Metro Moves: Washington Capitals

After sneaking into the playoffs during the 2023-24 season the Washington Capitals made some major moves to be even better during the 2024-25 NHL season.

This week we’re focusing on the Penguins’ opposition within the Metropolitan Division. How did their summers go, how are we feeling? Who left? Who stayed? Who is new? Where are they trying to go in the next year? We’ll look into that and more.

Metro Moves: New York Rangers
Metro Moves: Carolina Hurricanes
Metro Moves: New York Islanders

The good news for the 2023-24 Washington Capitals is that they qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The bad news for them is they were one of the worst playoff teams of the modern NHL era and there was nothing in any way that was sustainable about it. They were outscored by 37 goals and did not do anything really above average in relation to the rest of the league.

They were 28th in goals scored, 16th in goals against, 18th on the power play, 19th on the power play, 25th in expected goals share, 20th in 5-on-5 save percentage and 15th in all situations save percentage.

Nothing about that screams “playoff team.”

Despite that, the Capitals were able to do enough to outlast the other teams in the Eastern Conference wild card race and snuck in as the second wild card team. They proceeded to lose to the Presidents’ Trophy winning New York Rangers in four consecutive games.

There is no way the Capitals could have run all of that back the same way this season and expected another playoff berth. Nothing about that performance or the results was sustainable. So they either had to accept that and kickstart a rebuild given their aging core, or they had to try and make serious improvements to actually try and get better.

They chose to do the latter.

The Capitals were one of the most aggressive teams in the Eastern Conference and made some significant changes to their roster, and they could very well be for the better.

They started by trading goalie Darcy Kuemper to the Los Angeles Kings for center Pierre-Luc Dubois. While Dubois was a major disappointment in his one season with the Kings, and even though his contract is potentially one of the worst in the league, it is still a very worthwhile gamble. As bad as his 2023-24 season was, Dubois has a longer track record of being a productive player in the NHL than he does of being a bad player, and he fits a significant need in the middle of their lineup at center.

The Capitals also made a significant change to their defense and goaltending.

They acquired defenseman Jakob Chychrun from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for Nick Jensen and a 2026 third-round pick.

They later signed former Kings defenseman Matt Roy in free agency.

Both moves were significant and add two top-four caliber defenders to the Capitals’ blue line. Chychrun is more of an impact player offensively, while Roy is a shut down defender.

The Capitals also acquired veteran goalie Logan Thompson from the Vegas Golden Knights, as well as forward Andrew Mangiapane from the Calgary Flames.

In total, that is two new top-six forwards, two new top-four defenders and a goalie.

Projected lineup, in part from Daily Faceoff:

Alex Ovechkin - Dylan Strome - Tom Wilson

Connor McMichael - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Andrew Mangiapane

Sonny Milano - Hendrix Lapierre - Taylor Raddysh

Brandon Duhamie - Nic Dowd - Aliaksei Potras

Jakob Chychrun - John Carlson

Rasmus Sandin - Matt Roy

Martin Fehervary - Trevor van Riemsdyk

Charlie Lindgren

Logan Thompson

At some point the Capitals are going to have to start going through a legitimate rebuilding phase, but that time is not now. As long as Ovechkin is still in the team’s lineup and chasing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal-scoring record, it is pretty clear the Capitals are going to do everything in their power to remain in contention for a playoff spot.

They knew they could not do so with the same roster they had a year ago. So they did something about it. It might not be a Stanley Cup roster this season, but it is definitely closer to a bonafide playoff roster than what we saw from them a year ago.