Capitals Fan Survey Results: Who's The MVP, Who Needs To Improve Most & What To Make Of The Caps At The Quarter Mark

With the Washington Capitals a quarter of the way through the 2023-24 NHL season and ranking third in the Metropolitan Division up to this point, The Hockey News felt it was time to ask the fans to share their takes on the start of the season.

So, we created a survey and got a great turnout, with multitudes of Capitals fans from the United States, Canada, Australia, Belarus, Netherlands and Sweden taking the time to share their takes.

Here are the results and answers to some of our questions, including who's the MVP, who needs to step up and much more.

Given the Capitals' dominant November and where the team currently sits in the standings, the majority of survey-takers were optimistic about the season to date.

About forty-eight percent of survey-takers gave a four rating, while roughly 35 percent felt somewhere in between. Just two participants feel very pessimistic, while almost seven percent were feeling very optimistic.

Most participants were positive about the new direction of the team under head coach Spencer Carbery, as the majority of participants (45.36 percent) were very optimistic while about 31 percent were just optimistic. Twenty-three participants remained neutral, while just three reported being very pessimistic about the direction of the coaching staff.

Carbery's staff includes assistants Kirk Muller, Mitch Love and Scott Allen, goaltending coach Scott Murray, skills coach Kenny McCudden and video coaches Brett Leonhardt and Emily Engle-Natzke.

When it came to players who have surprised this season, the majority of survey-takers wrote that Connor McMichael has been the biggest surprise this season.

The 22-year-old is back up in the NHL after having been demoted to the AHL last year under head coach Peter Laviolette. Now, he is thriving and has established himself as a top-6 center who can play multiple roles.

Dylan Strome, who is tied with Tom Wilson for the team lead in goals and started off the year as the team's top scorer, ranked second. Charlie Lindgren, who is among the top netminders in the league and has arguably been one of the biggest reasons the team is where it is in the standings, finished third.

Rookie Beck Malenstyn was also a top pick given his role as an identity fourth-line forward. Anthony Mantha, who's been contributing more offensively and has seemed to find his game and confidence under head coach Spencer Carbery, ranked behind him.

Other mentions included Hendrix Lapierre and Rasmus Sandin, as well as Matthew Phillips.

Before getting injured, T.J. Oshie's name came up the most as he led this survey with 28.2 percent of participants wanting to see improvement from him. He had suffered a lengthy goal drought to start the season and finally broke it on Nov. 22, but still had just one goal and wasn't playing with consistency.

There were two other names that came up the most for this question: Alex Ovechkin, who is on pace to score under 20 goals for the first time in his career, and Evgeny Kuznetsov, inconsistency and penalties ultimately led to his benching on Saturday against Vegas.

Behind them, Darcy Kuemper, Anthony Mantha, John Carlson and Nick Jensen were next.

Hands down, the answer was Lindgren again. The netminder has been a force to be reckoned with and has shut the door while showing the coaching staff that he deserves more playing time. His .934 save percentage is among the best in the league, and he's doing what he can to make a name for himself.

Behind him was Strome, the team's goal-scoring leader, followed by McMichaell, Carlson, Nic Dowd and Rasmus Sandin. Dowd missed a good first part of the season with an upper-body injury and had core surgery this summer, and since coming back, has added some identity to the group. Rasmus Sandin, meanwhile, is taking well to his top-4 role and has also made some great offensive, though he's not necessarily credited for them on the scoresheet.

Strome took this category with over 55 percent of users agreeing that he was by far the team's most valuable player. He has been the main contributor on a lackluster offense so far, giving him that title.

Behind him was Lindgren for his stellar showing. Then, John Carlson, the team's leader in assists and points, ranked third, followed by McMichael, Ovechkin and Rasmus Sandin.

For multiple fans, it's Miro time. Almost 68 percent of the fans surveyed want to see Ivan Miroshnichenko make his NHL debut next.

Ethen Frank, the AHL's fastest skater and a top contributor for the Hershey Bears, is next on that list after he earned an NHL contract last season. Ryan Leonard, who's been red-hot in his freshman year with Boston College, is third on that list.

Another popular pick was Andrew Cristall, who has been leading the way and brought back confidence, strong skating and important lessons to juniors following his first NHL training camp.

Alex Limoges and 2023 seventh-rounder Antoine Keller also got some love.

The majority of survey-takers agreed that Strome, the survey's MVP, should be Ovechkin's full-time pivot. There are 12 percent that still believe Evgeny Kuznetsov is his best bet, followed by Connor McMichael. Nic Dowd was not included in this survey given the success and consistency of his fourth line.

These results were interesting. Despite Lindgren's rise, 69 percent of those surveyed said that neither goaltender should be the starter but that Carbery should go to a 1A/1B approach and ride the hot hand. If fans did pick, though, most went with Lindgren

Though Malenstyn doesn't technically qualify as an NHL rookie given he's played at least six NHL games in each of the two seasons preceding this one, he has been the most impressive freshman for fans to watch.

Behind him is Lapierre, who earned a call-up with Nicklas Backstrom choosing to step away from the game and the team dealing with some other ailments and injuries up front.

Matthew Phillips, Lucas Johansen and Hardy Häman Aktell also got some votes.

The power play remains the largest concern, with 49.7 percent of fans pointing out the lack of success on the man advantage. Washington is just 5-for-60 (8.33 percent) on the PP this season, which ranks dead last. The team also just recently ended a 13-game PPG drought.

Goal scoring overall is another big concern, as the team ranks second-to-last in goals per game (2.38). That goes hand in hand with Ovechkin, as the 38-year-old captain is the third biggest concern in the survey.

Those are followed by the overall health of the team and top players/core names failing to produce.

On a more positive note, the penalty kill has been solid after a rocky start, and though there's been some recent bumps, the PK has seemed to figure things out for the most part.

Behind the PK, fans also cited goaltending as the biggest strength given Charlie Lindgren's rise, and that was tied with the team's youth and depth as the second-top strength this season.

Team defence, coaching and team dynamic, along with energy and speed, followed up as the most popular results.