Early Season Look In: Capitals’ Hot Starts Suggests Their Championship Window Is Still Open
A hot start is just what the doctor ordered for the Washington Capitals. Now in their second full season with Peter Laviolette behind the bench, the Caps have posted decisive wins over the New York Rangers, Colorado Avalanche and New Jersey Devils, as well as an OT loss to the Lightning.
They’ve scored most goals in the league, with 16, while allowing the fourth fewest, with four. Alex Ovechkin has led the way triumphantly by scoring four goals and eight points. Evgeny Kuznetsov is off to a hot start, too, with three goals and eight points.
For the Capitals, they’re in a tough Metro Division, but Daily Faceoff’s Cam Lewis projects them to take the top spot in the division. Will they be able to do so and go on another run for the Cup?
What’s happened so far this season…
This has been exactly the kind of start the Capitals were hoping four. They’ve played four competitive teams and got points in all of them. This, mind you, comes after a disappointing 2020-21 campaign that ended with a first round playoff elimination at the hands of the Boston Bruins.
These Capitals, of course, are in their “win now” mode as they look to get out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time since they won the cup in 2018. Undoubtedly, the goal is not only to make it out of the first round, but to go on a deep run.
Guys like Alex Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie, and John Carlson — three big parts of the Capitals — aren’t getting any younger and the time is now for them to go all-in for another cup run.
Players to watch…
Top of the list, to nobodies surprise, is Ovechkin. With four goals and as many assists in four games, The Great 8 is still in the hunt for the NHL’s all-time goal scoring record and at the time of writing, is just 160 goals back of Wayne Gretzky. Look for him to continue to lead the offensive charge moving forward.
The goalies. The Caps are relying once again relying on young goaltenders Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek. They were a weak spot on the team last year, and they’ll need to be at the top of their game if the team hopes to make a run this season.
Hendrix Lapierre, who was drafted in the first round of the 2020 draft, made the team out of camp and has appeared in two games scoring one goal. He’s a highly-gifted offensive player and he could quietly make an impact in the bottom-six.
What did they do in the offseason?
Notable Additions: Matt Irwin
Notable Subtractions: Brenden Dillon, Zdeno Chara, Michael Raffl
All things considering, the Caps had a quiet offseason and being tight to the cap, have dipped into the LTIR pool with Nicklas Backstrom. They have some tough decisions coming up this offseason, however. Both Samsonov and Vanecek will be RFAs, as are defenseman Dennis Cholowski and forward Daniel Sprong. Justin Schultz will hit free agency, too.
One bold prediction…
Not only do the Caps make it out of the first round, but they make it all the way to the Eastern Conference Final. Despite not making it to the Cup Final, the noise they make helps quiet the doubters about them still being an elite team.
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