The Washington Capitals have one advantage in their 2024-25 regular season schedule. The Caps will be one of the least-traveled teams in the NHL.
According to @TJStats/X and shared by Bleacher Report, the Capitals will travel only 35,600 miles total for its 41 away games, the sixth-easiest travel schedule in the league. Only five other teams, four of which are in the Metropolitan Division, will travel fewer miles including the Philadelphia Flyers (35,500), New York Rangers (35,300), Columbus Blue Jackets (33,400), Ottawa Senators (32,800), and Pittsburgh Penguins (31,700).
The team that travels the most overall is the Dallas Stars, who will be in the air nearly double the Capitals at 56,700 miles. The reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers (51,100), Anaheim Ducks (51,000), Edmonton Oilers (50,000), and Utah Hockey Club (48,700) make up the rest of the top five.
The Capitals have five stretches with at least three consecutive road games during their 2024-25 season slate and will play nearly 60 percent of their road games in a three-month span from November through January (24). In late January 2025, the Capitals will have their longest road trip of the season where they’ll play Edmonton, Seattle, Vancouver, Calgary, and Ottawa.
While the Capitals’ total travel is on the lightish side, they do have a particularly tough stretch during the holiday season per Mike Vogel.
[F]rom late November until just ahead of Christmas, the Caps will not have a “homestand” longer than one game, so they must travel for a dozen consecutive games. That rugged patch of schedule does include three two-day gaps between games and a four-day gap as well, but there are also three sets of back-to-backs packed into that stretch.
The Capitals begin their 50th anniversary season on October 12 at home against the New Jersey Devils, four days after the NHL season officially starts.
