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It’s Washington Capitals day on PHT

Nicklas Backstrom, Alex Ovechkin

Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom (19), of Sweden, celebrates his goal with teammate Alex Ovechkin (8), of Russia, during the second period of Game 4 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series against the New York Rangers, Saturday, May 5, 2012, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

AP

Welcome to our offseason initiative — 30 teams in 30 days.

From July 16 until Aug. 14, we’ll be dedicating each day to a new team by recapping the offseason and looking ahead to 2012-13.

There will also be a series of posts looking at key stories, player profiles and burning questions regarding each squad.

Today, that squad is the Washington Capitals.

The Caps will be a different-looking team from the one that took to the ice in 2011-12. The new look starts behind the bench, where rookie head coach (and former franchise great) Adam Oates takes over for Dale Hunter, who led the Caps to within a game of last year’s Eastern Conference finals.

Oates will be aided by a pair of new assistants -- Calle Johansson and former Caps assistant Tim Hunter -- and together, they’ll be in charge of molding a team that lost All-Star defenseman Dennis Wideman and former 40-goal scorer Alex Semin during the offseason.

As for additions -- Washington didn’t bring in a ton of new faces this summer, but there are a few. The most notable is Mike Ribeiro, acquired at the draft in exchange for Cody Eakin and a second-round pick. A playmaking center, Ribeiro should slot in nicely on the Capitals’ second line and give them the depth down the middle they lacked last season.

In other moves, the Caps re-signed two-time Norris nominee Mike Green and retained the services of key depth forwards Jay Beagle and Mathieu Perreault.

So yeah, stick around throughout the day as we take a closer look at the Washington Capitals. I’m sure we’ll mention Alexander Ovechkin at some point.