yave1964 Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 Been looking at the Washington Capitals and wow, are they good. Insanely so, They have a plus 55 ratio in only 46 games, they are first in the league in goals against led by Holtby who is simply running away and hiding from the pack as the leagues top goalie, and they are only one goal behind Dallas for second in scoring in all of hockey. So they are literally killing it on both ends of the ice. Chicago is second at plus 33 and the absurd part is three and four combined (plus 29 for Dallas and plus 20 for Boston) don't equal Washington's output. Just insane. They sit at 35-8-3 and are equally good at home (18-3-1) and on the road (17-5-2) this in spite of Backstrom missing the start of the year and Carlson missing three weeks and counting. This is no longer a one trick pony counting on Ovechkin and Backstrom only to carry the team, both are having brilliant years playing at a point a game pace, but now the cavalry has arrived. The brilliantly talented Evgeny Kuznetsov leads the team in scoring and is plus 25. John Carlson ran Mike Green out of town and before his injury was nearly a point a game player. Johansson has been brilliant in a supporting role as well. Both offseason additions among the forward lines, Justin Williams and T.J. Oshie have proven to be perfect. Ten total players are double digits in plus minus. And Holtby has found a new level of brilliance. Can they win? with a brilliant defense led by Carlson and including puck moving Niskanen and the resurgent Orlov who has rescued his career from a threatening injury as well as rugged and highly underrated Alzner who is a nasty bit of goods who like the rest of the back end can move the puck, the back end is fine. I truly do not see a single weakness on the entire team other than third line center. They could probably use another top nine forward but the signing of Richards, if it pans out as a low risk, high reward might just fix that. The Capitals have a long history of self destruction in the postseason but this is clearly the best team they have ever assembled and with BarryTrotz behind the bench leading them, it is certainly possible that the waiting may be over come June. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted January 20, 2016 Author Share Posted January 20, 2016 To the best of my knowledge the last team to lead the league in both goals for and goals against was the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottM Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 5 hours ago, yave1964 said: The Capitals have a long history of self destruction in the postseason but this is clearly the best team they have ever assembled and with BarryTrotz behind the bench leading them, it is certainly possible that the waiting may be over come June. That's literally the only question I have about the Caps. How much of a psychological hump will there be because of their poor playoff performances in the past? If there's one reason that I'd tend to think this might be the year, it is Trotz. Maybe, just maybe, having a relatively new guy behind the bench will be the missing piece. But yeah, I agree with everything you said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hf101 Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 @yave1964 I fully expect the Capitals to play for the Stanley Cup this year. I think they would have the best chance of winning the cup against the likes of the repeat favorites of the Blackhawks or Kings. The key down the stretch will be health and depth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briere48 Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 i think it's about balance of vets and youth on each line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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