Inside look at Washington Capitals

NHL.com is providing in-depth roster, prospect and fantasy analysis for each of its 32 teams from Aug. 1-Sept. 1. Today, the Washington Capitals.

The Washington Capitals' challenge heading into training camp last season was to integrate seven players they added in the offseason. They did it almost seamlessly and surprised many by finishing first in the Eastern Conference (51-22-9) before losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Washington wasn't nearly as busy this offseason, limiting its additions to depth trades for forward Justin Sourdif (Florida Panthers) and defenseman Declan Chisholm (Minnesota Wild), but faces another imposing challenge. To take the next step in pursuit of winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2018, the Capitals will need to find a way to squeeze more out of a lineup filled with players coming off career seasons and a soon-to-be 40-year-old Alex Ovechkin coming off a record-breaking season.

"You can point to all these different things that went right for us and went really well," coach Spencer Carbery said. "So now you come back in and it's on us and it's my job to not only create that hunger from our group, but also we've got to take it to another level.

"That's what we've been working on from a mindset standpoint of, 'Last year was great, there were a lot of things accomplished, but also we've got another step to get.'"

Washington tried to add a forward through unrestricted free agency to play on one of its top two lines, but after that fell through, it re-signed forward Anthony Beauvillier to a two-year contract July 3 and decided to stick with what it had. Following the departures of unrestricted free agent forwards Andrew Mangiapane (Edmonton Oilers), Lars Eller (Ottawa Senators) and Taylor Raddysh (New York Rangers), the Capitals plan to give young players such as Ryan Leonard, 20; Ivan Miroshnichenko, 21; Andrew Cristall, 20; and Hendrix Lapierre, 23, a chance to show what they can do in training camp and early in the season, and then assess if they need to make a trade.

"If it's not working or if we feel like the team is in a spot where we need to add a veteran guy, then we'll go out and be aggressive to do that," general manager Chris Patrick said. "But I think we need to see what we have with some of these guys and then make our decisions based off that. I feel pretty confident in the team around them."

Patrick has reason to feel that way; among those to fit in perfectly with the Capitals last season was center Pierre-Luc Dubois, who responded after being acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings on June 19, 2024, by setting an NHL career high with 66 points (20 goals, 46 assists) in 82 games.

Defenseman Jakob Chychrun, acquired in a trade with the Senators on July 1, 2024, established NHL career highs in goals (20) and points (47), and goalie Logan Thompson, acquired in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights on June 29, 2024, set NHL career bests in wins (31) and goals-against average (2.49) in 43 games.

Other Washington players to set League career highs last season included forwards Aliaksei Protas (66 points; 30 goals, 36 assists), Tom Wilson (65 points; 33 goals, 32 assists), Connor McMichael (57 points; 26 goals, 31 assists) and Nic Dowd (14 goals, 27 points). But with those statistical breakouts come questions about whether those players can duplicate or exceed what they accomplished last season.

Patrick said he believes those questions will provide motivation this season.

"I think there's some hunger there for guys to show that, 'We're continuing to build our games and improve,'" he said. "'Yeah, it was a career year numbers-wise, but I still have more to give.'"

It would be understandable to wonder how much more Ovechkin can give after he tied for third in the NHL with 44 goals last season, including the 895th of his career April 6 against the New York Islanders to overtake Wayne Gretzky for most in League history. But the Capitals captain, who turns 40 on Sept. 17, seemed far from satisfied and heads into his 21st NHL season needing three goals to become the first player to reach 900.

It also could be Ovechkin's final season in the League; he's entering the last season of the five-year contract he signed in 2021 and has yet to decide whether he plans to continue to play beyond that.

Helping Ovechkin break the goals record fueled Washington to be one of the NHL's most consistent teams last season; it lost three games in a row in regulation just once (Feb. 25-March 1).

The Capitals will have to find other ways to push through the 82-game grind of this season.

"The chase energized us a lot last year," said Carbery, who won the Jack Adams Award as NHL coach of the year last season, "and now to replace that or at times replace that is, 'Hey, we have aspirations of trying to win a Stanley Cup here, so this is where we're going to need to find a little bit extra juice.'"