The Washington Capitals, a club in decline, surprised by making the playoffs this spring. Four games later, they are on vacation. Four more games than their great rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Four more than the Canadian by the way…
Let’s not minimize their qualification. Nobody saw them in the playoffs. But their rapid elimination at the hands of Rangers, in a short series where they were never in the game, illustrates well their current state: a good little club, but still very far from shaking the best despite a nice reset .
Alex Ovechkin seemed at the end of his rope in the playoffs. He was shut out in four games. He was limited to around fifteen minutes during the last match, Sunday.
After Game 3, coach Spencer Carbery spoke about his team’s limited offense when discussing his team’s limited offense. The Capitals have scored seven goals in four games. The best scorer, Martin Fehervary, three points, including two goals, the only one to score more than one goal, is a defender.
Ovechkin had a good regular season despite being 38 years old. He had 65 points, including 31 goals, in 79 games. However, this is his worst point production per game in his career. He will be 39 years old at the start of next season. We cannot ask him to take this team to the top alone. He is human, after all.
Ovechkin was well surrounded during the Capitals’ glory years. Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeni Kuznetsov played center. Justin Williams and Marcus Johansson brought depth to the wings. TJ Oshie scored around thirty goals per season in proportion to a full year. Tom Wilson was on the rise. On defense, John Carlson was supported by Dmitri Orlov and Matt Niskanen. Goaltender Braden Holtby was one of the best in his profession.
The next few seasons may be difficult in Washington. General manager Brian MacLellan began a rejuvenation phase two years ago, but we don’t see any potential big stars emerging, at least for the moment.
MacLellan made a big move by hiring Dylan Strome, abandoned by the Chicago Blackhawks. He inherited a 67-point center without giving up anything in return. But at 27, Strome’s ceiling has arguably been reached.
Behind him, within the second trio, 25e overall pick in 2019, he has just amassed 33 points, including 18 goals, in his second full season in the NHL, at age 23. Interesting, yes. Impactful, no. The first pick of 2020, 22e in total, Hendrix Lapierre was able to join the National League this winter, after having played the first half of the season in the American League. He had 22 points in 51 games at third-line center and scored a nice goal on Sunday.
Rough 6-foot, 192-pound winger Ryan Leonard, the eighth overall pick in 2023, is arguably the team’s best prospect. He has just amassed 60 points, including 31 goals, in 41 games at Boston College as part of a formidable trio completed by Will Smith and Gabriel Perreault. The future will tell us if he can be as productive without his inseparable companions, including Smith, the driving force of the trio. But the potential is there.
2022 first-round pick Ivan Miroshnichenko has played 21 games this season, recording six points. He is one of the rare members of this vintage, led by Juraj Slafkovsky, to have played around twenty matches. The second round pick that year, Andrew Cristall, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound winger, had just scored 111 points in 62 games in Kelowna of the Western Junior League.
The succession is thinner in defense. John Carlson, 34, still has a few good seasons to give. Rasmus Sandin, 24, acquired from the Leafs last year for a first-round pick, is a staunchly offensive defenseman, but weak defensively.
The Capitals will draft 17e this season. The chances of getting a great player are significantly higher in a top 5 Or 10but there is always a way to find pearls in the middle of the first round.
At least, Washington was able to keep its first round picks from recent years, unlike the Pittsburgh Penguins, whose fall risks being brutal.
The Capitals have drafted five times in the first round and six times in the second since 2018, compared to three first-round picks for the Penguins, and four second-round picks. Pittsburgh also traded its 2024 first-round pick to get Erik Karlsson.
Alex Ovechkin is 41 goals away from Wayne Gretzky’s record. Knowing the connection between him and owner Ted Leonsis, he will likely not be traded. In the absence of a dominant club, the race for the record risks constituting a certain point of attraction, unless Ovie runs out of steam to the point of killing the suspense.
Will the Jets pick increase in value?
PHOTO DAVID ZALUBOWSKI, ASSOCIATED PRESS
After winning the first game of their series, the Winnipeg Jets now trail 3-1 at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche. An elimination in the first round would ensure the Canadian is drafted at 27e rank in the worst case scenario, with the choice obtained from Winnipeg for Sean Monahan.
But the CH can still improve its situation, in the event, obviously, of an elimination in the first round of the Jets. The last four choices are allocated to the four clubs in the final four. Boston, Colorado, Edmonton, Nashville and Vegas finished below Winnipeg in the overall standings. If one or more of these teams reach the semi-final, they will push back the top clubs in the repechage standings.
In an ideal scenario, Boston, Colorado, Edmonton and Vegas would reach the final four. Winnipeg’s choice would then be located at 23e rank. If two of these clubs reach the semi-final, it will be the 25the rank. Montreal would therefore draft between the 23e and the 27the rank.
But hey, let’s give the Jets the chance to save their skin first…