Summer Fun

This past Saturday I wandered over to the Washington Capitals practice facility to watch the final event of this week's rookie camp - an intra-squad scrimmage between the "Red Team" and the "White Team".  I was struck by the huge crowd and some very impressive prospects in this camp.  Some of the more notable players were Mattias Sjogren and Garrett Haar.  I believe Sjogren is ready for the show as he is strong on his skates, throws his weight around and is a solid play maker.  It really makes me wonder why the Capitals brought center Jeff Halpern back as I believe Sjogren will be higher on the depth chart by the conclusion of training camp.  

Garrett Haar also impressed me.  Haar was planning to play at Northeastern this season but recently decommitted after Greg Cronin resigned as head coach to join the Toronto Maple Leafs.   Haar planned to return to Fargo of the USHL but the Capitals want him to play college hockey in the fall.  In fact, after the scrimmage, Caps GM George McPhee called Boston College coach Jerry York to see if he had room for the 17-year-old defenseman. These last minute arrivals to a college team are always interesting.  Some of you may remember back in 1973 when Mike Eruzione was planning to play at Merrimack College.  Boston University saw him play in a summer league and invited him to play at BU in the fall - the rest is history.