D.C. now a land of plenty

Sure, the pain of the Capitals’ recent collapse in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs still stings, the Nationals have been the laughing stock of major league baseball since they moved to town five years ago and no one could bear to watch the Wizards last season, even before Gilbert Arenas sabotaged the year by bringing guns into the Verizon Center locker room.

It took rock bottom for District professional sports to get a taste of the promised land, and make no mistake, it’s headed there. By the middle of next summer, Washington should be in possession of a quartet of dazzling young superstars — all No. 1 draft picks — who will have made their teams top-tier draws in three of the four major professional sports. (Sorry, Donovan McNabb, you don’t quite fall into that category, and D.C. United seems unlikely to land Wayne Rooney — or a new stadium — any time soon.)

Regardless of how the hockey season ended, Alex Ovechkin remains the most exciting player in the NHL, and he’s inspired a new level of buzz around the Capitals. There’s little doubt that Kentucky point guard John Wall — should he be chosen as expected with the first pick in next month’s NBA Draft — can do the same for the Wizards.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Mall, the addition of pitcher Stephen Strasburg this summer — and likely catcher Bryce Harper next summer — will mean the best days at Nationals Park won’t just be when the place is filled with Chicago Cubs fans.

“It’s great for the people of this area when you see the talent, Ovechkin, Strasburg and now the number one pick that we’re going to have,” Wizards coach Flip Saunders said. “The people are getting an opportunity to see some good young players, I think what happens — what we’ve seen with Ovechkin — is that if you get a good young player that is a dominant player, it sets your team up for a long, long time to be successful and make runs to try to win titles.”

So settle in. It should be a heck of a ride.