After winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history and a public celebration, there was some concern about the Cup hangover but that was quickly put to bed. The Caps took the top spot in the Metropolitan Division, 4th overall but eventually fell in the first round to the Hurricanes, losing a tough double-overtime game 7.

Additions: Garnet Hathaway, Richard Panik, Radko Gudas

Subtractions: Andre Burakovsky, Matt Niskanen, Brett Connolly, Brooks Orpik

Forwards:

The Capitals didn’t make many changes to the forward group they had last season. For the most part all they did was retool their bottom-6 forwards. In the end we have them smack dab in the middle of the pack with a 15th ranked top-6 and the same for the bottom-6.

Defense:

Out goes Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik, in comes Radko Gudas. In a division where most other teams are making big moves to get better, this doesn’t seem to make their d-core any better. With the 24th ranked defense, this could be a problem area for the Caps this year.

Goalies:

Brayden Holtby put together a solid season saving his team an extra goal against every four games compared to league average goaltending. His defense this year isn’t looking too strong though so he might be seeing a lot of quality chances against this year.

The Point Prediction:

With most of the other teams in the Metro getting stronger, we have the Capitals dropping to 15th overall and eventually just barely missing out on the playoffs. It’ll be a tight race to the end but they just won’t have enough to reach the postseason. 

(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)