I saw this on Capitol Punishment the other day and decided I needed to rip off Chris ripping off Ducksnorts ripping off Will Young (jeez, we could do a rip-off tree just as easily). Basically, it traces how (a somewhat arbitrary list of) the 2006-07 Caps came to be Caps, and is pretty self-explanatory if you typically read left-to-right. Without further ado, here it is (click on it to enlarge, and then click again, depending on browser, to see it full size):

I didn't note where draft picks had been acquired via trade, but might at some point. Also, there may be some mistakes on there, and I'd happily correct 'em if you point 'em out.

What I found interesting is that of the ten players acquired via trade, Jakub Klepis and Tomas Fleischmann are the only ones who were acquired for players that weren't orginally Caps draft picks. I'm not sure exactly what that means - maybe that the organization (mostly thanks to the prior regime) has been able to draft and move a bunch of quality NHLers. Or that they've been reluctant to bring in quality players from outside the organization, even pre-dating the Jaromir Jagr experiment. Or that they've been conservative in the frequency of moves they've made. One thing clearly shows is that they didn't get jack squat for Jagr (other than a season so awful they had the chance to win the draft lottery and draft Alex Ovechkin, which ain't bad but sure ain't thanks to any managerial skill).

Also noteworthy is that little is left (and nothing on this list) from the great Adam Oates coup at 2002's trade deadline (you'll recall that the Caps sent Oates to the Flyers for Maxime Ouellet, a 1st (later traded to Dallas which became Martin Vagner), a 2nd (Maxime Daigneault) and a 3rd (Derek Krestanovich) round selections in 2002), save a mid-level goaltending prospect in Daigneault. Oh well - it looked great at the time and was a move you'd make every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

The larger point is that Caps fans need to remember that this team is still very much rebuilding and nowhere close to rebuilt (OFB has a must-read that really hammers home this point). Most of the free agent signings are stop-gaps and placeholders, and once this team is rebuilt, it will be built to last, not just to make one or two runs at success.

Elsewhere 'Round The Rinks

• Mirtle has a blurb on GMGM's trip to Sweden to sweet talk the "very shy and reserved" Nick Bäckström. Luckily, AO has enough personality (and talent) to carry his future teammate a bit.
• Speaking of the World Juniors, through four games, Caps prospect Semen Varlamov is 4-0-0 with a .964 save percentage and a 0.75 GAA. Fellow future Cap (fourth-round find), Finnish forward Oskar Osala has five goals and two assists in five games. High five!
• This Saturday night's game against the Thrashers is the Caps second annual Autism Awareness Night. Spread the word and give until you can't give any more, then give a little more. Just a little.
  

Daily Awards

• Hart: Sidney Crosby (2G, including game-winner, A, +2)
  
• Ross: P.-M. Bouchard (4 points)
  
• Norris: Francis Boullion (2A, +1, 1 SOG, 2 hits)
  
• Vezina: Nikolai Khabibulin (W, 38 saves on 39 shots against)
  
• Richard: Sidney Crosby, Matthew Lombardi, P.-M. Bouchard, Tomas Plekanec, Mark Parrish (2G each)
  
• Calder: Ryan Potulny (GWG on his only shot of the game in 3:48 of ice time)
  
• Aiken: Kari Lehtonen (L, 5 goals allowed on 35 shots against)