Caps moving on up

Flying under the radar despite an active start to the summer, the Washington Capitals are looking to climb up the Southeast Division...finally.

Even the dynamic duo of Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin couldn't prevent the Caps from finishing in the basement for the 3rd straight season. Everyone knew that no matter how good Ovechkin was that he couldn't get the pitiful Caps to the playoffs on his own. Well, owner Ted Leonsis and GM George McPhee are finally ready to build a playoff team with #8 at its core.

Bringing in Viktor Kozlov was a solid move to add another skilled Russian forward, this time a veteran, to help out the kids. Could Kozlov be centred between Ovechkin and Semin? The Caps did change their jerseys to red this year - it would really be a shame not to have an all-Russian line, wouldn't it?
But when they bring in Michael Nylander the next day you start looking at the prospect of two bona fide scoring lines, not one, no matter what the combinations.

Nylander is a great signing for the Capitals, as it would have been by any team, really. He's coming off two great years. I didn't have to look at the numbers to verify this (23+56=79, 26+57=83), because every time I watched my team play the Rangers these years I would think the same thing every time he had the puck - which the same reaction I have to Jagr - that a goal was imminent.

Add to the mix Swedish phenom Nicklas Backstrom (who will be a rookie this coming season) and you've got a hell of a top-five. Pencil in anyone competent for the 6th spot and I'd say you've got one of the top 1-2 punches in the league.

Now, defense is still a big problem as the Caps have given up a TON of goals over the last few years, but signing Tom Poti isn't a bad move. While he's not the defensive-defenseman they could use, he's still an improvement. Anything would be at this point. But their defensive problems aren't going to be fixed by one player anyway, so adding Poti isn't anything to scoff at.

While I can't say whether or not the Capitals are trying to further improve their defense this offseason, I would bet that Olaf Kolzig is begging for it. He has been extremely loyal to the organization and wants to finish his career in Washington. Putting the defense they've had in front of the aging Kolzig for the past few years isn't exactly returning the favor.
But we are only a little over 48 hours into the Free Agency period and there are enough names still out there to get Kolzig some help.