With the focus shifting towards improving the roster and taking another step forward in the 2024-25 campaign, NoVa Caps contributors discuss what the Washington Capitals should do in the offseason after getting swept in the first round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs:
Harrison
After seeing Rasmus Sandin, Nick Jensen, Ethan Bear, and Trevor Van Riemsdyk all miss time due to injury or the NHLPA Players’ Assistance Progam in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Washington must prioritize addressing their defensive depth over the summer. The team likely needs at least one lefty and one righty to add to their top-six corps. Pending unrestricted free agents Matt Roy, Oliver Kylington, and Alexandre Carrier are among the best options on the open market and Jakob Chychrun of the Ottawa Senators is No. 1 on the trade board. The team should move Jensen, who counts $4.05 million against the salary cap for the next two seasons, with four right-handed blueliners already on the NHL roster for the 2024-25 campaign.
To remain in the postseason hunt next spring, Washington also could use another top-six forward. I would like to see the Capitals go for another Sandin-type acquisition here in pending Los Angeles Kings restricted free agent right-wing Arthur Kaliyev, who tallied 31, 51, and 44 goals during his three OHL seasons and is described as “an elite shooter who can be very dangerous on the power-play.” The 22-year-old, who came up in trade rumors at the NHL Trade Deadline and is appearing in them once again, has yet to get a lot of opportunity at the NHL level having been a frequent healthy scratch in SoCal this season and not appearing in the postseason. Kaliyev has not hit 60 games in either of the past two.
Regardless of what Washington does to get external help, young players like Connor McMichael, Hendrix Lapierre, and Ivan Miroshnichenko should be pencilled in for bigger roles next fall and the team must make room for them to play in the top-nine forward group.
Diane
The Capitals’ primary goals for this off season should be 1) Improve the offense; and 2) acquire a right-defenseman who’s reasonably young.
Improve Offense: The Capitals’ offense was, In a word, pitiful. They scored only 218 goals for the entire season, an average of only 2.63 goals per game, the worst in the Eastern Conference. They scored more goals than just four teams in the Western Conference: Chicago Blackhawks, Seattle Kraken, Anaheim Ducks, and San Jose Sharks, all of whom occupied the nether regions of their division standings. (Note: their “Goals For” is listed at 220 but that total includes four shootout wins.) Only one player scored more than 30 goals, Alex Ovechkin. Just two other players had scored more than 20 goals: Dylan Strome and Anthony Mantha (now departed). Thus, the goal is to acquire one or more Top 6 forwards who can provide offense, are between the ages of 25-30, and are not too pricy.
Acquire Right-Handed Defenseman: The main defensemen for the Capitals in 2023-24 were left-handed defensemen Martin Fehervary, Rasmus Sandin, and Alex Alexeyev and right-handed defensemen: John Carlson, Nick Jensen, and Trevor Van Riemsdyk. The three left-handed defensemen are all 24 years old and turn 25 during the 2024-25. Incidentally, all were drafted in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. The three right-handed defenseman will all be 33 years of age or older at the start of the 2024-25 season, with Carlson turning 35 in January and Jensen turning 34 in September. Carlson is still considered to be the franchise defenseman. The idea is to acquire a reasonably young defenseman to replace either Jensen or Van Riemsdyk who are getting older.
Ethan
After getting swept by the Rangers, the Capitals now go into the offseason with hope for the future because the team overachieved and made the postseason. But there is still work to do and if the Capitals want to continue on the upward trend they will have to do the following:
Fix the power play
The Capitals power play was horrible this season and they need to find someone to fix it. Whether the schemes need to change or the power play coach has to change they need to figure it out. It can’t just be give Alex Ovechkin the puck and hope he scores because as we have seen teams have figured out how to stop that
Give Charlie Lindgren an extension
This man was the reason the Capitals made the playoffs. He was outstanding in goal this year and while he couldn’t help us take a game in the playoffs, that still doesn’t change the fact that he had a career year. With Lindgren on the last year of his deal and with Darcy Kuemper most likely gone this offseason, it will be important for the Capitals to resign Lindgren before he can test the market
Sign another top-six forward
While they have a nice young core coming together, they need another top-six forward who can score more consistently. At the right price, guys like Jake DeBrusk, Patrick Kane and Kaliyev would be excellent additions for the team. Maybe one of these guys can help improve the power play solving two problems at once.
Justin
The Capitals really struggled offensively throughout the season, resulting in an over-reliance on 38-year-old Ovechkin to really bolster the scoring. The Caps need to add at least one primary scoring option in the top six, and another playmaking forward to contribute to the top six as well. These two additions up front should help solidify the power play as well. It seems like the free agent market is really top heavy with some elite talent (Jake Guentzel and Sam Reinhart), but I’m not sure the Caps will be willing to pony up the cash to sign guys of that stature.
On the defensive side of the ice, Washington needs to add a physical, defensive defenseman. The Capitals need to add more depth to the blue line considering John Carlson is leaned upon very heavily in terms of deployments and ice time, and the team could use another solid top four option to add to the mix.
I’d expect a bit more of an aggressive look at the trade market from General Manager Brian MacLellan. There’s been some exploratory trade conversations in the past, but the cost didn’t end up aligning with the value returned. It makes sense, considering teams that have young, NHL ready talents aren’t exactly rushing to trade those players away. The strategy will all depend on the future expectations for the team: is it a win-now move (probably not) or a move to build towards the future?
Jon
MacLellan has done a decent job of sticking to the rebuilding script over the past two trade deadlines, exchanging older players and bloated contracts for draft picks, but this offseason will present new opportunity (salary cap space), and a set of new challenges. He will continue the rebuild with the future “window” in mind, but now begin enhancing and supplementing the roster with the mid-aged free agent players. This will mean signing unrestricted free agents with ages that fit the Capitals future cup window (two-to-three years from now).
Both ends are in desperate need of upgrades. The lack of scoring is obvious, but you cannot score if the puck is in your own end. Look for possibly two new defensemen and two new forwards to come in this summer, which could give the Capitals a whole new, youthful look in September.
The rebuild will continue by looking to replace the recent forward stalwarts (Backstrom, Kuznetsov and Oshie), and upgrading the defense, setting the stage for Ovechkin’s departure to be the final piece and final move of the overall rebuild in a couple year’s time. By most accounts, the backfilling of the roster with younger players, which can’t happen over night, is right on schedule.
Making the postseason in a rebuilding year was a huge bonus and a tip of the cap to head coach Spencer “The Carburetor” Carbery, giving the youth valuable postseason experience all while being sellers at the trade deadline. Carbery has won wherever he goes and I expect the Capitals to likely creep into the next postseason as well. Just remember, the Capitals Stanley Cup window hasn’t really opened yet, but it’s coming.
