain the team - and if and when the team is ready to have him as their de facto leader - head coach Glen Hanlon, and not some columnist in a national sports publication, will let him and the rest of us know it.

Caps Shed Excess Marylander

After drafting Ellicott City's own Luke Lynes in the fourth round of last month's NHL Entry Draft, the Caps found themselves with three native Marylanders in the system (captain Jeff Halpern and prospect Stephen Werner being the others), which is alright if you're a lacrosse team, but not so good if you're a hockey team. Something had to give, and today it did as Halpern signed with the Dallas Stars, returning the Caps to a more manageable two skaters from the greatest state in the land.

As for the Halpern deal (said to be for four years at around $2 million per year), I'll likely have more to say on it at some point, but I agree with GMGM's assessment that "[i]t's hard [for Halpern] to turn that kind of deal down." Um, yeah. I'd have liked to have seen Halpern back for a one- or two-year deal at maybe $1.5 million, but sinking $8 million into Jeff Halpern for the next four years is way too much, as Dallas will likely find out. I wish him all the best in Big D, though, and hope his storybook NHL career has plenty of great chapters left in it. Chapters like this one: