The Maryland Sports Blog

Christian Djoos was drafted 195th overall by the Capitals in the 7th round of the 2012 NHL Draft. He is the son of Par Djoos, who briefly played in the NHL. He currently

Christian Djoos is a very intriguing prospect due to his size.

plays for Brynäs IF of the Elitserien league.  Brynäs IF was also Nicklas Backstrom’s team.

POSITION: Defenseman. Shoots left-handed.

HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 5’11″/148 pounds

PLAYING CAREER: Djoos, after a successful junior career, has moved on to the Elitserien league. During his junior career, he averaged .76 points per game, which is very impressive for a defenseman. Here’s a list of some of the awards that he has won:

• J18 Elitserien Best Plus/Minus (2010-2011)
• J18 Elitserien Most Points by a Defenseman (27) (2010-2011)
• J18 Elitserien Most Assists by a Defeseman (20) (2010-2011)
• J18 Allsvenskan Best Defenseman (2011-2012)

PLAYING STYLE: Djoos, in case you didn’t guess, isn’t a very physical player, mostly due to his size (or lack thereof). Instead of strength, he relies on his speed, agility, and puck handling to move the puck up the ice. He is an offensive defenseman who loves to join the rush and loves to run the point. Defensively, he tends to rely on his speed, agility, and instincts rather than brute force.

STRENGTHS: Djoos is a fast, quick, and all-around exciting player to watch. He’s an excellent skater and is surprisingly sound defensively. Also, he is very good at holding the puck for someone his size, and it’s very hard to play him off the puck because he knows how to utilize his speed and agility. He’d be a valuable asset to any powerplay with his passing ability.

WEAKNESSES: Djoos is very undersized, to say the least. He needs to bulk up to a respectable weight if he wants to last in the NHL. If he gets to around 160-170, I’d feel a lot more confident about him. His defense also needs fine-tuning, especially since he’ll probably never be that big, meaning that he’ll have to be perfect as far as positioning.

PLAYER WHO HE REMINDS ME OF: Brian Campbell. Both are undersized, but both are very valuable offensive defenseman. The question is, can Djoos bulk up and play well enough defensively to be like Campbell? We’ll have to see.

ETA: 2014-2015. Still needs to develop quite a bit.

Stanislav Galiev is yet another Russian who will play for the Capitals in the near future. Galiev is a left wing, although the Capitals did have him taking faceoffs during

Stanislav Galiev has technically played for the Capitals before. This was from the pre-season game in Baltimore in 2011. He should be wearing a Caps jersey again soon. Photo courtesy of Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America.

Development Camp this year, so a move to center might be in the future for him.

HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6’0″/188 pounds

PLAYING CAREER: Galiev was born in Moscow, Russia. In 2008, Galiev made a bold decision and decided to take his talents to the USHL (United States Hockey League, which is the top junior hockey league in the United States) in order to better prepare himself for an NHL career. After an extremely impressive rookie season in which he was named to the USHL All-Rookie Team, he was the first overall pick of the CHL Import Draft, and was picked up by the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League). He has since continued to impress, amassing 144 points in just 151 regular season games and an eye-popping 80 points in just 57 playoff games.

PLAYING STYLE: Galiev is an extremely talented playmaker. He’s not only a goal scorer, he’s also more than happy to share the puck with his linemates. All-around, he’s a force to be reckoned with on offense. Definitely has first line potential.

STRENGHTS: The best thing Galiev has going for him is his decision making. Not only is he creative, but he makes extremely quick (and usually right) decisions. When you combine those two attributes, Galiev can be extremely difficult to cover if he’s on his game. He’s a very good skater, and despite his average size, is very hard to play off the puck due to his great balance. He’s never going to challenge for the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy, but he should develop into a good enough scorer that teams have to respect his ability to score.

WEAKNESSES: Galiev has to work on finishing, especially if he wants to continue to be a wing (which is what he prefers to play). He shoots the puck quite a bit, but he doesn’t score as much as he should. If he works on his shot accuracy, he could emerge into a 30+ goal a year threat. He also has to improve on defense, as he can be a bit lazy while playing defense.

PLAYER WHO HE REMINDS ME OF: Zach Parise. Versatile scoring threat. Hopefully Galiev can improve his finishing enough to be as versatile as Parise. He certainly has the physical tools to do it.

ETA: 2013-2014. Galiev could be up as soon as this season, but I think he might need a year of seasoning in the AHL. The Capitals still have to figure out where they’re going to put him, and hope that he can at the very least improve his defense. He’s not too far off from being NHL ready. However, barring injury or significant development/improvement, Galiev should spend at least a good portion, if not all of, the 2012-2013 hockey season in Hershey. I wouldn’t rule anything out though because he will be invited to Caps Training Camp (whenever that may be).

Highlight video of Galiev:

Cameron Schilling, despite the current logjam the Capitals have at the blue line, could wind up helping the Capitals this year. Photo courtesy of Andrew Harnik of The Washington Times.

I’ve started off this series with 2 forwards, so I figured I’d mix things up and do a defenseman. Cameron Schilling came into Caps Development Camp an unknown, and emerged as the camp’s biggest surprise. Had it not been for Forsberg’s extremely impressive showing, I’d say he was the best player in the camp. Schilling was signed as an undrafted college free agent last fall.

PLAYING CAREER: Schilling played NCAA Hockey at the University of Miami (Ohio). Here are his stats from his playing career with Miami Ohio:

                       CAREER STATS (As of March 26, 2012)

  OFFENSE               GP    G    A  Pts Shots Shot% Pen-Min   +/- PPG SHG GWG
  2008................  25    0    7    7    41  .000  16-43     +4   0   0   0
  2009................  42    4   16   20    75  .053  21-58    +19   2   0   1
  2010................  38    3   14   17    69  .043  17-34    +19   1   0   0
  2011................  39    1   13   14    70  .014  10-20    +13   0   0   0
  TOTAL............... 144    8   50   58   255  .031  64-155   +55   3   0   1

Schilling made an immediate impact on the Hershey Bears, as he served as a top-line defenseman during his brief tenure in Hershey last season. He even scored 2 goals in 4 playoff games.

PLAYING STYLE: Schilling is a shutdown defenseman. He won’t bring much to the table as far as offense goes, but his defense is extremely good. Great positioning, not afraid to be physical, and a huge help on the PK.

STRENGTHS: Very sound defensively. Can be relied on to not make mistakes. Great awareness. Deceptively fast, particularly while in pursuit. Very disciplined.

WEAKNESSES: While he won’t make any mistakes, he also won’t take any risks. He’s conservative almost to a fault. He won’t bring anything to the table on offense. He’s not a liability, just don’t expect him to score.

PLAYER WHO HE REMINDS ME OF: Karl Alzner. Reliable stay-at-home defenseman. Won’t make the siren go off, but will keep it from going off with his defense. Also a very nice and approachable guy, just like Alzner.

ETA: 2012-2013, but I’d like him to stay a year in Hershey to see if his offense can develop. He could definitely help the Capitals out this year though. And he will have the opportunity to, because he has been extended an invitation to Capitals Training Camp.

Many (including me) thought that the Washington Capitals might have reached a tad bit when they drafted forward Tom Wilson with the 16th pick of the 2012 NHL draft.

Tom Wilson is a risky pick, but his unique upside makes him anything from a top six forward to a third or fourth liner. Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

That being said, I can easily understand why they would draft him. Wilson represents something that the Capitals have lacked in recent years and desperately need: intimidation.

HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6’4″/194 pounds. It’s going to be really interesting to see how he grows into his body. I expect him to wind up around 220-230 pounds. How he grows into his body is going to determine a lot about his future.

PLAYING CAREER: Tom Wilson currently plays for the Plymouth Whalers in the OHL. Last season, he had 27 points in 49 games played. He also amassed 141 penalty minutes, which is impressive in its own right. He played especially well in the playoffs with 13 points in 13 games (along with 39 penalty minutes). He participated in the 2012 CHL Top Prospects Game.

PLAYING STYLE: Wilson is an extremely physical player. He loves to hit people hard and knows how to use his size to his advantage. He does tend to find himself in the penalty box quite a bit, but he’s an extremely intimidating player. For a guy his size, he is an impressive skater and and even more impressive puck handler. I personally saw him deke several guys during Caps Development Camp, and I can honestly say I rarely see guys his size who are able to do that. He is also very strong on defense.

STRENGTHS: Clearly Wilson has size going for him. More importantly, he knows how to use it. At the very least, his size and athleticism will make him a solid 3rd line or 4th line wing. He has quickly been developing an all-around game, and made drastic improvements from his 2010-2011 season to his 2011-2012 season.

WEAKNESSES: With Wilson, you don’t really know what you’re getting because of his upside. He wasn’t that productive in 2011-2012 despite playing with other top prospects. There’s also his penalty minutes.

PLAYER WHO HE REMINDS ME OF: Milan Lucic. Very physical forward who can also contribute on offense and defense. The kind of player who you’d love to have on your team, but hate him if he isn’t. Guys like him, while they are usually among the most hated players, are undeniably important to their team. I’m sure the Capitals will love him because he will stand up for his teammates no matter what.

ETA: 2014-2015. I think he’ll need at least a year of seasoning in Hershey. His contract situation with the OHL still has to be determined as well.

We all knew that the Semyon Varlamov trade was bad for the Avalanche. The mere fact that the Avalanche gave up a 1st round pick for him was bad enough. Add Filip

Forsberg is a very important part of the future of the Washington Capitals.

Forsberg (who was drafted with the pick that the Avalanche gave to the Capitals) into the equation, and it has the potential to end up as one of the worst trades of all-time. Forsberg, who was expected to be a top 5 pick, slipped all the way down to the 11th pick and I’m sure the Capitals are ecstatic that he did.

HEIGHT/WEIGHT: 6’2″, 180 pounds

PLAYING CAREER: Forsberg currently plays for Leksands IF, which is in HockeyAllsvenskan, the second highest rated hockey league in Sweden. He has gained a lot of attention due to his play in Under 18 and Under 20 tournaments, helping Sweden to win the Under 18 WJC Silver Medal in 2010-11, as well as 2011-2012, and the Under 20 WJC Gold Medal in 2011-2012. Here’s an abbreviated list of his accomplishments:

• Allsvenskan Most Points by a U18 Junior: 2011-2012
• Under 18 WJC Best Forward: 2011-2012

A huge reason why Forsberg has not gotten the attention that he has deserved is because he plays for a team in the Allsvenskan, rather than the Swedish Elite League. Despite this, many NHL teams still viewed him as a top 5 talent.

PLAYING STYLE: Forsberg has an extremely unique style of play. He’s basically a two-way forward who can produce more than most other two-way forwards can on offense. Many experts believe that Forsberg will wind up as a more complete player than Nail Yakupov and Alex Galchenyuk. He has above average speed, and can be physical if he needs to be.

STRENGTHS: The best thing Forsberg has going for him is his defense. He skates well, and he takes his duties on defense very seriously. He’s not afraid to block shots or clog up passing lanes. His awareness is very good, as I watched him create numerous neutral ice turnovers during Caps Development Camp. On offense, he is extremely creative, which makes him very unpredictable. His wrist shot has a very quick release and is very accurate. He definitely has the potential to be a 20-30+ goal scorer. He probably doesn’t have the faceoff skills or the passing ability to be a true center, but he does have experience as a center should the need arise.

WEAKNESSES: Right now, Forsberg has to work on two things. First off all, although I like his size, he probably needs to get more strength. As I said earlier, he likes to be physical, and I think it would greatly benefit him to get to around 200-210 pounds. He’s no Troy Brouwer or Alex Ovechkin as far as physicality, but he still needs to get stronger. With that said, he has the instincts to be able to make up for any deficiencies in strength. Secondly, he has to be more consistent.

PLAYER I’D COMPARE HIM TO: Pavel Datsyuk. Move Datsyuk to wing, and you wouldn’t be able to tell the two apart. Both are two-way players, both are extremely underrated because they don’t put up the sexy numbers of other stars.

ETA: 2013-2014. He has one year left on his contract with Leksands IF. I highly doubt he will spend any time in the AHL. He’s too good.