Washington Capitals: Why The Caps Shouldn’t Win President’s Trophy
The Washington Capitals have won the last two President’s Trophies, the award presented to the best regular season team. Here’s why they shouldn’t win a third.
When the Washington Capitals fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round of the 2017 playoffs, it was predictable. It seems like the Caos have fallen to the Penguins in the second round dozens of times. They could continue to do so with their current core. As center Nicklas Backstrom, the most important Capitals player not named Alex Ovechkin or Braden Holtby said, the series was over after game 2.
Part of this is the Caps not getting enough from Backstrom or Ovechkin. The other part is that the Washington Capitals have been playing winning hockey throughout the last two regular seasons. With Ovechkin and Backstrom being Olympics and World Cup of Hockey players, they might have been exhausted. Having a grueling regular season schedule and the expectations of winning every game likely doesn’t help.
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Here are the conference seedings of the last ten Stanley Cup Champions: first (Detroit Red Wings), fourth (Penguins), second (Chicago Blackhawks), third (Boston Bruins), eighth (LA Kings), first (Blackhawks), sixth (Kings), fourth (Blackhawks), second (Penguins), second (Penguins). That averages out to 3.3 as the average seeding of the Stanley Cup Champion.
So, apart from the 48-game season, the last time a President’s Trophy winner won the Stanley Cup was the 2008 Detroit Red Wings. I’m sorry to tell you Capitals fans, you’re not the 2008 Red Wings. You have never been and you never can be, considering the short rope that is the salary cap. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. It just means that your priorities have been wrong the last two years.
What to do with this Info
This should mean that the Washington Capitals now adjust to this. Let the Penguins take on the heavy load of the President’s Cup, and quietly slide into the playoffs, maybe at that third seed. Don’t take every game so seriously, and allow yourself to lose a few. Take lessons from those games. Learn how to recover from a losing streak or two losses in four games. Have those lessons carry over to the playoffs.
And while it isn’t the NBA, NHL teams are allowed to rest their players from time to time. That’s not exciting hockey, but if resting your players means winning the Cup, 99 out of 100 Capitals fans who would take the rest games. It also gives your depth players experience. That’s huge for the injury-plagued two months that are the NHL playoffs.
It may sound like I’m saying the Capitals should purposefully lose. I kind of am. But look at the results. Winning President’s Trophies isn’t getting the Washington Capitals where they want to go. So it’s time to change it up in the regular season. Letting the team experience games without Backstrom, Ovechkin, and Holtby will only do good. Giving Evgeny Kuznetsov more of a workload sometimes. Letting Philipp Grubauer get some extra games, make some extra saves.
This is a team that has the capabilities to win the Stanley Cup. Ask people who know the league, they already should have. Perhaps all the unnecessary pressure in the regular season has been an obstacle. One that has led to the continual disappointment in the second round.