The Washington Capitals were the biggest winners of the offseason. If there was an AP Top 25 poll as there is in college football, the Capitals would be ranked No. 1 given the off-the-ice moves of acquiring players like Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou. In addition, Washington signed Boone Jenner and Vincent Desharnais.
NHL Rumors: Quinn Hughes and Connor Ingram
These moves also allowed Alex Ovechkin to decide to come back for another year instead of retiring. That is what Ovechkin wanted from the start: to see if the Washington Capitals would be competitive moving forward. But GM Chris Patrick has retooled his team on the fly and kept them very competitive in the Eastern Conference.
So it is fair to say that the Washington Capitals are one of the favorite to win the Stanley Cup this season. However, as we have seen in the past, most recently with the Nashville Predators, winning the offseason doesn’t matter, as it sometimes doesn’t lead to results on the ice.
Jim Biringer of NHLRumors.com and Full Press NHL joined Sirius XM NHL Network Radio as a co-host previewing the Metro Division and was asked where the Washington Capitals will finish.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Host: “Everybody thinks the Washington Capitals have done enough. They already have a good formation and foundation. Ovi is back doing his thing, but that’s not even the main piece. They like what the Caps have done, the Tuch addition, and all that kind of stuff. Do you believe in the Washington Capitals as the second best team in the Metropolitan this season, Jim?”
NHL Rumors: How Does the Turmoil End with the Detroit Red Wings?
Jim Biringer: “Yes, I do. I like what they did, the Kyrou edition, the Tuch addition, Desharnais, Jenner, and obviously Cole Hutson, full season, full season out of him. Chris Patrick has really retooled this team on the fly, like changed this thing on the fly. I like their goaltending. Logan Thompson, Lindgren back there, and now Ovi is not the focal point of the offense. That’s right. It’s the other guys.”
Host: “That’s right. So he could, if healthy, chip in with another 30 goals, and I’ll take that right?”
Biringer: “ I would too. I mean, even if it’s 25, if you have Tuch and Kyrou leading the way offensively, the Protas brothers (Aliaksei and Ilya) up there as well. Tom Wilson doing his thing. This a big physical mean team that is just right below the Carolina Hurricanes in terms of tiers. If we’re looking at it’s like an A- minus tier. If we’re grading like these tiers, they’re right below them because Carolina, to me, is still the class of that division.”
NHL Rumors: Washington Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers, and the Top NHL Trade Targets
Again, the Washington Capitals have put together a solid team with a young player in Cole Hutson ready to take the next step. This team knows how to win inside the division, and you can never count them out. Washington only missed the playoffs by a couple of points last season. And they are a threat again this season.
The key for the Capitals will be whether all these guys build chemistry right away to succeed after an amazing offseason.
We had to restart our X account. Please follow @MyNHLRumorsX
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? Rumor roundups and hot topics from around the league. We’re also posting some stuff on Instagram.
If you love our reporting, choose NHLrumors.com as a preferred source on Google.
