Fucale was originally drafted in round 2, and I THINK he may have been the first goalie selected in that draft. In other words, he was thought of as a top goaltender talent at the time. And then ..... he seemed to just get lost in the weeds, and "never panned out." I don't know of any serious injury problems with him or anything. And since he was selected in round 2 no one has ever made any fuss about him as a big-time bust, like they would if, say, a forward taken with the #! overall pick never made it.
Point is, there is probably some type of pedigree there. Maybe he's just a late bloomer or something.
It sure seems as though Samsonov is our "prospect who is lost in the weeds" right now. Which in turn makes another point: How long to you hold on to HIM? The Caps invested a couple million AAV on him, so they must still think highly of him. But the pressure on this franchise is always to win NOW, while Ovie's window "is still open." And the Metro Division is so close and so good that if the emphasis is trying to win now, you had better not take your foot off the gas for a moment, or you'll get passed by..
Fucale is now on a hot streak that really started in the spring at Hershey. If he were to continue to show well and VV is who he is, a very capable backup at WORST, and the way he's being treated, a reasonably good starter, all of a sudden we may have a "Samsonov problem."
