Caps earn top choice in draft

The Washington Capitals hit the jackpot in yesterday’s NHL draft lottery, winning the first pick and the right to select heralded 18-year-old Russian left wing Alexander Ovechkin on June26 in Raleigh, N.C.

Caps general manager George McPhee, who holds four other picks in the first two rounds, wouldn’t comment on specific players, but did say “there are a couple of real good players at the top and it drops off quickly after that.”

Ovechkin, who was a day shy of being eligible for the 2003 draft in which he might well have been the first choice, is the consensus top pick this year. He’s considered a can’t-miss prospect along the lines of Atlanta left wing Ilya Kovalchuk, who had 29 goals as an 18-year-old rookie two years ago and tied for the league lead with 41 this season.

RussianProspects.com praised the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Ovechkin’s skating, shooting, puckhandling, vision and physical play, calling him “a superb skater with excellent acceleration, a terrific puck-handler … sees the ice very well … possesses a strong, precise wrist shot.” Like most young offensive stars, Ovechkin is somewhat lacking on defense but reportedly has improved in that area since he began facing senior competition.

Washington, which finished with the NHL’s third-worst record, had a 14.2 percent chance of landing the first pick. Last-place finisher Pittsburgh had a 48.2 chance and second-worst Chicago, 18.8 percent. But the pingpong ball bounced the Caps’ way, giving them the first choice for the first time since 1976, when they took solid defenseman Rick Green. Washington’s other first overall choice, defenseman Greg Joly in 1974, was a bust.

The last two forwards to be the top pick, Kovalchuk (2001), and Columbus’ Rick Nash (2002), each scored 41 goals this year. Hall of Famers Gilbert Perreault, Guy Lafleur, Denis Potvin, Dale Hawerchuk and Mario Lemieux were among the first overall selections from 1970 to 1984.

“Hopefully this is the first day of a new era,” said McPhee, whose team plummeted from 92 points in 2003 to 59. “We feel we were some way rewarded for the difficult task we took this year. It’s not easy restructuring your team, but it was something we had to do. We feel excited about the future of the franchise. We certainly have some flexibility with the picks we have. You expect to get an impact player [first overall], someone who can really make a difference. We’re hoping for a 30-point improvement next year.”

The addition of Ovechkin would be especially beneficial for a team like the Caps, who stripped themselves of proven scorers Robert Lang, Jaromir Jagr, Peter Bondra and Sergei Gonchar in a series of salary-dumping trades en route to their worst season in 26 years.

Ovechkin, who earned a spot on the high-powered Dynamo Moscow roster before he turned 17 in 2002, played on Dynamo’s top line this year, with 24 points in 30 games at last report. He is also the youngest player on Russia’s senior national team.

Ovechkin would also provide a comfort level for 20-year-old left wing Alexander Semin — one of the Caps’ three first-round picks from the 2002 draft — whose inconsistent rookie year wasn’t helped by his failure to fully integrate with his North American teammates.

If the NHL somehow avoids an expected owner’s lockout next season, Ovechkin immediately would be expected to play on Washington’s top line.

Pending the addition of any free agents, veterans Jeff Halpern and Dainius Zubrus also would be among the Caps’ top forwards along with Semin. Recently acquired prospects Petr Sykora, Jonas Johansson, Jared Aulin, Tomas Fleischmann, Brooks Laich and Jakub Klepis and homegrown high picks Eric Fehr, Stephen Werner, Boyd Gordon and Brian Sutherby could also be factors. Halpern (28), Zubrus and Sykora (both 25) are the only ones older than 22.

The Caps’ last top-five choice was Russian center Alexandre Volchkov, who went fourth in 1996 but never scored a point in the NHL. Semin, who had 10 goals and 22 points in 52 games this year, has been the most productive so far of McPhee’s seven first-round picks, two of whom were traded.