Caps at the Half

                The EHE Washington Capitals have reached the halfway mark of the 2021-2022 season.  Let’s take a look at how the season has gone thus far.  To do that, let’s rewind all the way back to the off-season and Free Agency. 

                After missing the playoffs last season, General Manager Travis Chorostkowski entered his first free agency period and we heard rumblings that the Capitals were very interested, and had significant talks to bring Alex Ovechkin in.  “We had a very aggressive offer to Alex and his team.  I truly believe he was interested in coming here, but ultimately chose Vegas fairly early into free agency”.    Once the Capitals missed out on Ovechkin, Chorostkowski turned his focus to arguably the two top defencemen available in Mark Giordano and Brent Burns. 

                 Along with the veteran leadership that both Giordano and Burns bring, the Capitals also brought in Andrew Cogliano, Derick Brassard, and Jayson Megna.  Vinni Lettieri and Greg Pateryn were claimed off waivers from the Blues and Rangers respectively.

                The first 10 games of the season saw the Capitals get off to a stumbling start with a 4-6 record.  The Capitals struggled to score goals at even strength and the Powerplay.  The Penalty Kill wasn’t much better, with the Capitals at the bottom of the EHE standings in both PP and PK percentage.

                Games 11-20  didn’t fare much better as the Capitals continued to be outscored by their opponents at a pretty steady pace.  A 3-7 record in this stretch left the Caps at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division with fans rumbling about a coaching change, as it seemed that Bruce Boudreau had lost the ear of the team. 

              Chorostkowski rolled the dice and kept his coaching staff in place for now, and games 21-30  started looking better finishing with a 6-4 record.  The powerplay started to take shape, and Andrei Vasilevskiy really carried the team on his back.  It should be mentioned that at this point in time the Capitals went to overtime or shootout in a run of 9 out of 11 games.  A lot of extra hockey has been played.

               The most recent set of games, 31-41 was another positive set with a 7-4 record.  At the halfway point of the EHE season the Capitals have clawed their way back to relevancy in an ultra tough Metropolitan Division.  “We understand we have some work to do to get back into the playoff picture.  These teams in the Metro don’t seem to lose very often”.  Stated captain Anze Kopitar.   The Capitals also recently traded for Alexander Radulov to help add a spark to the offence of the Capitals, but….that hasn’t happened just yet.

               With 16 of their first 41 games going to Overtime, the Capitals have already played a lot of hockey, with half a season to go. How many of the remaining games will be meaningful?  The answer seems to rest on the shoulders of Anze Kopitar and the veterans Giordano and Burns that were brought in this season.  Secondary scoring has been non existent for most of the season, but the Capitals hope to change that in the second half of the season.  

-- Ed Lam 

Washington Post