Washington Capitals 2015-16 Season Primer

Looking at the Washington Capitals heading into this season – outlook, potential lines, roster, top prospects, draft history, stats and season schedule.

Washington Capitals

2014-15 Record: 45-26-11, 101 points (2nd Place in Metropolitan Division, 4th in the East, 9th overall)
2014-15 Outcome: Lost in Eastern Conference Semi-Final to the New York Rangers

Total Cap Hit: $71,163,459
Total Salary: $71,107,500
Cap Space: $236,541

Source: General Fanager

In: Ryan Stanton, D (FA – Van), Zach Sill, LW/C (FA – Tor), Paul Carey, LW (FA – Bos), Dan Ellis, G (FA – FLA), T.J. Oshie, RW (T – StL), Chris Bourque, LW (FA – NYR), Justin Williams, RW (FA – LA), Aaron Ness, D (FA – NYI), Taylor Chorney, D (FA – Pit), Carter Camper, C (FA – Ott), Sean Collins, LW (FA – CBJ)

Out: Eric Fehr, C/W (FA – Pit), Joel Ward, RW (FA – SJ), Pheonix Copley, G (T – StL), Troy Brouwer, RW (T – StL), Cameron Schilling, D (FA – Chi), Mike Green, D (FA – Det), Steve Oleksy, D (FA – Pit), Chris Conner, LW (FA – Phi), Patrick Wey, D (Retired), Tomas Kundratek, D (FA-Europe), Casey Wellman, RW/C (FA-Europe), Tim Kennedy, LW/C (FA-Europe)

Source: Sports Forecaster

Offseason Changes:

After a disappointing season and missing the playoffs in 2014, the Washington Capitals fired GM George McPhee and coach Adam Oates, promoting assistant Brian MacLellan to general manager and hiring longtime Nashville Predators bench boss Barry Trotz.

MacLellan immediately addressed the Caps area of need, adding veteran blueliners Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik via free agency, and Trotz brought the defensive philosophy that was his trademark in Nashville. This resulted in Washington reducing their goals against from 240 (23^rd overall) to 203 (6^thoverall), eliminating the New York Islanders in seven games and coming within a Derek Stepan overtime goal of advancing past the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Final.

The Caps chose to make room for some of their homegrown talent to take on larger roles and let some veterans leave via free agency. Defenseman Mike Green agreed to a three-year, $18 Million deal with Detroit, late season additions Tim Gleason and Curtis Glencross were not re-signed, forward Joel Ward departed to San Jose, Eric Fehr signed with Pittsburgh and veteran Troy Brouwer was traded to the St. Louis Blues along with prospect goaltender Pheonix Copley for winger T.J. Oshie.

The most significant addition may be three-time Stanley Cup winner Justin Williams, who signed a two-year, $6.5 Million deal with Washington due to the cap constraints of the LA Kings.

Outlook for the 2015-16 Season:

The Capitals are in the midst of a transition to a younger group of support players behind their core group of team captain Alex Ovechkin, center Nicklas Backstrom and goaltender Braden Holtby.

Holtby enjoyed the benefits of the “Trotzian Effect”, putting up regular season career-highs in victories(41), shutouts(9), goals-against average(2.22), save percentage(.923) and games played (73 – most in the NHL), which earned the 25-year-old netminder a five-year, $30.5 Million contract extension.

For the Caps to have a chance to win, it was almost a necessity for Holtby to be in goal. Backup Justin Peters lost six of his nine starts and when Holtby was unable to play in Game 2 of their first round series against the Islanders, it was Hershey Bears starter Phillip Grubauer who got the call.

Trotz has a history of giving starting goalies a lot of work (Pekka Rinne played 64 and 73 games in consecutive seasons with Nashville), which is an indicator that Holtby could play more than 70 games this season. The backup battle will be between Peters, Grubauer and veteran Dan Ellis(who played three seasons with the Preds).

Green not being re-signed gave the Caps the available cap space used to lock up Holtby, but his departure weakened a Capitals defensive corps that was central to the return to the playoffs.

The top four of Orpik, Niskanen, John Carlson, and Karl Alzner is solid, and young Russian Dmitry Orlov is expected to be fully healthy after missing last season with a wrist injury. 23-year-old Nate Schmidt and former Canuck Ryan Stanton will be expected to fill depth roles and that depth may put to the test if Orpik is slow in recovering from offseason wrist surgery.

Superstar Alex Ovechkin bought in to the more defensively responsible style of Trotz without any decrease in his offensive production, winning the Rocket Richard Trophy for the fifth time with 53 goals and improving his plus/minus from -35 to +10.

Nicklas Backstrom remains one of the league’s premier playmaking centers, after posting 60 assists for the second straight year, but offseason hip surgery raises concerns of whether the 27-year-old will be ready for training camp.

The changing of the guard in Washington has been spurred on by a number of young forwards who appear ready to take on greater responsibilities.

Marcus Johansson settled prior to arbitration on a one-year, $3.75 Million deal and hopes to build on his first 20-goal season, while sophomores Andre Burakovsky and Evgeny Kuznetsov showed signs that they are capable of assuming top-six responsibilities as soon as next season.

Veterans Brooks Laich, Jason Chimera, Jay Beagle and youngster Tom Wilson provide size, grit and strength and adequate secondary offense. Oshie may provide a missing intangible and will get a chance to play the right side with Backstrom and Ovechkin, as could the addition of Williams, a former Conn Smythe Trophy with an undefeated 7-0 record and 14 points in Game 7 playoff games.

Trending Up:

Kutzenzov began to display his top-end offensive skills in his first full season with the Capitals, scoring 37 points during the regular season and five goals in the playoffs. After stopgap solutions like Mikhail Grabovski and Mike Ribeiro up the middle, Kutzenzov could succeed in taking some of the scoring responsibilities and pressure off of the club’s top line.

Trending Down: 

Laich posted three consecutive 20+ goal seasons prior to signing a six-year, $27 Million contract extension in 2011, but his offense has declined to single digits and injuries have caused him to miss 86 games the last three seasons. If the 32-year-old winger continues to decline, he could be a candidate for a buyout next summer entering the final year of his deal.

Trade Deadline Outlook:

Washington is up against the cap entering the season and MacLellan will have to be creative to shed salary prior to the deadline to make room for one or two additions that could put the Capitals over the top.

Playoff Chances: High

Prediction: 2^nd in Metro

Written by Michael Augello, who can be found on twitter @MikeInBuffalo

Capitals: Outlook | Lines and Roster | Top Prospects and Draft History | Stats | Schedule

Potential line combinations, defensive pairings, and goalies.

Alexander Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsky – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Justin Williams
Marcus Johansson – Jay Beagle – Brooks Laich
Jason Chimera – Michael Latta – Tom Wilson
Sean Collins – Zach Sill

Brooks Orpik – John Carlson
Karl Alzner – Matt Niskanen
Dmitry Orlov – Taylor Chorney
Nate Schmidt

Braden Holtby
Philipp Grubauer

Capitals: Outlook | Lines and Roster | Top Prospects and Draft History | Stats | Schedule

Some top Washington Capitals prospect lists heading into the season.

* Different sites have different guidelines for who is a ‘prospect.’

A look at theWashington Capitals drafting from 2010 to 2015.

Capitals: Outlook | Lines and Roster | Top Prospects and Draft History | Stats | Schedule

Washington Capitals 2014-15 player stats.

Capitals: Outlook | Lines and Roster | Top Prospects and Draft History | Stats | Schedule

A look at the Washington Capitals 2015-16 schedule.

Capitals: Outlook | Lines and Roster | Top Prospects and Draft History | Stats | Schedule