Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Poll: Will the Caps finally make it to the Stanley Cup Final?

Washington Capitals v Boston Bruins

BOSTON, MA - JANUARY 05: Evgeny Kuznetsov #92 of the Washington Capitals, second from right, celebrates with T.J. Oshie #77, Alex Ovechkin #8 and Nicklas Backstrom #19 after scoring a goal against the Boston Bruins during the second period at TD Garden on January 5, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Getty Images

This post is part of Capitals Day on PHT...

If you’re a fan of the Washington Capitals, you’re used to having a lot of fun between October and April. Once mid-April hits, things become a little more frustrating.

There’s no denying that the Capitals have been great in the Alex Ovechkin era. They’re now coming off back-to-back Presidents’ Trophy titles, but they still haven’t found a way to get to passed the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Heading into 2017-18, they’re still expected to be a quality team, but the salary cap has forced them to make a few significant changes over the summer. Justin Williams, Marcus Johansson, Karl Alzner, Nate Schmidt and trade deadline acquisition Kevin Shattenkirk are all gone. There’s no doubt that those losses will hurt the overall depth they’ve accumulated over the years.

As much as those guys will be missed, general manager Brian MacLellan will be pleased that he was able to lock up key figures like Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie to long-term contracts. With both players still in the fold, the Caps remain one of the deeper teams in the league. Other squads would kill to be able to come at you with Ovechkin, Kuznetsov, Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom and Andre Burakovsky.

The departures of Alzner, Schmidt and Shattenkirk have left them a little thin on the blue line. Dmitry Orlov, John Carlson and Matt Niskanen are still around, but the only other players on one-way contracts are Brooks Orpik and Taylor Chorney.

If some of their defensemen struggle during the season, they should be able to compensate for that with arguably the best goalie tandem in the league. Both Braden Holtby and Philipp Grubauer are back, and they should provide the team with some solid performances between the pipes.

It’s pretty clear that the Capitals still aren’t over last spring’s Game 7 loss to the Penguins. Now, it’s all about how they respond this coming season. No one will care about the type of regular season they have (unless it’s bad) until they show they can get over their issues in the playoffs.

Will they overcome this mental hurdle?

Alright, it’s your turn to have your say. Feel free to vote in the poll below and leave your opinion in the comments section.

[polldaddy poll=9810133]