Noah Pedrazzoli looks at the Washington Capitals summer and where that leaves them in the Metropolitan Division this season
The Washington Capitals have had a blender of an offseason. The Metropolitan Division’s Frankenstein has added new faces to their mosaic, with many familiar or temporary names being subtracted for the new direction the Capitals are skating towards.
The Capitals have made some very bold and reckless trades. They’re a franchise that is still building around an aging Alexander Ovechkin, either to get him one more cup or to help him get the last forty-two goals needed to break Wayne Gretzky’s scoring record.
Upgrades
The Washington Capitals filled many holes that needed to be addressed, and while they made the playoffs this past year, they were easily swept aside by the New York Rangers in the first round of the NHL 2024 playoffs.
Since then, they started the summer with a bang by acquiring notorious journeyman, Pierre-Luc Dubois, from the Los Angeles Kings in a one-for-one trade with net-minder Darcy Kuemper being sent the other way. Dubois is currently the second-line center for the Capitals which demonstrates that the PLD experiment that originated in Columbus, to Winnipeg, to Los Angeles, is still ongoing to determine if the talented, but struggling centerman can finally achieve his potential as a first-line center. What’s most concerning isn’t his talent, it’s his effort and his attitude.
Not even a week later, the Capitals acquired the “bread-eater” himself in winger Andrew Mangiapane from Calgary for a 2026 second-round pick. The talented winger will be playing on the third line as well and could provide some needed middle-six depth. So far, the Capitals have a loaded bottom six. Mangiapane was playing on the second and sometimes the first line during his tenure in Calgary, even during the Matthew Tkachuk days, where he proved to be a sneaky, yet effective goal scorer.
More reinforcements were brought in to the bottom six with Brandon Duhaime, who provided essential bottom-six depth to the Colorado Avalanche during their playoff run, along with the re-signing of Ilya Protas and Connor McMichael who both proved their competency on the rollercoaster that was the Capitals playoff push.
The Capitals blue line has also gotten some necessary stability and even star power, as some business was taken care of at the NHL trade deadline with the re-signing of Rasmus Sandin, the former Leaf and puck-moving defenseman.
“With Darcy Kuemper gone, the Capitals have clearly indicated that they are comfortable with having Charlie Lindgren taking over the goal crease for the future.”
Now for the shocking and head-scratching transactions.
Before the July 1st free agency extravaganza, the Capitals traded a third-round pick and veteran defenseman Nick Jensen for young star defenseman Jakob Chychrun from the Ottawa Senators. This is a strange deal for both teams. The Senators spent a fortune on acquiring him at last year’s deadline in their own playoff push, which failed, and was projected to be their star defenseman of the future. The Capitals, after trading for him, have now put themselves in a complicated cap situation along with the potential side-effects of acquiring a player that was caught up in the NHL trade rumor mill for the past two years.
A great deal for the Capitals, was the signing of Matt Roy from the Kings during free agency. The young defenseman is another rising star who can establish a presence on the blue line by providing both defensive structure and firepower. The signing of Taylor Raddysh from the Tampa Bay Lightning will add more depth to the chaotic blueline as well.
With Darcy Kuemper gone, the Capitals have clearly indicated that they are comfortable with having Charlie Lindgren taking over the goal crease for the future. And they added a solid backup goaltender in Logan Thompson from Vegas in exchange for two third-round picks (one in 2025 and in 2026).
Capitals Division Outlook: 4th-5th Place
It seems as though the Washington Capitals have covered all their bases. They addressed their depth, their future core, their defense, and even their goaltending. But this busy offseason spells a lot of interesting circumstances and questions.
It’s difficult to place the Capitals in the Metropolitan Division. The locker room chemistry is something that has been heavily overlooked in Washington. There’s a lot of new faces that need to fuse with the previous core in order for them to become a functional fighting unit in a heavily competitive division.
The crown jewel of the team, in Alexander Ovechkin, might be one of the best goal scorers in the League’s history but he was left without even a shot on goal during the series sweep against the Rangers. His latest performance has been sporadic, very slow at the beginning of the season, and then instrumental to aiding the playoff push. Then he was absolutely nonexistent in the playoffs.
Is the Great 8’s time potentially running out?
Like their rivals in the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Washington Capitals will be facing the inevitable reality that sooner or later they will be without their irreplaceable franchise player.
The addition of notorious personality Pierre-Luc Dubois is an interesting social experiment to say the least. Dubois is a player that has tremendous upside, talent, and potential.
The Capitals are taking a chance on the young centerman to potentially prepare for the need to create a new core after Alexander Ovechikin decides to call it quits. What can be commended is that the Capitals are preparing for the future, but will it be enough and is it the right direction?
The Capitals have an interesting season ahead of them. They have to clear their cap situation while at the same time attempt to inject some fusion into their very new lineup. They still needs to develop an identity and this year will determine if they can deliver Ovechkin one last deep run.
Catch the latest episode of HNiNY as the boys spoke to former Islanders general manager Neil Smith
Hockey Night in New York will be back to cover the New York Islanders all season long with hosts Sean Cuthbert and Stefen Rosner live from Floored Media in Rockville Centre Sundays at 8PM ET! Stay tuned for training camp coverage!