Washington Capitals: Predicting their opening night lineup
The Washington Capitals are ready to defend their Stanley Cup. With training camps just a week away, what will their opening night lineup look like?
We are now less than one month away from the start of the NHL regular season, when the opening night on Oct. 3 will see the Stanley Cup Champion Washington Capitals raise the banner as they host the Boston Bruins.
As Washington looks to defend their championship, one of the key storylines entering the season is how most of their roster from last season is back. Other than a couple of depth player losses, most of the core pieces from the cup run are back.
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Because of that, most of their opening day lineup should be pretty easy to predict. New head coach Todd Reirden likely will not make wholesale changes barring some unforeseen circumstances.
Even so, there are some interesting position battles that could be taking place once Washington’s training camp starts up next week. What can we expect the lineup to look like coming out of there? Here is my prediction.
Goaltenders
This is the unit that without a doubt saw the biggest loss of the offseason for the Washington Capitals when Philipp Grubauer was traded to the Colorado Avalanche at the draft. Grubauer was a very good backup for Washington and was even their starter entering the playoffs.
Holtby, of course, wound up taking that role back in Game 2 of the first-round series with the Columbus Blue Jackets, en route to backstopping the Capitals to their first Stanley Cup. He enters the season as the clear first-string goalie.
The backup spot is perhaps the most contentious on the entire Washington roster, however. Copley struggled in the AHL last season, posting just a 0.896 save percentage with the Hershey Bears. Even so, he enters camp as the frontrunner for this backup position.
The competition, though, is sure to come 2015 first-round draft pick Ilya Samsonov, who is finally making his way to North America after three years in the KHL. He is one of the best-regarded goaltending prospects and could be Washington’s future starter.
It will be interesting to see what decision the coaching staff makes here. Samsonov could very well be the better goaltender, but he might be better served being the starter in the AHL, where he can adapt to the North American style, rather than a backup in the NHL.
This situation is reminiscent of the 2014-15 season when Justin Peters was signed to back up Holtby during the regular season. He struggled throughout, and when Holtby fell sick in Game 2 of the playoffs, Grubauer was called up to make a spot start.
This could be the path Washington chooses to take with Samsonov, giving him a full year of work in Hershey with the option of calling him up if necessary. That would allow him to make the transition to full-time backup for next season if all goes well.
As it stands, right now I would expect Copley to be the backup coming out of training camp.
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Defense
Brooks Orpik – Christian Djoos
The defense is probably the easiest position group to forecast for Washington, as all of the top seven blue-liners from the playoffs are back for this year. Orpik was traded to Colorado, but the Capitals were able to pick him up after the Avalanche bought him out.
Kempny and Carlson proved to have great chemistry together at the end of last season, and they can be expected to receive the top-pairing minutes for the team, especially after Carlson received the massive contract extension over the summer.
Orlov and Niskanen have been a great shutdown pairing for a few years now, while Orpik and Djoos were a serviceable third pairing last year. Madison Bowey struggled in nearly 60 regular season games as a rookie, but he can be a decent enough replacement in a pinch.
Some players to keep an eye on during camp are 2015 2nd-round pick Jonas Siegenthaler and 2016 1st-rounder Lucas Johansen. Both players will be in the mix for that seventh spot, but it is more likely that they spend another year with Hershey.
Overall, the consistency on the back-end is a good sign for the Washington Capitals. Reirden coached the defense last season, so he should be comfortable leading the unit again this year, and the players should be comfortable with him.
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Forwards
Alex Ovechkin – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana – Nicklas Backstrom – T.J. Oshie
Brett Connolly – Lars Eller – Sergei Shumakov
Andre Burakovsky – Chandler Stephenson – Devante Smith-Pelly
Whereas the defense and goaltending is pretty easy to predict, the forward group for the Washington Capitals is a different story altogether.
The top-six forwards are very easy to speculate. Ovechkin, Kuznetsov, and Wilson showed great chemistry during the playoffs last year. Meanwhile, Vrana, Backstrom and Oshie are the same story. They are the six best forwards on the team, so this should be relatively simple for Reirden.
The bottom-six is where things can get messy, mainly due to Washington’s plethora of depth-type players. Other than Jay Beagle, who signed with the Vancouver Canucks as a free agent, five of last year’s bottom-six players are back for this season.
In addition, the Capitals signed Shumakov, a skilled winger who put up 40 points in 47 games in the KHL last season. He could push for a spot in the middle-six for the team. They also signed Dowd from Vancouver, and have Walker as a potential depth forward as well.
Shumakov is the reason why I have Burakovsky dropped to the fourth line. Andre has struggled with health and consistency over the last few seasons, and an impressive camp from Shumakov could be enough to convince Reirden to put him on line four.
In terms of prospects looking to make the jump, Travis Boyd and Shane Gersich both had playing time last season and will be hoping to win a roster spot coming out of training camp. Other players to watch are Riley Barber and Axel Jonsson Fjallby, but they likely spend the year in Hershey.
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The Washington Capitals look ready to defend their title while returning most of their playoff roster, but that does not mean there are not decisions to be made. Backup goaltender and bottom-six forward are the primary position battles to watch during camp.
Whatever the opening night lineup looks like, the Capitals will be confident that most of the team coming back from last season is a good sign for their chances of a repeat.