Washington Mid-Season Report

Things look very different in the Capital going into the all-star weekend this season as opposed to last season. Last year the team was one of the worst in the league and had already started to move out veteran defence and looking toward the future. This year the Caps are sitting in a tie with the surging Rangers atop the Metro division. When looking at the team for a reason for the early season success it's hard to look past the most notable difference, Ken Hitchcock. "I met with the Capitals GM over the summer and we discussed team philosophy, we were both on the same page as far as what we wanted to see out of the team so it made a lot of sense to come here." Said the Caps head coach Hitchcock. "We're a puck possession team, we rely on having the puck on our sticks the majority of the time. That's a huge reason for our success this year."

The Capitals AHL affiliate Hershey Bears are also playing lights out carrying the best record into the break in the tough Eastern Conference. They appear to be mirroring the parent club's strategy by playing a puck possession game. It helps when you have the top scorer and get timely goaltending from the young duo of Stolarz and Martin.

Mid-Season Report Cards:

We won't go too in depth here since we are only sitting at the half-way point. So we will grade each line and pairing instead of every individual from the pro and farm team:

Ondrej Palat - Anze Kopitar - Loui Eriksson - A+

The Capitals top line have been playing fantastic hockey through 42 games.

Anders Lee - Martin Hanzal - Radim Vrbata - C+

Vrbata is currently hurt, but this line has been very inconsistant all year. Hanzal has been a wiz in the faceoff circle.

Benoit Pouliot - Sean Couturier - Alexander Burmistrov - C-

This line isn't relied on for it's offensive prowess, but still the lack of an offensive punch is concerning.

Tobias Rieder - Brian Boyle - Jonathan Marchessault - B

The 4th line has played solid hockey with limited ice-time, and even chips in with some timely offense.

Matt Nieto - Zac Dalpe - Emerson Etem - A

This would be an A+ if not for Zac Dalpe, who may lose his top spot to Knight if he can't pick up his play.

Shane Prince - Corban Knight - Christian Thomas - A

Knight has been a faceoff wiz and his wingers have been pretty consistant.

Sonny Milano - Louis-Marc Aubry - Joel Vermin - B

Aubry's defensive play hasn't hindered Milano and Vermin's offense.

Ethan Werek - Phil McRae - Jeremy Langlois - A+

This line has been outstanding providing 4 lines that can score. A big reason for the teams success.

Patrick Dwyer / Andrew Yogan / Justin Vaive / Danick Gauthier / Stefan Fournier - D

The pro and farm extra players haven't had much opportunity to get into games. With a few injuries some will get in more games.

Francois Beauchimen - Justin Faulk - A

Faulk is leading all Caps Dmen in points and Beauch is leading in ice-time. They've been good in all 3 zones.

Dan Girardi - Aaron Ekblad - B-

Girardi only has 4 games under his belt but this pairing needs to show a bit more. Expectations are high for Ekblad

Marc Staal - Zybnyk Michalek - B+

Michalek is playing well beyond what was expected of him this season. He pulls this pair up to a B+

Justin Falk - Chris Summers - A

The pair are the top 2 leading scorers from the back end and are playing well together.

Jarred Tinordi - Mark Alt - B+

Solid play from this pairing, not much offense but that's expected as they are the shutdown pair.

Tommy Cross - Paul Postma - A-

Cross's shooting % is through the roof and will probably come back down to earth in the second half.

Nate Prosser / Clayton Stoner / Jordan Schmaltz / Nick Jensen - C-

The extra D for the farm and pro teams have been a mixed bag so far. Prosser will push Postma to the press box after the break.

Roberto Luongo - Andrei Vasilevskiy - A-

Vasilevskiy's numbers are holding the tandem back from an A. Still solid play from both though.

Anthony Stolarz - Spencer Martin - A+

Both goalies have surpassed expectations by a fair margin.