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It’s Washington Capitals day on PHT

Alex Ovechkin; Mike Green

Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin, left, celebrates his goal with teammate Mike Green during third period NHL hockey action against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Toronto, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013. Toronto won 2-1. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young)

AP

Throughout the month of August, PHT will be dedicating a day to all 30 NHL clubs. Today’s team? The Washington Capitals.

It seems like the typical conclusion of most recent Washington Capitals seasons is to insert the phrase “But then everything ended in disappointment in the playoffs.” When it comes to the 2013-14 campaign, you could stop at “disappointment.”

For the first time since the 2006-07 season, the Capitals failed to even make the playoffs. With that in mind, the organization made a big series of changes, going with a new GM in Brian MacLellan and new head coach in Barry Trotz.

Changing head coaches seems (sadly) quite typical to the 180-friendly Capitals as of late, but changing general managers is a real eyebrow-raiser. George McPhee took over the job in 1997, which is basically represents job security that is unprecedented outside of Nashville (fittingly enough).

Ultimately, the Capitals are betting big that Trotz can turn things around with Alex Ovechkin and a core that also includes Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green and some other solid prime-age players.

Will Braden Holtby break through? Can clashing styles mix in a way that makes for success? There are a lot of interesting storylines for the Caps going forward, which we’ll explore on Monday.

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins