Welcome back to another Vancouver Canucks 2025–26 season series preview. In this article series, The Hockey News - Canucks site previews Vancouver’s team series matchups for the season in chronological order. Last time, we looked at what the Canucks will face in the Chicago Blackhawks. Today, let’s preview their season matchups against the Washington Capitals.
2024–25 Season Stats
Team Stats:
Record: 51–22–9
Points: 111
Standings placement: 1st in Metropolitan Division
PP%: 23.5% (T-13th)
PK%: 82% (T-4th)
Goals:
Alex Ovechkin (44)
Tom Wilson (33)
Aliaksei Protas (30)
Dylan Strome (29)
Connor McMichael (26)
Assists:
Dylan Strome (53)
John Carlson / Pierre-Luc Dubois (46)
Aliaksei Protas (36)
Tom Wilson (32)
Connor McMichael (31)
Points:
Dylan Strome (82)
Alex Ovechkin (73)
Pierre-Luc Dubois / Aliaksei Protas (66)
Tom Wilson (65)
Connor McMichael (57)
Goaltenders:
Logan Thompson
Record: 31–6–6
GAA: 2.49
SV%: .910
SO: 2
Points: 1A
Charlie Lindgren
Record: 20–14–3
GAA: 2.73
SV%: .896
SO: 1
Points: N/A
2025 Free Agency Rundown
The Capitals finished the 2024–25 regular season with the best record in the Eastern Conference, but couldn’t make it past the second round after losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in five games. Free agency was quiet for the Capitals in terms of additions, though they did re-sign former Canuck Anthony Beauvillier and extended defenceman Martin Fehervary by seven years. Their key moves were departures, as many of their veteran staples left the team in free agency. Career Capital Nicklas Bäckström departed from the team in free agency, choosing to sign in Sweden. TJ Oshie has yet to sign anywhere else, while Lars Eller and Andrew Mangiapane also departed.
2025–26 Season Series Preview
Despite their successes from the previous season, the Capitals are an older team that is currently caught between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, many of their older players are no longer on the team. However, the team still has at least one year left of the NHL’s leading goal scorer, Ovechkin, whose current deal expires after next season. While the team still has young talent in McMichael and Strome, the path they are embarking on could become unclear. While they are unlikely to repeat their Conference-leading success from last year, especially in a finicky Metropolitan division, Washington could still make the push for a fringe playoff spot.
Vancouver plays the Capitals for the first time on October 19, only two days after their first back-to-back of the season. They’ll be in Washington for one of their earliest games of the year, as this particular game has a start time of 9:30am PT. After that, Washington visits Vancouver in January for a matchup on January 21.
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2025–26 Games Against Vancouver
Game 1: October 19, 9:30am PT @ Capital One Arena
Game 2: January 21, 7:00pm PT @ Rogers Arena
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