Washington Capitals: Why they can repeat as Stanley Cup champions

Thanks to a solid offseason and lack of significant improvement from other contenders, the Washington Capitals are primed to defend their championship.

In 2017, the Pittsburgh Penguins became the first team in nearly 20 years to win back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. Now their arch-rivals, the Washington Capitals, will attempt to match that feat.

Pittsburgh is relevant here because their ability to win consecutive championships underscores just how difficult it is to do that in today’s NHL. They were the first repeat winners since the 1998 Detroit Red Wings and were unable to make another deep run this past season.

More from Puck Prose

• Detroit Red Wings 2023 Rookie Camp Has Plenty of Ups and Downs
• This Columbus Blue Jackets rookie doesn’t want to be forgotten
• 2 trades the Boston Bruins must make to secure the Stanley Cup
• 3 reasons the Avalanche won’t win the Stanley Cup in 2024
• This is a big year for Alex Turcotte and the Los Angeles Kings

There are a few explanations for why they were knocked out in the second round this year. The most obvious is that Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals played them significantly better than in the previous two seasons, especially since they went on to win it all.

A more underrated reason is that they were exhausted from playing into June the previous two years. Star center Evgeni Malkin missed some time in the playoffs due to injury and Kris Letang and Phil Kessel (among others) did not play nearly as well as they had earlier on against Washington.

Perhaps the biggest reason for their loss, though, was that they simply lost too much the previous offseason. Chris Kunitz, Nick Bonino, Trevor Daley and Marc-Andre Fleury, among others, all played key roles in the Pittsburgh cup runs before leaving prior to the 2018 season.

Whichever rationale one considers to be the most reasonable one for Pittsburgh’s early exit this past season, the bottom line is that winning consecutive championships is hard to do. It would almost be unfair to the Capitals to expect another Stanley Cup season from them this year.

Despite all of this, Washington appears to be poised to make another cup run this year. Thanks to a good offseason from General Manager Brian MacLellan, as well as the state of other contenders, the Capitals should be confident in their ability to win it all again this season.

The Capitals Have Kept Most of their Team

One of the key differences between this year’s Capitals and most Stanley Cup champions is that they have been able to retain most of their key players from the run. As mentioned earlier, the 2016-17 Penguins lost some key depth players after winning it all.

The Capitals, however, actually had that massive loss of players before their cup run. Last offseason, due to salary cap issues, Washington was unable to keep Justin Williams, Marcus Johansson, and Kevin Shattenkirk, among others.

Coming into this last season, most observers believed the team had taken a step back. As it turns out, however, while the Capitals regressed a bit during the regular season, this new lineup was built perfectly for the playoffs and ended up winning a championship.

Because the mass exodus of players happened the last offseason, that means it was relatively simple to keep the squad together. Although they had a few unrestricted free agents to re-sign, they were able to keep the key ones for relatively cheap.

The big fish for the team was obviously John Carlson, who finished fifth in Norris voting last year. He commanded a hefty pay raise, signing for $8 million per year, but MacLellan did a great job this offseason fitting that number under the cap.

The first step in doing so was to trade Philipp Grubauer and Brooks Orpik to the Colorado Avalanche. Grubauer has outgrown the backup position in Washington, and by allowing the Avalanche to buyout Orpik, the Capitals were able to re-sign him for cheap later on.

The other main player loss for the champs was Jay Beagle, who signed with the Vancouver Canucks for way more than Washington could afford to pay him. Although he was a fan favorite, he was a fourth-line center who the Capitals can replace with a younger player.

Because of the relative stability of the roster, the biggest loss for the Washington Capitals this offseason was undoubtedly former head coach Barry Trotz, who jumped ship to the New York Islanders. The two sides were unable to re-negotiate a deal, so he was released from his contract.

Washington Capitals fans will recall, however, that for much of the season and the start of the playoffs, Trotz was the scapegoat for the team’s struggles. There was a point during the year where he was as good as gone if the team lost another game.

Although Trotz would end up leading the team to the Cup, which he should absolutely be commended for, that should not mask his failures from the previous two seasons. His penchant for benching young players and overplaying veterans did not help the team in the least.

Because of that, Todd Reirden should be a fine replacement, and there should not be any drop-off in terms of quality of play. Reirden handled the defense and power play last season, two of Washington’s biggest strengths during the cup run.

Overall, GM MacLellan and the rest of the management team has done a great job ensuring that most of the championship team will be back unchanged. That bodes very well for the Capitals’ chances of winning again, especially considering what other contenders have been up to.

Other Contenders Have Not Improved Much

I will give a warning straight out- take this section with a grain of salt.

In no particular order, the teams I consider to be true contenders for the Stanley Cup, other than the Washington Capitals, are the following: Vegas Golden Knights, Winnipeg Jets, Nashville Predators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins.

Other teams, such as the Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks, could pull a Washington-like run to the finals, but I would not bank on that. The six teams listed are the ones who should give the Capitals a legitimate run for their money as champions.

On paper, the only one of these teams that truly improved this offseason is Toronto. All of the other teams remained static or, in some cases, may have even become slightly worse.

The Maple Leafs were the talk of the offseason after signing John Tavares. They are now one of the most talented teams in the league and are my pick to win the Presidents’ Trophy. Fans of the team are right to be excited about this season.

However, this team reminds me a lot of the 2009-10 Washington Capitals team that dominated the regular season only to fall flat in the playoffs. These Leafs have better goaltending, but otherwise, they are very similar, especially when it comes to the defense.

Toronto’s defense is not good, full stop. Morgan Reilly is a great cornerstone to build on, but he is not yet at the level of those Washington teams’ Mike Green, who was a two-time Norris Trophy runner-up. Beyond that, Toronto has nobody on the blue line that should scare any contender.

Tampa Bay and Nashville pretty much did nothing this offseason. Tampa could still improve their team, if the rumors of Erik Karlsson being traded there come to fruition, but until then, the best I can say about both teams is that they did not become worse.

The Vegas Golden Knights did make some moves, but it is difficult to see them as a net positive. James Neal was great for them last season and losing him plus David Perron mitigates signing Paul Stastny quite a bit.

Speaking of Stastny, Winnipeg’s biggest move of the offseason was losing him. Now, they are still a very good team with lots of young talent, but it is hard to argue that the Jets did not get worse this summer.

That leaves the Pittsburgh Penguins, the team that I believe is Washington’s biggest threat to repeating. This team has not lost anybody major since last season, and the key guys on the team should be more rested this year. They have a legitimate chance of winning it all this year.

Again, all of this analysis is based on how the teams look on paper. The Capitals did not look good on paper before last season and ended up winning the Cup. Any of these teams could overachieve just like Washington did, and ride the momentum to a championship season.

All in all, however, the Washington Capitals should be confident in their standing compared to other contenders around the league. If they can get past Pittsburgh again, there is no reason why they cannot win another championship this year.

Whether they will or not, however, will only be decided next June. There is a long way to go until we get to that point, so until then, let us just enjoy the hockey season. The preseason starts soon!