Washington Capitals: Is Alex Ovechkin’s hot start sustainable?

Forecasting The Future

While Ovechkin’s shooting percentage almost indefinitely won’t remain this high, what Kuznetsov and Vrana are doing is sustainable. Speed doesn’t have off nights. Players slashing through the middle is a challenge for any defense to contend with. You can only load up on Ovechkin if you know where the other skaters will be on the ice and if you don’t fear their scoring ability.

Vrana’s career is just starting out. His ceiling is much higher than what he’s shown in these first few games. You can expect to see more finish from Vrana as he settles in and the season goes on. Teams will try to adjust and shade Ovechkin, and space will open up down low for him.

Kuznetsov looks like a man who just signed a huge contract and means to earn it. No longer is Kuznetsov playing from a script written by someone else, he is now the writer and the director of his own play. If teams try to take away Ovechkin, and then Vrana, Kuznetsov is a more than capable finisher in his own right.

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Kuznetsov has also learned more than a few tricks from Backstrom. He can play the patient game almost as well as Backstrom if the situation requires it. This line as a whole has multiple dimensions stylistically that they’re capable of playing, and multiple passers and finishers.

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Ovechkin is not going to score 287 goals this season (his current pace). The dropoff, however, may not be nearly as severe as you would think. This Washington Capitals first line is going to be a handful every night and for every team.