Washington Capitals Prospect Filip Forsberg Named Swedish World Junior Captain

The Washington Capitals obtained the number 11 overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for goaltender Semyon Varlamov. With that pick, the Capitals selected Swedish phenom Filip Forsberg (no relation to Peter).

During the lockout, Forsberg has played 22 games so far for Leksands of Sweden's hockey team. In those 22 games, the 18-year old has posted nine goals and 10 assists. At age 18, he is the youngest player on his roster.

In this year's World Junior Championships, Sweden saw its first gold medal in 31 years with much help from Forsberg. On Thursday, it was reported that Forsberg was named the captain of the team for 2013.

The report comes from Sports Centre on Twitter:

"

#Sweden names Filip Forsberg team captain for #2013wjc. #TSN

— SportsCentre (@SportsCentre) December 20, 2012"

The lockout has had little effect on Forsberg, as the Washington Capitals have stated numerous times that they would keep Forsberg abroad for at least another year. This is to allow him to develop and age a bit before he is ready for NHL action.

He is the Capitals top prospect at this point in time. His great scoring ability and ice vision would be amazing to see alongside fellow center Nicklaus Backstrom. 

As a left winger, it would not be wise to put Forsberg on a line with Alexander Ovechkin, who is also a left winger. Although, it would be lethal to envision Backstrom, Ovechkin, and Forsberg all on the power play together.

While the lockout is having little effect on NHL prospects such as Forsberg, it's hurting much of the lower salary players and fans who just want hockey back. Only time will tell whether or not we will see hockey this year, but all we can do is remain optimistic.

Both the NHL and NHLPA have given us a little hope over the past few weeks that they can get a deal done. Although some positives came to the surface yesterday when NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly answered "yes" when asked if he thought there would be a season this year.