- Team Outlook from McKeen’s Hockey Guide:
If you told someone in early February that the Washington Capitals would win the Southeast Division, they would have laughed at you. The team was 2-8-1, Braden Holtby looked like he was going through some growing pains, and there were still reasons to be concerned about whether or not Alex Ovechkin could rejoin the NHL elite.Then Ovechkin’s transition to the right wing started to pay off and Holtby bounced back in a big way. The two helped the team reach a 15-2-2 record to capture one last title before realignment. The Caps still ended up losing their first-round playoff series against the New York Rangers in seven games, however at least their late-season revival gave fans reasons to be optimistic going forward.
It demonstrated that new Capitals coach Adam Oates knows how to get the most out of Ovechkin and that should lead to the superstar reaching the 50-goal mark in their first full season together. That will be critical, but the Capitals’ offense will also be supported by Nicklas Backstrom and a solid group of secondary scorers that includes Troy Brouwer, the rising Marcus Johansson, and the recently signed Mikhail Grabovski.
In goal, Braden Holtby will finally get a chance to show what he can do in a full NHL season. Short of a collapse, he should surpass his previous career-high of 36 games, but not by as much as some might suspect. Michal Neuvirth was firmly relegated to the backup role in 2013 because Holtby got hot at the right time and every game was critical for Washington late in the shortened season. However, going forward, Oates is likely going to split the duties more evenly. Neuvirth shouldn’t be underestimated and, while he might not win the starting job, he should at least take a large chunk of playing time away from Holtby.
Perhaps the biggest X-factor for Washington is the realignment itself. They are going from the routinely looked down upon Southeast Division to the imposing Metropolitan Division. They should make the playoffs regardless, though it might be a while before they win another division title.
- Team Fantasy Outlook from Dobber Hockey’s 2013-14 Fantasy Guide – Over a 150 pages of fantasy goodness:
The lowdown on: Marcus Johansson – The 22-year-old’s (23 in October) game really blossomed once he moved to the wing, often seeing time with the big guns on the top line. His faceoff skills are lacking, so from that standpoint playing the wing is a good thing. Although he has great two-way upside, it’s his defensive acumen that made him an NHLer earlier than he otherwise would have been. The word on him has always been “great potential third-line checker, second-line upside”. But that was at center. On the wing, he could be a complimentary winger on the first line and last year he that very thing. The light came on around the middle of March and he ended the campaign with 20 points in his last 22 games. If he keeps the sweet job on the Ovechkin line, look out. And yes, this will be his fourth NHL season.There were several games in the postseason where Perreault was the team’s best offensive player. Up to this point, he’s been incredibly streaky, but steady ice time and quality linemates will fix that. Last season he sandwiched a 10-game pointless streak with 12 points in 14 games (before) and five points in eight games (after). Boom or bust pick to be sure, but even at worst he will have his spurts of quality production.
Erat didn’t exactly shoot out the lights upon arriving in Washington, managing just three points in nine games. But he saw less than five percent of his shifts on Ovechkin’s line, instead playing with Mike Ribeiro. All this line combo and line production information you can grab yourself in DobberHockey’s Frozen Pool section – for free.
Green returned from what must have been his millionth groin injury in March and found his old mojo back. He had offseason surgery on it last year and had claimed it was back to 100 percent for the first time in years. March re-injury to it may have just been a matter of the groin getting back into playing regular hockey. At any rate, from March 30 onward he had 22 points in 18 regular season and playoff games. That’s the Mike Green we remember. Expect some minor groin troubles, but if he plays most of the season the big points will be back.
One would think that Green’s absense would help Carlson, due to more PP time. But it actually hurt. Carlson had five points in the 13 games that Green missed, but 17 in 35 when they were both playing. Just one of his five power-play points were with Green out of the lineup.
Follow link for more info and stats
Additions: D Julien Brouillette, D David Kolomatis, G David Leggio, F John Mitchell, D Nate Schmidt, F Brandon Segal, D Tyson Strachan, F Matt Watkins.
Subtractions: D Julien Brouillette, D David Kolomatis, G David Leggio, F John Mitchell, D Nate Schmidt, F Brandon Segal, D Tyson Strachan, F Matt Watkins.
Promotion candidates: RW Tom Wilson, C Michael Latta, D Nate Schmidt
Player salaries: $62,005,000
Cap Number: $64,750,962
Bonuses: $595,000
Cap Space: $144,038
Forwards: $43,710,128 (14)
Defensemen: $16,690,833 (7)
Goalies: $4,350,000 (2)
Source: CapGeek
Forwards
Marcus Johansson – Nicklas Backstrom – Alex Ovechkin
Brooks Laich – Mikhail Grabovski – Troy Brouwer
Tom Wilson – Martin Erat – Eric Fehr
Jason Chimera – Jay Beagle – Joel Ward
Aaron Volpatti
Defensemen
Karl Alzner – Mike Green
John Erskine – John Carlson
Jack Hillen – Steve Oleksy
Dmitry Orlov – Tyson Strachan
Goalies
Braden Holtby
Michal Neuvirth
2013 Washington Capitals Draft Results
| Rd. | Draft # | Player | Team | Pos. |
| 1 | 23 | Andre Burakovsky | Malmo (SWE) | LW |
| 2 | 53 | Madison Bowey | Kelowna (WHL) | D |
| 2 | 61* | Zachary Sanford | Islanders (EJHL) | LW |
| 5 | 144 | Blake Heinrich | Sioux City (USHL) | D |
| 6 | 174 | Brian Pinho | St. John’S Prep (HS MA ) | C |
| 7 | 204 | Tyler Lewington | Medicine Hat (WHL) | D |
Washington Capitals Top Prospects
| NHL.com | Hockey Prospectus | Dobber Prospects | Hockeys Future | The Hockey News | |
| 1 | Evgeny Kuznetsov | Evgeny Kuznetsov | Evgeny Kuznetsov | Evgeny Kuznetsov | Evgeny Kuznetsov |
| 2 | Tom Wilson | Andre Burakovsky | Andre Burakovsky | Tom Wilson | Andre Burakovsky |
| 3 | Andre Burakovsky | Madison Bowey | Stanislav Galiev | Andre Burakovsky | Tom Wilson |
| 4 | Riley Barber | Riley Barber | Dmitri Orlov | Tomas Kundratek | Madison Bowey |
| 5 | Connor Carrick | Thomas Wilson | Tom Wilson | Philipp Grubauer | Philipp Grubauer |
| 6 | Philipp Grubauer | Nate Schmidt | Philipp Grubauer | Madison Bowey | Riley Barber |
| 7 | Madison Bowey | Christian Djoos | Riley Barber | Riley Barber | Connor Carrick |
| 8 | Michael Latta | Stanislav Galiev | Connor Carrick | Nate Schmidt | Zach Sanford |
| 9 | Nate Schmidt | Connor Carrick | Zach Sanford | Stanislav Galiev | Stanislav Galiev |
| 10 | Stanislav Galiev | Tomas Kundratek | Madison Bowey | Michael Latta | Patrick Wey |
2012-13 Washington Capitals Player Stats
| Player |
Pos
|
GP
|
G
|
A
|
P
|
+/-
|
PIM
|
PP
|
SH
|
GW
|
OT
|
S
|
S%
|
| Alex Ovechkin |
L
|
48
|
32
|
24
|
56
|
2
|
36
|
16
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
220
|
14.5
|
| Mike Ribeiro |
C
|
48
|
13
|
36
|
49
|
-4
|
53
|
6
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
63
|
20.6
|
| Nicklas Backstrom |
C
|
48
|
8
|
40
|
48
|
8
|
20
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
82
|
9.8
|
| Troy Brouwer |
R
|
47
|
19
|
14
|
33
|
-5
|
28
|
7
|
1
|
5
|
1
|
111
|
17.1
|
| Mike Green |
D
|
35
|
12
|
14
|
26
|
-3
|
20
|
4
|
0
|
2
|
1
|
96
|
12.5
|
| John Carlson |
D
|
48
|
6
|
16
|
22
|
11
|
18
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
97
|
6.2
|
| Marcus Johansson |
C
|
34
|
6
|
16
|
22
|
3
|
4
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
40
|
15
|
| Joel Ward |
R
|
39
|
8
|
12
|
20
|
7
|
12
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
52
|
15.4
|
| Eric Fehr |
R
|
41
|
9
|
8
|
17
|
14
|
10
|
2
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
72
|
12.5
|
| Mathieu Perreault |
C
|
39
|
6
|
11
|
17
|
7
|
20
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
47
|
12.8
|
| Jason Chimera |
L
|
47
|
3
|
11
|
14
|
-5
|
48
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
92
|
3.3
|
| Wojtek Wolski |
L
|
27
|
4
|
5
|
9
|
1
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
49
|
8.2
|
| Jack Hillen |
D
|
23
|
3
|
6
|
9
|
9
|
14
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
28
|
10.7
|
| Steve Oleksy |
D
|
28
|
1
|
8
|
9
|
9
|
33
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
25
|
4
|
| Matt Hendricks |
C
|
48
|
5
|
3
|
8
|
-6
|
73
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
54
|
9.3
|
| Jay Beagle |
C
|
48
|
2
|
6
|
8
|
-1
|
14
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
56
|
3.6
|
| Tomas Kundratek |
D
|
25
|
1
|
6
|
7
|
-5
|
8
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
23
|
4.3
|
| John Erskine |
D
|
30
|
3
|
3
|
6
|
10
|
34
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
32
|
9.4
|
| Karl Alzner |
D
|
48
|
1
|
4
|
5
|
-6
|
14
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
39
|
2.6
|
| Brooks Laich |
C
|
9
|
1
|
3
|
4
|
2
|
6
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
10
|
10
|
| Martin Erat |
R
|
9
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
0
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
9
|
11.1
|
| Jeff Schultz |
D
|
26
|
0
|
3
|
3
|
-6
|
12
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
12
|
0
|
| Joey Crabb |
R
|
26
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
-1
|
8
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
20
|
10
|
| Tom Poti |
D
|
16
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
-2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
8
|
0
|
| Aaron Volpatti |
L
|
17
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
-2
|
7
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
10
|
0
|
| Dmitry Orlov |
D
|
5
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
| Roman Hamrlik |
D
|
4
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
-1
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
| Cameron Schilling |
D
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
| Player |
GP
|
GS
|
W
|
L
|
OT
|
SA
|
GA
|
GAA
|
Sv
|
Sv%
|
SO
|
G
|
A
|
| Braden Holtby |
36
|
35
|
23
|
12
|
1
|
1123
|
90
|
2.58
|
1033
|
0.92
|
4
|
0
|
2
|
| Michal Neuvirth |
13
|
12
|
4
|
5
|
2
|
367
|
33
|
2.74
|
334
|
0.91
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
| Philipp Grubauer |
2
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
59
|
5
|
3.57
|
54
|
0.915
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
Some info, stats and video taken from NHL.com’s 30-in-30 series.