2026-27 NHL team preview: Washington Capitals
LAST SEASON
It was an odd 2025-26 season for the Washington Capitals, who had sky-high expectations coming off a 2024-25 campaign that saw them claim first place in the Metropolitan Division, ease through a first-round series win over the Montreal Canadiens and ultimately fall in five games in the second round to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Their attempt to build upon that strong showing never really materialized last year. By New Year’s Eve, the Caps had seen a solid start fade into a slump as they clung to one of the Eastern Conference’s two Wildcard spots. Between the start of 2026 and the Olympic break, an 8-9-2 stretch caused them to relinquish their hold on that spot, and Washington would never reclaim it, watching the Philadelphia Flyers streak past them for the third spot in the Metro while the deeper Atlantic Division claimed both Wild Cards.
By the end of the year, the Caps were a middle-of-the-road team by analytics (50.44% 5-on-5 expected goals share) that nonetheless dominated at 5-on-5 to the tune of a 54.91% goals share that was far and away the best of any team in the league to miss the postseason. Logan Thompson’s dominance between the pipes helped buoy that, but it was special teams that cost Washington, as they finished a respectable 14th in the league on the penalty kill along with a dismal 25th-place showing on the power play.
There was also a bit of regular old bad luck, as the Capitals were the only team that finished the year with a positive goal differential to miss the playoffs. Given that profile, Washington was an obvious candidate to have a bounce back season even before the offseason. To his credit, general manager Chris Patrick didn’t rest on those laurels, and he’s now set to reap the rewards of positive regression and a considerably upgraded roster.
Patrick was arguably the splashiest GM of the summer, landing Jordan Kyrou in a trade with the St. Louis Blues and adding Alex Tuch’s rights from the Buffalo Sabres before signing the would-be top free agent to a lucrative eight-year contract. The Caps also made some notable adds on the margins, adding depth forwards Josh Dunne and Jonny Brodzinski and a stabilizing presence for the bottom of the defensive unit in Vincent Desharnais.
Now, with captain Alex Ovechkin back in the fold for what could very well be his last year in the NHL, Washington is loaded up with strong top-end talent, enviable forward depth, outstanding goaltending, as well as the size and physicality to become an imposing force in a playoff run.
KEY ADDITIONS & DEPARTURES
Additions
Jordan Kyrou, RW
Boone Jenner, C
Alex Tuch, RW
Vincent Desharnais, RD
Josh Dunne, F
Jonny Brodzinski, F
Justin Holl, RD
Cal Peterson, G
Departures
Connor McMichael, LW (Stl)
Brandon Duhaime, LW (Tor)
Trevor van Riemsdyk, D (Pit)
David Kampf, C (Buf)
Hendrix Lapierre, F (Pit)
Declan Chisholm, D (NJ)
Brett Leason, F (SJ)
Zac Funk, F (Buf)
Henrik Rybinski, F (Tor)
OFFENSE
The Capitals enter the 2026-27 season with what is, if not one one of the best forward groups in the league, at the very least one of the deepest. The additions of Tuch and Kyrou add to an already stacked group of wingers including Ovechkin, Tom Wilson, Ryan Leonard and Aliaksei Protas. Either rookie Ilya Protas or veteran Boone Jenner will also play a wing spot, as will veteran Anthony Beauvillier.
The group down the middle is less spectacular, but it’s solid enough at the top and exceptionally deep. Pierre-Luc Dubois and Dylan Strome are entrenched as top-six centers, and Justin Sourdif could center any line one through four if required. The younger Protas and Jenner could both be options to center the fourth line if that is not where Sourdif actually starts the season.
This group is notable in that all 12 forwards are at least solidly acceptable for their respective roles, as well as the overwhelming size these players bring to the table. Only Beauvillier is under six feet tall, and Strome, Wilson, both Protas brothers, Tuch and Dubois are at least six-four. It’s the tallest and heaviest forward group in the NHL by a comfortable margin, a strategy that feels directly targeted to set up well against the two teams that have claimed the last three Stanley Cups in Florida and Carolina.
By raw totals last season, Ovechkin led the team in both goals (32) and points (64), while Strome paced the group with 39 assists. The depth here is a huge asset, but if Washington is going to be as good of a team as the names on the roster suggest it can be, somebody is going to need to produce more than 64 points this year. Tuch had 66 in Buffalo last season while Kyrou posted 46 in what was a down year by his standards offensively in St. Louis.
On a rate basis, Wilson was the most productive forward on the Caps last year with 2.31 points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5. The guy right behind him, Connor McMichael, was sent to the Blues as part of the return for Kyrou. Look out for Leonard to potentially be the one to take a massive leap. His 2.12 P/60 at 5-on-5 last year put him in solid company, and he got it done with a strikingly low amount of secondary assists at just 0.27/60.
From the back end, Jakob Chychrun has blossomed into one of the very best goal-scoring defensemen in the NHL since joining the Capitals two seasons ago. Having debuted back in the 2016-17 season, Chychrun came to Washington with a career high of 18 goals. He’s notched at least 20 in both of his campaigns in D.C.
DEFENSE
The Capitals took a slight but noticeable step back as far as their defensive ranking last season, going from 21st in the league in 2024-25 to 24th last year by xGA/60 on 5-on-5. There will be plenty of familiar faces on this defense, with Chychrun, Matt Roy and Martin Fehervary reprising their roles, with the bottom pairing set to be made up of new acquisition Vincent Desharnais and the heavily hyped rookie Cole Hutson. The current top four is rounded out by Timothy Liljegren, who skated in four games with the Caps last year after coming over in a trade with the San Jose Sharks.
Fehervary is an extremely important key here. Signed to a seven-year extension with a $6-million cap hit last summer that now looks like it has the potential to be a bargain with the cap skyrocketing, he followed a solid 2024-25 campaign up by performing as one of the least effective defensemen on the roster last season. Washington controlled just 48.67% of the expected goals while he was on the ice at 5-on-5.
There are also reinforcements on the way. Rasmus Sandin is recovering from a torn ACL he suffered in April and could potentially rejoin the lineup even before the halfway point of the season. If he returns with his usual level of effectiveness and mobility, he’d be a welcome addition to the group in a way that makes it much easier to withstand an injury.
Up front, one intriguing factor in terms of the team defense is the addition of Kyrou. Kyrou has always been a speedy offensive dynamo throughout his offensive career, but while he took a step back as far as his production last year, he was quietly quite arguably the best defensive forward in the NHL last season. Out of the 384 forwards who skated at least 500 minutes at 5-on-5 last year, Kyrou was on the ice for the 12th-fewest expected goals per 60 and the 10th-fewest high-danger chances against. If that was real and not a one-year aberration, his overall impact on his new team will be massive.
GOALTENDING
The Capitals acquired Thompson from the Vegas Golden Knights in the summer of 2024 in exchange for a pair of third-round picks, and all he has done since then is establish himself as one of the clear-cut top goalies in the NHL (Are you listening, Hockey Canada?).
The 29-year-old has finished fourth in Vezina Trophy voting in both of his seasons in Washington, and for good reason. He went 31-6-6 with a .910 save percentage and 2.49 goals against average in 2024-25, and he kept that efficiency in a greatly expanded role last season, going 31-21-6 with a .912 SV% and 2.44 GAA in 16 more starts than the year prior.
Among all goalies to play regular roles over the past two seasons (60-plus combined games), Thompson is fifth with 0.37 goals saved above average per 60 minutes, trailing only Andrei Vasilevskiy, Scott Wedgewood, Jet Greaves and Anthony Stolarz.
Backup Charlie Lindgren has not been so effective, as he’s struggled to the tune of a -0.24 GSAA/60 between the past two seasons. The 32-year-old saw his save percentage dip from .896 in 2024-25 to .879 last year in 18 fewer appearances. Lindgren is far from a total liability, but his performance last season was enough of a red flag that it does raise an eyebrow that Washington didn’t bring in more serious competition for the backup spot or a more experienced third option in the event of an injury to Thompson.
COACHING
Spencer Carbery is back for his fourth full season at the helm of the Capitals. Seen as one of the rising stars in the coaching profession during his time as an assistant with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Carbery has made good on that potential and more. Washington was in a tough spot when he took over, but the Caps have the eighth-most wins in the NHL during his tenure.
Scott Allen has been Carbery’s top assistant since the head coach came to D.C. The man responsible for the penalty kill was also on the Capitals’ staff the season prior, and he has consistently had Washington’s shorthanded unit among the better groups in the league. The staff is rounded out by assistant and skills coach Kenny McCudden; assistant coach Patrick Wellar, who specializes in coaching defensemen; and Ray Bennett, who joined the organization after a year on staff with the New York Islanders. Bennett was also one of Jared Bednar’s assistants when the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022.
ROOKIES
Washington’s front office has done an exceptional job at maneuvering three separate timelines. With the departure of John Carlson last season, Ovechkin is the last player left that ties the team to the early stage of his career. There’s also the middle-aged group led by Wilson, a collection of players in the middle second half of their primes that also now includes Tuch, Kyrou, Chychrun, Strome, Dubois, Roy, Fehervary and Thompson.
It’s rare to see a roster with such a high quality and quantity of experienced players also feature an exceptional collection of young talent. Last year, Justin Sourdif and Ryan Leonard completed their rookie seasons and were so good that they earned long-term contract extensions to be foundational core pieces for the post-Ovechkin era.
Now, all the attention shifts to Hutson and the younger Protas, the only rookies projected to break training camp as everyday members of the lineup. Both players have older brothers as established NHL stars to look up to. Ilya was a monster on offense with the Hershey Bears in the AHL last year, notching 66 points (29 goals and 37 assists) in 69 games played. He had a goal and three assists in his four NHL games. Hutson, too, flashed in his first taste of NHL action last year, which came after an impressive 32-point effort across 35 NCAA appearances with Boston University.
It’s a tough field this year with top picks Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg in the mix, but if all goes well, both Protas and Hutson have more than enough upside to become serious contenders for the Calder Trophy.
BURNING QUESTIONS
1. Were offseason resources utilized optimally? Patrick’s moves this offseason were very effective in taking what was already a good forward group and making it great. Kyrou and Tuch add unique skill sets and make this one of the deepest forward units in the league. The Capitals are certainly in good shape to withstand an injury to a key forward, but as long as everyone is healthy, it’s easy to look at the $5.75 million in salary cap space that went to Boone Jenner and wonder if that could have been put toward an upgrade on defense. There’s nothing individually wrong with any of Chychrun, Roy, Fehervary and Liljegren necessarily, but it feels like all four of them may be just a tick overslotted in their respective roles. The group could very well turn out to be even better than the sum of its parts, and it’s a solid unit, but it does not scream “Stanley Cup champion” in the way that the forward group and Thompson do. Which brings us to…
2. Can Cole Hutson hit the ground running and elevate this defense? The easiest way to see the defense taking the next step with its current composition is if the highly touted rookie can step in as an immediate star. He wouldn’t need to match the level of his older brother Lane with the Montreal Canadiens to do this, either. His brief stint last year showed that his production from the collegiate level can carry over to the NHL, at least for a bit. If Hutson can prove to be the sort of ice-tilting force that his older brother is, even if that doesn’t come along with elite individual production, this defense starts to look far more dynamic and impactful.
3. How high can Ovechkin set the bar for the all-time goals record? It’s been almost a year and a half since Ovi broke Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record on Long Island, and he tacked on 32 more last season to get to 929. Reaching 1,000 is beginning to look less and less likely, as it would require two more healthy seasons at around a 35-goal pace. With how heavily Ovechkin seemed to weigh the idea of retirement after last season, that may be a long shot. But even at 41, Ovechkin is still productive, even as his mobility continues to fade. He’s notched 31, 44 and 32 goals in his past three seasons, and he could get to 950 with just 21 this year.
PREDICTION
The core of this team knows that it can win this Metropolitan Division, simply because it is less than two years removed from achieving just that. Six of the seven other teams in the division are ripe for the picking. There are things to like about the New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins (even the Columbus Blue Jackets and the New York Islanders to a lesser extent), but the Capitals will be able to absolutely overwhelm these teams more nights than not with their depth and physicality. Washington may not be head and shoulders above all of these teams, but they should be regarded at least as the second-best team in the division.
That brings us to the Hurricanes, the reigning Cup champs and a team that has largely had Washington’s number over the years. Both teams are exceptionally deep up front, and while Carolina has a better defense, the Caps own a strong edge between the pipes. If the Hurricanes suffer a hangover with the Cup win combined with the short offseason, Washington could claim the division.
We’ll call a second-place finish for the Caps and perhaps even go bold by saying they’ll be closer to Carolina for first than they are to whichever group finishes in third. Home-ice advantage would make them strong favorites over the third-place team in the first-round series, and while Washington would absolutely relish the chance to exact some revenge on the Hurricanes for 2025, it’s hard to see them having the team speed to keep up with Carolina’s fast-paced, high-pressure game over a seven-game series.
Make no mistake, though. The Capitals are Stanley Cup contenders this season, and nobody should be surprised if they see Ovechkin hoisting the chalice for the second time come June.
____
