The Washington Capitals went from first in the East to missing the playoffs over two seasons. What was behind the Capitals' stark decline – and what does their future hold?
The Washington Capitals were the Eastern Conference's best team last year. Now' they're a squad with serious questions about its future.
They went into this current season with hopes of similar success and a longer playoff run than their trip to the second round of last year's post-season.
Unfortunately for the Capitals and their fans, things changed drastically. On Monday, they were officially eliminated from Stanley Cup playoff contention when the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Carolina Hurricanes.
For the second time in the past four seasons, Washington will miss out entirely on the playoffs, and they don't know yet whether Alex Ovechkin will be with them next season.
What Went Wrong For The Capitals?
Under 2024-25 coach of the year Spencer Carbery, the Capitals had the NHL's second-most-potent offense at 3.49 goals-for per game last season. They also had the league's eighth-best defense at 2.79 goals against per game.
But this season was a different story for Washington.
They have the 15th-most goals-for at 3.20 per game, and whose defense is now ranked 11th at 2.93 goals against.
Caps goalie Logan Thompson has had a solid season, posting a .912 save percentage and 2.44 GAA, which are a smidge better than last season's .910 SP and 2.49 GAA.
However, Carbery leaned on Thompson more heavily this year, giving him 58 games after he played in 43 last season.
Thompson couldn't do all the heavy lifting himself, and in the end, the Caps weren't consistent enough to be a playoff team.
They got out to a 24-21-6 record at the start of this season, and they couldn't dig out of that hole, even in a relatively weak Metro Division.
The Capitals were also a Jekyll-and-Hyde team when it came to their home and road records.
Washington was an impressive 25-11-5 at home, but its road record of 17-19-4 was poor, ranking third-worst in the East.
Had the Caps been even marginally better away from home, they would have been preparing for the playoffs right now.
If this was the final NHL season for Washington captain and superstar left winger Alex Ovechkin, his team is going out with a whimper and not a bang.
No Capitals player has more than Ovechkin's 63 points. Compare that to last season, when they had five players who posted 65 points or more – and you can see why they struggled and plummeted through the Metro standings.
What's Next For The Capitals?
What comes next depends in part on the status of Ovechkin.
If he returns next season, the Caps will continue to be in a retool-on-the-fly situation. They're going to try to make the playoffs and win the Stanley Cup without sacrificing much of their future to get there.
But really, they're going to be in that situation anyway, as they've got a slew of veterans – Thompson, defensemen Jakob Chychrun and Matt Roy and forwards Tom Wilson, Dyan Strome and Pierre-Luc Dubois, chief among them – who didn't sign up for a rebuild.
Washington GM Chris Patrick is projected to have a whopping $34 million in salary cap space this summer without a contract extension for Ovechkin.
But it's not as if there are many 30-goal scorers on the free-agent market this summer if Ovechkin retires.
Sure, Buffalo Sabres right winger Alex Tuch fits that particular bill, but he's going to be closer to winning a Cup in Buffalo than he would be if he decided to join the Capitals.
And anyway, Patrick showed he knows his team has to get younger when he sent star defenseman John Carlson to the Anaheim Ducks at the trade deadline. That retool-on-the-fly process must continue if Washington wants to be a long-term threat to win another championship.
Ultimately, though, the Capitals likely finishing fifth or sixth in the Metro this season is an indictment of where they are in their competitive cycle. Last season looked like they were strong again, so either last year was the fluke, or this season is a one-off.
They've had a long run in the Ovechkin Era that included a long-anticipated Stanley Cup championship in 2018.
Now, they're facing an uncertain future – and one that could eventually lead to the type of growing pains they experienced prior to Ovechkin's arrival in 2005.
The veterans that remain – whether Ovechkin returns or not – mean that the Caps will reload for an attempt at getting back into the post-season in 2026-27.
But they must show management this core is worth building around. Because if they can't do that next season, Patrick and team brass might decide on bigger and more widespread changes to the lineup.
It won't be easy by any means, but with the right tweaks and a stellar bounce-season, the Caps could demonstrate it's not yet time to embark on a rebuild.
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