With the NHL season now just a month away, it’s time to look at what each team has done this summer and what to watch for in the year to come. Today, we focus on the Washington Capitals.
Last Season: 49-26-7 record (105 points), first in the Metropolitan Division (beat Vegas in the Stanley Cup Final, beat Tampa Bay in the third round, beat Pittsburgh in the second round, beat Columbus in the first round)
Remaining Cap Space: $1.099MM per CapFriendly
Key Arrivals: F Nic Dowd (free agent, Vancouver), F Sergei Shumakov (free agent, CSKA Moscow)
Key Departures: F Jay Beagle (free agent, Vancouver), F Alex Chiasson (free agent, unsigned), G Philipp Grubauer (trade with Colorado), D Jakub Jerabek (free agent, Edmonton)
[Related: Capitals Depth Chart From Roster Resource]
Player To Watch: D Michal Kempny – Kempny signed with Chicago two years ago but never really locked down a regular role. The Capitals targeted him in advance of the trade deadline and it wound up being an under the radar move that really wound up paying dividends. He worked his way into a regular role and wound up playing alongside top defenseman John Carlson.
That gave Kempny quite a boost heading into the free agent market. Partway through the interview period, he decided to re-up with the Caps, inking a four-year, $10MM contract while nearly tripling his previous AAV in the process. Instead of being simply a depth option as he was initially acquired to be, Washington will be expecting a lot more from the 27-year-old.
Can Kempny lock down a top-four role on a full-time basis? While they can shield him on special teams, he’s still likely to play at five-on-five with Carlson. If he can do that, their back end won’t necessarily need to be a focus for in-season additions assuming youngsters Madison Bowey and Christian Djoos continue to progress. If Kempny struggles in that spot, however, then the Capitals will be looking at shoring up their back end as the season goes on.
Key Storyline: It’s extremely rare that a Cup-winning team has a new head coach behind the bench but that is the case in Washington with Barry Trotz resigning (he subsequently joined the Islanders) and associate coach Todd Rierden taking his place. What type of effect is that going to have on a team that is nearly fully intact from their postseason run?
There is typically a championship hangover across the major sports and hockey is no exception. How will incorporating a new head coach change that? Will it up the focus level early on as the players adapt to a new system or will the changes add to the early-season lethargy that sometimes comes up after a team wins a title? With so few coaching swaps taking place after a championship, this is certainly going to be intriguing to follow as it’s unlikely to happen again anytime soon.
Overall Outlook: While there could be some hiccups early on, Washington should still be among the contenders in a very tight Metropolitan Division. It’s far from a guarantee that they’ll take home the top spot once again but they should comfortably be able to avoid battling for a Wild Card spot.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Only thing that concerns me is if the hunger to win the cup will still be there