If there’s a downside to spending a decade-and-a-half as one of the League’s winningest teams, it’s that the opportunities to restock high-end talent through the draft are more difficult. Drafting a generational winger and franchise center with top-five picks isn’t necessarily easy, but it’s certainly going to have a better hit rate than drafting their successors with … [Read more...] about Restocking Risks and Rewards
What’s Missing in the Caps’ Top Six
When Brian MacLellan completed his business at the trade deadline, he’d moved a few players but kept enough for a more-or-less realistic playoff push, a situation in which his Caps still find themselves (albeit somewhat tenuously). Having traded away Evgeny Kuznetsov and Anthony Mantha, he probably envisioned a top-six along the lines of Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-Tom Wilson … [Read more...] about What’s Missing in the Caps’ Top Six
Morning After: Toronto Blues
On a night where the Capitals needed a win to put themselves in the final Wild Card spot, leaping over the Detroit Red Wings, they did the exact opposite, squandering one of their games in hand in the process. The game started off poorly, with the Maple Leafs scoring on the first shot of the game from Auston Matthews. The rest of the period, though, the Capitals looked … [Read more...] about Morning After: Toronto Blues
Capitals’ Power Play Gives a Lesson in Regression
The Washington Capitals entered calendar year 2024 with one of the worst power plays in hockey. Through the season’s first 34 games, the unit had clicked on a woeful 11.5 percent of its opportunities, third-worst in the League, and that was after a relatively hot 5-for-23 run. The struggles were as disappointing and confounding as they were surprising – if there was one area … [Read more...] about Capitals’ Power Play Gives a Lesson in Regression
Leaning In on Lindgren and Leads
The current incarnation of the Washington Capitals isn’t what most onlookers would consider a “good” hockey team. They’ve lost more games than they’ve won. They rank 29th in the League in scoring, 18th in goals against, 20th on the power play, 16th on the penalty kill, 30th in shots on goal, 21st in shots allowed and 30th in faceoff percentage. The underlying numbers aren’t … [Read more...] about Leaning In on Lindgren and Leads