After a frustrating five-game series loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, the Washington Capitals shift their focus to the offseason. While the Caps had a successful regular season, there are still moves to be made to get back to the Stanley Cup finals. The first major decision of the offseason is who to take with the 27th overall pick. While there are many directions the team can go with this pick, here are three prospects that make sense for the team to select.
1) Blake Fiddler
Blake Fiddler has been around the NHL game since he was a kid, being the son of former NHLer Vernon Fiddler. While having the opportunity to play in both the American and Canadian junior leagues, he decided to join the WHL and was drafted first overall by the Edmonton Oil Kings. In his two seasons with the club, he registered 15 goals and 33 assists for 48 points. He also played 16 games for Team USA, tallying four goals and three assists for seven points.
He's been described as a two-way defenseman, which is why his stats do not jump off the page. The biggest strength of Fiddler's game is its build. He stands at 6'4" and weighs 209 pounds, which allows him to play a very physical style. He also shines in defensive zone coverage as well as penalty killing. The one area he needs to improve on is being more consistent on offense.
Fiddler currently projects as a top-four defenseman, most likely ending up on the second pair. However, if his development goes right, he will be a top-pairing defenseman. While he'll have to spend some time in college or the AHL, he should make the NHL in the next two or three seasons. He's a perfect player to give the Capitals more depth at defenseman.