That's great, if you have the prospects and the development system to pull it off. Finding and developing Connor Sheary and Jake Guentzel is not an easy task. Outside of one of the best (if not the very best) goalie pipeline in the NHL, the Capitals have had questionable results at producing quality talent from their minor league system since the talent boom of the fire sale dried up.
It also doesn't help that they lost the best "value" contract they had in the expansion draft.
If GMBM deems the results unacceptable, he can always change the staff in Hershey or hire better scouts. The reason why the Pens popped Sheary and Guentzel out of nowhere is that they made the transition to the NHL at the same time as their coach. Sullivan knew that his players in WBS were ready for the NHL, and putting them next to Crosby and Malkin facilitated the process.
When we bring up kids from Hershey, we just stick them on the 3rd or 4th line, when we could spread the talent and experience around the lineup. Backstrom and Ovechkin are old and experienced enough to show the ropes to the youth.
When 8 and 19 were young, we were looking all around the league to surround them with veteran leadership. We got guys like Fedorov, Knuble, Halpern, Morrison etc. for them. Now Nick and Ovi are the veteran presence, captain and alternate captain drafted in the organization over 10 years ago. Backstrom in particular seems to be embracing the veteran role, he took Burakovsky under his wing despite not getting much ice time with him. Split up 8, 19 and 77, they could contribute all around the top 9 together.
