Gordon is a solid player, but Grebeshkov is superior. That pretty closely tracks with the draft day writeup on the two players, too. The Capitals' depth chart on defense was just as shaky in terms of thin prospect depth and aging veterans, if not worse, in June 2002 as it is today.
I thought it a mistake at the time. They had a lot of picks and it was their third of the day, so McPhee threw Ross Mahoney a pick. True to form, the Caps' chief scout took a rugged WHL kid. Happens every year with that staff. Now again, it was their third pick, and they had already taken a small, skilled offensive player in Semin, and a two-way defenseman in Eminger, so maybe a big WHL forward was thought to be good for balance... I like the job McPhee has done in certain areas, and I like a farm heavy on WHL picks, but that particular pick was a head scratcher at the time and remains so today. I say that liking Gordon just fine, but less than some others who were still up on the board, which also included Babchuk and Steen.