Washington Capitals: 15 All-Time Best Draft Picks

With the NHL Draft coming up tonight, Stars and Sticks looks at the 15 all-time best Washington Capitals draft picks.

This was a hard process because there were many great players that suited up in a Washington Capitals uniform. There were unfortunately some that didn’t make the cut. We dove into the past, the present and heck even the future.

This lists consists of 14 first rounders and the franchise’s biggest steal to round out this list. These players were listed based on both contributions and uniqueness. Another factor of this is based on experience following the team for a decade and a half.

The purpose of this is to spark a healthy debate and get more ready for the excitement and suspense of 2019 Draft night in Vancouver. Without further ado let’s begin.

Eric Fehr

Eric Fehr was taken 18th in the 2003 NHL Draft and appeared in 11 games in the 2005-06 season. Fehr spent the rest of that season with their AHL affiliate Hershey Bears. He spent most of the following season in Hershey but did make stops in Washington for callup stints.

Fehr’s first goal came on Jan. 27, 2007 in a 7-3 win against the Hurricanes. Fehr scored a career-high 21 goals in 2009-10. On New Years Day in 2011 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, the Capitals played their first ever NHL Winter Classic with an epic contest against the Penguins.

Although the rain delayed the game from afternoon to evening, the night backdrop under the gridiron lights set the stage for a memorable contest. The Capitals won that historic game 3-1 with Fehr scoring twice.

Fehr was traded to the Winnipeg Jets that summer but returned to the Capitals following the end of the 2012 NHL lockout. Fehr’s best season in his second stint in Washington came in 2014-15 where he scored 19 goals and added another Winter Classic memory to his name when the outdoor spectacle came to Washington.

Fehr left for that team in Pittsburgh for a season and a half before being placed on waivers prior to the deadline in 2017. He was claimed by the Toronto Maple Leafs, San Jose Sharks and the Minnesota Wild. He is an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Overall in Fehr’s nine seasons in Washington, he finished with 87 goals and assists in 419 games.

Marcus Johansson

Marcus Johansson was the 24th pick in 2009 and was a mainstay on some great Capitals teams before being traded to the New Jersey Devils to save up cap space after Evgeny Kuznetsov’s big pay day in summer of 2017.

Johansson was signed to a three-year entry level deal on May 17, 2010 and made his NHL debut the next season. Johansson scored his first NHL goal against Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins and spent his first seven seasons in Washington.

Johansson scored 102 goals and 188 assists during his time in D.C. that ended sooner than himself or any Capitals fan would’ve wanted. Johansson watched his old teammates lift the Stanley Cup in 2018 but had a chance at Stanley in 2019 after a midseason trade to the Boston Bruins. Despite coming short, the series did go seven.

There might be a return to D.C. on the horizon for Johansson as he enters the summer as an unrestricted free agent and the word on the street is they have him on their radar. This comes from a report by Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos on the Prime Time Sports podcast. Caps Nation would welcome him back with open arms if that is the case.

Alex Semin

Alxander Semin was taken in 2002 with the 13th pick and made his Capitals debut in the 2003-04 season and scored 10 goals and added 12 assists. His first During the 2004 NHL lockout, Semin returned to Russia to play for the Lada Togliatti instead of playing for the Washington’s then-AHL affiliate Portland Pirates.

Washington preferred he went the latter and was suspended for not reporting to said affiliate. He also missed Alex Ovechkin’s rookie 2005-06 due to military Armed Forces obligations in Russia but returned back to D.C. in 2006-07.

Semin blossomed and scored 38 goals and 35 assists and even added six game-game winners. He had blazing speed and a quick shot. For a few years in the “Young Guns” era, the “Alex-to-Alex” was an unstoppable force.

Semin added a career-high 40 goals in 2009-10 and carried that over with 28 the second season before his offensive numbers started to dip. Part of this was from his poor play in the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. Out of all the players who were Jaroslav “Halak’d”, Semin couldn’t get a puck past him despite leading the team with 44 shots that spring.

Despite this, Semin still had a great seven-year run with 197 goals and 211 assists. Semin was signed to the Carolina Hurricanes in 2012 free agency and spent three seasons there. His career ended in Montreal when he was waived and unclaimed. When he cleared, he refused to report to the AHL and his contract was terminated. He’s back in Russia playing in the KHL. 

Reggie Savage

Center Reggie Savage was selected in the 1988 NHL Draft at 15th. Although his career in Washington was just two seasons before ending his career with the Quebec Nordiques. The Capitals selected after he scored 68 goals for the Victoriavile Tigres of the QMJHL.

After returning to the junior ranks after the draft he represented Team Canada at the 1989 World Junior Championships. He also spent a two-year stint with the AHL’s Baltimore Skipjacks (Washington’s affiliate at the time) scoring 74 goals in two seasons before making his NHL debut in the 1990-91 season (via Hockey Hall of Fame).

Despite scoring just two career goals in Washington, Savage has the unique stat of being one of just five players in the 102-year history of the NHL to score his first career goal on  a penalty shot.

Mike Gartner

Mike Gartner was selected at the fourth pick in the 1979 Draft and made his debut the following season. Gartner was a part of the foundation of early success from a young expansion team at the time. Gartner spent 10 of the 19 seasons in the NHL in Washington and was part of the franchise’s first six playoff teams.

In 702 games, Gartner scored 371 goals and added 363 assists and scored at least 35 or more goals in each of his first nine seasons. He was traded 56 games into the 1998-89 season when he scored 26 goals.

Despite the later career stops with the Minnesota North Stars, New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Phoenix Coyotes, Gartner left a mark in Washington. That mark is clearly seen when you attend a game at Capital One Arena and look up to the rafters.

Jakub Vrana

The Washington Capitals selected Jakub Vrana with the 13th overall pick. At the time of his selection, he was “Welcomed to Washington” with a phone call from Alex Ovechkin himself.

Vrana made his NHL debut in the beginning of Dec. 2016 and notched his first NHL goal in Buffalo against the Sabres nine days later. After a brief stop in the AHL, Vrana struggled in his callup and was sent back.

But fans know that “V” is a hard worker from his speed on the ice to the extra shots he takes at the end of practices. He made the roster after a great training camp in 2017 he earned a roster spot.

Vrana’s first full season was a roller coaster from slumps to scratches but he elevated his game. Vrana scored one of the biggest goals in Capitals history, assisted by a pass from that same person he was on the phone with on Draft night, that helped line things up for slaying their biggest rivals and added an game-opening goal in the Stanley Cup clincher.

Vrana followed this up with a monster 2018-19 with a career-high 24 goals and 23 helpers and it’s no surprise he’s due for a payday this summer.

Ilya Samsonov

Ilya Samsonov was dubbed “goaltender of the future” when the Capitals selected him with the 22nd pick. He was coming up from the Russian hockey league known as the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) for the Metallurg Magnitogorsk where he remained the next three seasons before signing a three-year, entry-level deal with the Capitals following the 2017-18 campaign.

Samsonov became a mainstay in Hershey’s net (Washington’s AHL affiliate) last season, backstopping the Bears to a 20-14-2 record with an 89.8% save percentage and a 2.70 goals-against average. He even earned a callup as insurance on Nov. 16, 2018 in a game against the Colorado Avalanche, serving as a backup to Pheonix Copley when Braden Holtby suffered an upper-body injury.

It’s too early to tell if Samsonov was the right pick but with the inevitable Seattle expansion draft next summer, the Capitals have to make a decision on whether to protect or expose either Holtby or Copley. But the numbers he’s shown coming up the ranks says a lot about the goaltending depth in the organization.

Braden Holtby

Braden Holtby was the biggest draft steal in the history of Capitals drafts and that’s no bias if the NHL said it themselves.

Holtby is the only non first rounder on this post for a reason. He was taken in the fourth at 93rd in 2008 and made his debut on Nov. 5 2010 against the Bruins as a backup to then-starting goalie Michal Neuvirth. Two days later, Holtby earned his first win against the pre-Gritty, Philadelphia Flyers with 23 saves on 25 shots and a .920 save percentage.

The goaltending situation was shaky in Washington at the time and this early stage of the “Rock the Red” era featured all the offense a high scoring fan could want. Despite this, Holtby earned his stripes in a seven-game first round upset over the Bruins.

In that series, Holtby had a .940 save percentage and stopped 233 of the 248 shots he faced. Additionally, Holtby stoped 31 of 32 in the Game 7 clincher and kept the Capitals in the game to set the scene for Joel Ward’s overtime heroics.

Holtby won back-to-back Vezina Trophies with the best record in the NHL in 2016 and 17 with 48 and 42 wins, respectively.

Holtby struggled the next season but after an emotional reset he backstopped the Capitals all the way to the Stanley Cup in 2018 with a 2.16 GAA and a .922 save percentage. He even made the most epic save imaginable that helped catapult the the Capitals the rest of the way to the prize.

No matter what happens in the Seattle expansion draft next summer, Holtby will always be remembered for this in Washington.

Olaf Kolzig

Olaf Kolzig, also known around Washington as “Olie the Goalie” or “Godzilla”, was taken at the 19th pick in the 1989 draft. He saw a little bit of time during the following seasons before spending the next few stints in the minors.

He finally got his NHL call in 1995-96 as a backup recall to starting netminder Jim Carey. He remained a backup the following season when the team acquired Bill Ranford from the Boston Bruins before he suffered an injury on opening night of the 1997-98 season and never looked back.

Kolzig finished that campaign with a 33-18-10 mark in 63 games with a GAA of 2.20 and a save percentage of .920. He carried that strong season into the playoffs backstopping an unprecedented run at the time to the Stanley Cup Final, a franchise first.

Kolzig had a down year the next season but rebounded in the 1999-2000 campaign where he won the Vezina Trophy  with a monster 41-20-11 season.

Kolzig was a part of the Capitals during a young Alexander Ovechkin rookie and sophomore campaign before being traded at the deadline in Feb. 2008 for Cristobal Huet. Despite this, he still remained a vital part of the Capitals organization in the future coming back as a stint at associate goaltender coach in 2011 before the role expanded to professional development coach.

Kolzig gave a lot to this organization and it’s only fitting his name is engraved on the 2018 Stanley Cup.

Tom Wilson

While the hoopla around the 2012 NHL draft was behind some guy named Filip Forsberg, the Capitals also drafted another first rounder named Tom Wilson that paid even more dividends down the road.

Hockey’s Future, a reliable source to look up prospects, said, “Wilson projects as a power forward with some potential for offensive contributions. At 6’4 and 200 pounds, Wilson already has good size and he isn’t afraid to make use of his size advantage. And there is room for him to add some muscle to his frame.”

Wilson had to learn his game first and go from a physicality standpoint to an offensive powerhouse. When he’s not in the sin bin or even the press box from a suspension, he’s been the true enforcer on the Caps no matter what line he was on.

Wilson peaked during the Stanley Cup run and peaked even greater when he came out of the 20-game suspension to begin next season. He already made changes to avoid further punishment so there won’t be any surprises if he has a monster 2019-20 season.

Nicklas Backstrom

Back in 2006 following Ovechkin’s Calder Trophy winning season, the “Great Eight” came to the stage to announce a player even more worthy of being a “sidekick”. The pick came fourth.

“We’ve got lots of work to do. We have a real good young core. We have some good veterans. But we need to add some more to really make the team better than it is,” McPhee told USA Today.

It was the beginning what would turn out to be one of the best bromances in the NHL.

Backstrom created plays, had great ice vision, and his quiet, humble demeanor has shown he’s one of the more underrated players in the NHL.

Team owner Ted Leonsis, in the same article, gave his thumbs up:

“This is another part of our rebuilding plan. He is another part of the foundation of our new core of the Washington Capitals.”

This was the core of a generation and the Backstrom-to-Ovechkin or vice versa packed a power one-two punch in the NHL.

Oh and here’s an even crazier nugget from that  2006 Draft night, per the Capitals NHL Draft Guide, that location was also in Vancouver.

Alex Ovechkin

Rankings are weird but Alex Ovechkin is the number one first round draft pick of all time among Capitals fans everywhere. Who else, right? This was more than a number one draft pick by the Capitals. The Caps came off a miserable 23-46-10 record in 2003-04 and had the number one pick and knew exactly who they would take in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

“If you are second, you are second. If you are first, you are first. I always want to be first. My mom and dad always said (whether) you play hockey or football, you always want to be first,” Alex Ovechkin told the Washington Post.

In this same story, which was written after the draft, McPhee added, “We were lucky to win the lottery, and then to have a player of (Ovechkin’s) ability sitting there. He was number one on our list. He makes the difference in the big games.”

As we’ve seen the last 14 years, the Capitals not only hit the mark with this one but knocked it out of the park. He transformed this town from football to hockey and even added a Stanley Cup on top. And the best part? We still get to watch him for at least a few more seasons to try to add another to the collection.