[Matty81]

Caps have been doing a good job developing kids for junior national teams for a long time so I don't really think this figures in to the whole "Caps hate Canada" dramatics that have been going on.

People slag them off because the perception is that they never give Canadian kids a chance in their senior team. This is an old argument, some saying that players will never improve to a senior team level without getting at least a few games under their belts and others saying the players need to be good senior level players before the team will play them.

I think both sides make good points, the decent Caps guys who have been cut loose have mostly ended up as 2nd-4th tier players in europe, so no world beaters. That said they have also employed a ton of journeymen americans as bench players who you could argue guys like Edwini-Bonsu, Clarke, Straith, Alderson, Thomas etc were as good as - and I think their history of releasing so many young Canadians without a shot at 1st team minutes would be better accepted as wise if they had won some trophies or been getting good results.

From my perspective, it is a bit troubling how they hoover up so much of the best young Canadian talent and so few of them graduate to the first team. I don't know if that's more of an indictment of our talent level as a country or their development and decision making. They definitely attract more of our top young players than TFC or Montreal - taking Alderson, an Ontario player and u-17 Canadian of the year right out from under TFC's nose a few years ago was pretty reflective of the pull they have with Canadian youth players.