The Washington Capitals begin their regular season on Wednesday with plenty of optimism, but also more than a few questions.
Unlike last season, when those questions surrounded multiple offseason acquisitions that paid dividends for the most part (from goaltender Logan Thompson to forward Pierre Luc-DuBois), this year’s questions surround the 10 players who set career highs for points in a season last winter.
Will last year be a springboard or a ceiling for up-and-comers like Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas? And can “thirtysomethings” like Tom Wilson and Nic Dowd maintain that production for another long winter (82 games)?
“Guys had career years, as everyone’s stated and talked about, well now we know how good that person can be,” the 35-year-old Dowd said last month on the team’s media day. “If we can do that, which guys are hungry to do, then things will work itself out.”
Last year’s Capitals surprised the NHL by capturing its first division title since 2020 and won a playoff series for the first time since the Stanley Cup-winning season of 2018.
“I think we proved a lot of people wrong (last year),” goaltender Logan Thompson told John Aaron and John Domen on WTOP Tuesday morning. “I think coming into this year with the same group-same team-we’re hungry for a lot more and we’re ready to get this thing going.”
Thompson’s goals-against average of 2.49 ranked seventh in the league last winter and he finished ninth in save percentage (. 910).
One player who did not set a career high in goals, assists or points was the guy that everybody had their eyes on and delivered a season for the ages. Alex Ovechkin’s 44 goals pushed the captain past Wayne Gretzky’s previous all-time mark of 894 this past April.
The number is now 897 and will be padded for at least one more season.
“Just his mentality and his physical perseverance, just to keep going and do what he’s doing is … I mean, really there’s no words to describe it,” Tom Wilson said.
“I don’t think anybody in that room will be talking about playing when they’re forty, let alone scoring 44 goals on a broken leg. and all that stuff last year. He’s a machine.”
Ovechkin was hampered by injuries in the preseason but once again, he came back from a broken leg last winter.
In addition to Ovechkin and Wilson, the core that includes Dylan Strome (29 goals and 53 assists last season) plus defensemen Jakob Chychrun (career-high 20 goals last winter) and John Carlson will be supplemented by those who had breakout seasons last winter.
There will also be three forwards to watch: Sonny Milano missed most of last season with injury but has been healthy and productive this fall, Hendrix Lapierre spent most of last winter in the minors but made the NHL roster after a strong training camp, and rookie Ryan Leonard is showing every bit of the promise he displayed while excelling for two seasons at Boston College.
“I’m telling you, the kids are good,” Wilson said. “If I don’t keep improving I’m not going to have a job pretty soon. These young guys are big, they can skate, they’ve got skill.”
The schedule begins with five of their first seven games at home, but an early four game road trip includes stops at longtime rival Pittsburgh, reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida, and a Carolina team that eliminated the Caps last May. Washington hosts the Hurricanes Dec. 11 and plays the Panthers at Capital One Arena on Jan. 17.
They won’t see the Penguins in Washington until April 12 (second to last game of the season). By then, we will have learned which players were able to match last season’s ceiling, and if the club can continue to be an Eastern Conference contender.
“Whether people think we’re going to do it or not do it, we’ve got a bunch of guys who are self-motivated young men,” head coach Spencer Carbery said. “Every day when they wake up, and myself and our staff included, we’re going to try to be better than we were the previous day, and we’re going to get after it as hard as we possibly can.”
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