The Washington Capitals have improved, but is it enough to avoid a full rebuild? The pressure lies on the front office to prove it made the right decision, says Adam Proteau.

Now that we’re well into the NHL’s off-season, it’s time to take another look at the THN.com Hot Seat Radar. We continue in reverse alphabetical order by examining the Washington Capitals.

As a reminder, the person in the “hot seat” faces pressure to produce positive results or face consequences, while whoever's in the “cold seat” is extremely likely to remain with their current team and doesn't have all that much to worry about.

Capitals’ Hot Seat: Brian MacLellan, President of Hockey Operations

The Capitals promoted Chris Patrick to GM on Monday, but predecessor MacLellan was in charge of renovating Washington’s roster, and he remains president of hockey operations. 

Considering the many moves MacLellan made – trading for Pierre-Luc Dubois, Jakob Chychrun, Logan Thompson and Andrew Mangiapane, and signing Matt Roy – he will still be ultimately responsible for the Capitals’ performance this coming season. And there's a lot of pressure still to make the playoffs and make a dent in the post-season.

MacLellan has a Stanley Cup to his credit, so you can’t pin all of the blame on him for Washington’s recent mediocrity, but the decision to retool rather than rebuild is his. 

The Caps will likely be a mid-tier team hoping to secure a wild-card Stanley Cup playoff berth, and they’re probably going to be fighting it out, tooth-and-nail, right down to the final weeks of the regular season. The gamble could pay off. If it doesn’t work out in Washington’s favor, however, it's not for a lack of trying, but Capitals fans could point a finger at MacLellan for stalling a more comprehensive rebuild.

Capitals’ Cold Seat: Alexander Ovechkin, LW

Let’s face it – one of the few satisfying things Capitals fans have enjoyed in recent years is Ovechkin’s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record. He needs 42 goals to break the record, which is possible to reach in 2024-25 but is not a given.

The 38-year-old winger is still the centerpiece of Washington’s franchise. While a trip to the Hockey Hall of Fame is a lock for Ovechkin, the days where he could carry the team on his shoulders are long gone.

Ovechkin is signed for two more seasons, which will take him to the 40-year-old mark. It’s impossible to imagine him in a different team’s jersey, even if it still means he and the Capitals could be just an average team this year. 

That said, the Capitals could be two years away from a post-Ovechkin era. While that may break the hearts of hockey fans in D.C., Father Time indeed waits for no man. Ovechkin can rest easy knowing he’s a lifer with the Capitals, but from this point on, the caveat that Washington needs to kick off a different era has to be considered by Caps management. We’ll see if the changes they’ve made will result in perhaps one last long post-season run for Ovechkin & Co.

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