Not that you needed Scott Burnside to tell you that the Caps are a better team today than they were a week ago, but since I have hammered the guy in the past, I figured I'd share some of his thoughts that actually do make sense as well:

Washington Capitals Slowly, quietly, GM George McPhee is building the Caps into a dangerous team in the east. Hard-working and tough already, the Caps added some offensive juice down the middle in the form of Viktor Kozlov and Michael Nylander (now Public Enemy #1 in Edmonton, not that anyone in Washington cares) who combined for 51 goals and 134 points a year ago. Tom Poti, another New York Islander ex-pat should help out a power play that ranked 24th. The Caps hung around the playoff race for two-thirds of a season a year ago -- look for them to be in it until the end this coming season.