It’s September, and we all know what that means: We're a mere 35 days (as of this writing) away from the Washington Capitals dropping the puck on a new season of hockey!

We’re all no doubt eagerly anticipating this upcoming season, especially after the success of last year. And we are now a year removed from GM Chris Patrick famously retooling a large portion of the Capitals’ roster, bringing in several new faces, and watching this team transform from a fringe playoff team to a real threat, and all in the span of a couple months.

Naturally this brought on a lot of questions about what Patrick had up his sleeve for this offseason, and the answer to that was…well not as much. In fact, aside from being in on the Nikolaj Ehlers sweepstakes until the very end, the only real changes for the Caps’ roster are the additions of Justin Sourdiff and Declan Chisholm; two players that will certainly be good depth players for the Capitals, but not the major game-changers that guys like Logan Thompson, Jakob Chychrun and Pierre-Luc Dubois were a year ago.

As we’ve mentioned before, this isn’t a bad thing. While this offseason didn’t have a ton of big-name free agents aside from Ehlers and Mitch Marner, the Capitals didn’t need to necessarily make any big moves this season. After grabbing the Eastern Conference lead early last season and holding it for most of the year, it’s not unwise for Capitals management to hedge on their budding stars like Aliaksei Protas or Dylan Strome putting more impressive numbers this year. Not to mention the up-and-comers like Ethen Frank, Ivan Miroshnichenko and Ryan Leonard looking to cement their place in the NHL.

I could go on about other players who will have a lot to prove in this season, and why that bodes well for the Capitals’ chances of another stellar year. But while the Capitals stand to run it back with much of the same group returning, the rest of the Metro division was not as idle. And with all of these changes, how do the Capitals look facing off against their division rivals? Let’s have a look at the rest of the division as the offseason winds down and we move into training camp.

Outside Looking In, But Still to be Taken Seriously

In an NHL division, only the top three out of eight teams is guaranteed a playoff spot, with the final two “wild card” spots being haggled over by everyone else on the outside. Last season, both Eastern Conference wild card spots went to Atlantic Division teams (Ottawa and Montreal), with Columbus coming within a hair of that final spot that ultimately went to the Canadiens. Aside from the Blue Jackets, the Rangers, Islanders, Penguins and Flyers all fell outside the playoff bubble this past season. This doesn’t mean they aren’t to be taken seriously as the Capitals look to defend their crown as Metro Division leaders from last year. Most teams in the division have seen real, tangible improvements to their lineup.

One perfect example of this is Philadelphia. In recent years, the complete lack of direction and chaos surrounding the Flyers was eclipsed only by that of their venerable mascot, Gritty. This offseason however, they seem to finally be pointing the compass in a direction, and taking a page out of the Capitals’ playbook of offseason success perhaps by taking on potential reclamation project Trevor Zegras. The Flyers lacked seriously in scoring last year, and this should be improved if Zegras can play to his potential. Part of this lack of scoring can also be blaming on coaching, which was addressed with the ousting of John Tortorella and hiring of (former Flyer) Rick Tocchet. Bringing all this together with a growing young core anchored by budding superstar Matvei Michkov, and the Flyers are shaping up to be a much more difficult team to play against. Much stronger than the team that was handedly swept aside by the Capitals last year.

In New York, both teams made some improvements, albeit less impactful potentially. Last year’s Rangers team made some moves that could made a lot of onlookers scratch their heads in disbelief. This season, they’ve made a move to address their defense with the addition of Vladislav Gavrikov, who should be a good compliment to Adam Fox. They also made the decision to move on from Peter Laviolette, which Caps fans will agree is a smart move for them. It remains to be seen whether or not Mike Sullivan will be an adequate replacement, and whether this team can truly compete after the surprising trades of players like Chris Kreider and Kaapo Kakko.

On Long Island, the Islanders were probably one of the division’s least remarkable teams last year, but some good moves by GM Lou Lamoriello, along with the good fortune of lucking into the first overall draft pick this year. Drafting Matthew Schaeffer, who will certainly factor into their defensive core almost immediately, along with signing Jonathan Drouin and Maxim Shabonov, will be helpful to rebuilding an Islanders team that isn’t too far removed from repeat Eastern Conference Final appearances.

Columbus remains a bit of an enigma in the division. A year removed from the tragic loss of star forward Johnny Gaudreau, Columbus continues to build a team that no one expects to compete for anything meaningful, yet they go on to surprise everyone. No one expected this Blue Jackets team to be competing for a playoff spot last year. The additions of Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood are helpful, but the loss of Justin Danforth and Sean Kuraly sort of cancel that out. Still, I can’t help but root for Columbus; I think Dean Evason is an underrated coach in this league, and they’re a young group good to surprise people. Players like Coyle and Wood could help provide some solid veteran leadership.

I figured I’d save the team everyone loves to hate for last: the Penguins are also an enigma. No team featuring Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin should be taken lightly, but Pittsburgh also couldn’t keep the puck out of their own net last year. To address this, the Pens acquired…Alexander Alexeyev and Anthony Mantha? Ok, sarcasm aside, I’m not really sure what direction the Pens are going. Again, the Caps would be foolish to take them lightly- they still managed to win 2 out of 2 against Washington last season. I don’t expect any of these teams to truly be a threat to the Capitals in the standings, but it goes to show that each of them have made some moves to address their deficiencies. But there are still two other teams to address…

The Threat to the Throne

Last year, the top three teams in the division were Washington, Carolina and New Jersey. While the Caps took hold of the division lead fairly early on and never looked back, they still faced incredibly tough competition from two very talented teams in NJ and Carolina. This year will likely be even more difficult.

New Jersey was mired in injuries last year. After coming out with several key wins early in the season and grabbing an early division lead, they weren’t able to keep up as the injuries piled on. Ultimately they lost fairly quickly to a very talented Carolina squad in the playoffs. This year, they aim to be much better; adding depth forwards Evgenii Dadonov and Connor Brown will bolster their offense significantly. Last season, the Capitals and Devils split their season series, and I don’t expect it to be any easier this year for Washington. One thing I do believe the Caps have going for them over NJ is (based off last season) is depth. Washington’s forward depth was among the best in the league last year (they finished second in the league in scoring). I also think Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren are a better goaltending tandem than Jacob Markstrom and whomever the Devils have backing him up…most likely either Nico Daws or Jake Allen.

Carolina is another story. The Hurricanes play an extremely fast-paced and aggressive game…a game that snake bit the Capitals in the playoffs. To improve, Carolina shed aging defenseman Brent Burns to acquire K’Andre Miller on the backend. They also won the Nikolaj Ehlers sweepstakes, who should fit in well with the Canes’ system and make them an even bigger scoring threat. Playoffs aside, the Caps and Canes split their regular season series so the Capitals can play with the Canes, and should be able to best them in a playoff series with some adjustments to their own system. But playing the Hurricanes just got that much more difficult.

So, how does it all pan out?

Making predictions of any kind is something I am terrible at and therefore try to avoid. But they are fun to try.

I think the top three spots in the division are pretty well assumed at this point, the question is in what order. The Capitals remain a formidable team. And as I’ve mentioned before, I don’t think the lack of a big ticket signing this offseason is a bad thing. Many teams would envy the Capitals’ position to have so much young, quality talent.

The rest of the division did just get more difficult to play against however. Especially the other two squads most likely to compete for that top spot with the Caps. But I still believe that Washington is as good as they’ve ever been, and will be in the hunt to retain their division crown.