“The final score from Washington is 5-0 and the Rangers win game seven.” Those are the words that were left engrained in every die-hard Washington Capitals fan’s mind May 13, after the Caps failed to reach the Stanley Cup Finals in their sixth straight playoff appearance.
The Caps look worse than they did last year. They have lost good players and made almost no moves to acquire replacements. With the new division alignments in the NHL, the Caps, who show little sign of improvement, will be in for a very tough year. They will now face the tough Penguins, Flyers and Rangers on a much more regular basis.
General Manager George McPhee was highly criticized for giving away the AHL Hershey Bears center Filip Forsberg at the end of last season. Forsberg, one of the Caps’ top prospects, was sent to the Nashville Predators for veteran right wing Martin Erat, who finished last season on the IR.
This offseason, McPhee made almost no personnel moves and the roster looks eerily similar to last season’s with the exception of a few key players.
The Caps were unable to resign center Mike Ribeiro who finished the season as the fifth leader in assists in the league with 36. McPhee will need to find another player to replace Ribeiro who can create offense and slow down the game the way Ribeiro did.
Along with Ribeiro and Forsberg, the Caps lost long time center Matt Hendricks to the Nashville Predators. Hendricks registered only eight total points last season, but had a huge physical presence on the ice.
With so many key players missing, the Caps will have to rely even more on captain Alex Ovechkin.
Despite having a slow start last season, left wing star Alex Ovechkin finished first in the league for goals with 32 and has shown no signs of slowing down this year. Nicklas Backstrom will also be returning for the Caps as one of their most consistent offensive players, despite being injured for a majority of last season.
The one-two connection between Ovechkin and Backstrom will be a lethal threat to opposing defensemen.
On a positive note, the team re-signed one of its strongest defenders, Karl Alzner, to a 4-year contract extension worth $2.8 million. Fans can look to see Alzner and John Carlson, the Caps’ young defensive duo, to be go-to players on the ice during the penalty kill.
Along with these two defensemen, Mike Green, the league leading defensive scorer in the 08-09 season, should contribute on an all-around standpoint on the ice.
The team acquired former Toronto Maple Leaf center Mikhail Grabovski off waivers who then recorded a hat trick in the season opening loss to the Blackhawks, 6-4.
The Caps also signed new faces to its farm team, the AHL Hershey Bears, including defender Tyson Strachan, right wing Matt Watkins and goaltender David Leggio. Fans will be lucky to see any of these new faces make the ice anytime soon.
In the past six years the team has had its ups and downs but has somehow always found a way to make the playoffs. “This is our year” is constantly repeated. Sorry fans, but if any year is yours, this is not it. With the acquisition of few new players and the loss of some of the best, the Caps will fail to keep pace with their new and much tougher division. If anything, this year will be a wake-up call to McPhee that he can no longer rely on Ovechkin to do all the work.
