After a bit of a delay securing a work visa, presumptive second-line center Mikhail Grabovski has finally joined the Capitals in Arlington. If you’re looking for a reason to get excited about the Caps in 2013-14,  he’s a good place to start.

Get this: he’s a forward from the former Soviet Union. He dipped out on his first team when he wasn’t having fun. He drives puck possession like a maniac. He’s blamed for poor playoff performance. He’s basically Alex Semin 2.0.

We’ve already been through the ringer with the guy. We wanted him badly at 2C in July, though we didn’t think it would happen. Then, it happened, and there was much rejoicing. Then we rambled on about how big of an upgrade he was (and we agreed it is “Grabo” with one B.) Then some folks did the “rah rah Ribeiro” thing, and we were having none of it. Then we took a guy to task for improper use of #fancystats. Then we learned Grabo had a no-trade clause. Then human rain cloud Neil Greenberg said Grabo was bueno, and we knew it was legit.

George McPhee did good.