Final season, the Washington Capitals narrowly eked out a playoff berth, which resulted in a sweep by the President’s Trophy-winning New York Rangers. Evidently not eager on that end result, GM Chris Patrick determined to be very aggressive within the offseason.
The end result up to now has been a 13-4-1 file, good for second within the Metropolitan division and third general within the league. Moreover, after ending final season with a -37 objective differential, which was the worst for a playoff team since 1990-91, they’re at the moment sitting at a +28, third greatest within the NHL.
So how have they managed all this? By trades, free company and, to not point out, some bets on inner progress.
Trades
The Capitals shocked the hockey world on June 19 by buying and selling for Kings’ middle Pierre-Luc Dubois. Dubois, who signed an eight-year, $68M deal in 2023, was coming off an underachieving season with simply 40 points in 82 games.
In doing so, Washington was not solely capable of offload goaltender Darcy Kuemper’s contract (three more years at $5.25M) however add some much-needed middle depth. Regardless of simply the one objective he is scored (with a career-low taking pictures proportion of three.6), Dubois has the second most assists among Capitals forwards and positively has contributed to their resurgent offense.
Along with Dubois, Washington additionally added extra depth with trades for all three positions: at ahead with Andrew Mangiapane (4 objectives, eight factors in 18 video games), protection with Jacob Chychrun (eight factors in 13 video games, 19:05 TOI) and goaltender with Logan Thompson (2.63 GAA, .913 SV% in 9 video games).
Free company
With the wage cap rising from $83.5M to $88M, many groups had been anticipated at hand out massive, long-term offers. The Capitals had been no completely different, giving arguably the highest right-handed defenseman in the marketplace, Matt Roy, a six-year, $34.5M contract.
Enjoying in Washington’s prime 4, Roy has been a gradual presence amongst defenders, regardless of an harm that stored him out for many of October. His 1:34 TOI shorthand is seventh on the team, serving to a penalty kill that ranks third in the league at 87.7%.
By signing Roy, the Capital’s defensive core was immediately shored up and given a lot wanted depth.
Banking on inner progress
Along with including exterior gamers, Washington was additionally counting on some progress by gamers already on the roster. This included ahead Connor McMichael, whom they handed a two-year, $4.2M extension previous to him hitting restricted free company. McMichael was coming off a season wherein he scored a profession excessive 18 objectives.
This season, McMichael has excelled with 19 points in 18 games. Moreover, his 12 goals are tied for the sixth most within the NHL.
Naturally, the Capitals anticipated Alex Ovechkin, who got here into the season 41 objectives behind Wayne Gretzky’s all-time file, to bounce again from a streaky 2023-24 season. Though he did just lately go down with an harm Washington is describing as week-to-week, previous to that, he’d been main the league with 15 objectives.
Fortunately for the group, Ovechkin’s linemate, Dylan Strome, has been implausible this season. The previous third general decide has 28 points in 18 games, tied for fifth most within the league. After discovering some chemistry final season, the Capitals to maintain the pair collectively this season.
The trades, contracts and optimism have been immensely profitable for the Capitals. In the event that they proceed this path, they will actually be a troublesome group to take out come playoff time, and Patrick could have a fantastic case for NHL Common Supervisor of the 12 months.
