Our weekly look at individual Washington Capitals’ ups and downs:
| Goalies | Trend | Notes |
| Jose Theodore | – | After three games, a .902 save percentage and 2.90 GAA is probably about what we’d have expected, and he’s looked good at times, but those two third-period softies in the Rangers game sting. |
| Semyon Varlamov | ▼ | Off to a tough start, with questions about both his glove and head. |
| Defensemen | ||
| John Erskine | ▼ | Wore the hard hat after game one and was terrible in Philly. If it wasn’t for his willingness to drop the gloves, he wouldn’t be here. |
| Mike Green | ▼ | Having trouble getting shots on net and taking too many penalties. |
| Milan Jurcina | ▲ | Did you know that Juice is tied for the team lead in plus-minus? More importantly, do the League’s other 29 general managers? |
| Shaone Morrisonn | ▲ | Blocking shots, hitting, not committing penalties and playing with a bit of snarl… so far, so good. |
| Brian Pothier | – | Nice to have another guy back there who can make an outlet pass or skate the puck. |
| Tom Poti | ▼ | Bad in Philly and not much better elsewhere so far. Also, only two shots on goal through five games. |
| Jeff Schultz | – | Having trouble getting games and minutes. Has he lost the coach’s confidence or is he sitting while trade bait gets showcased? |
| Tyler Sloan | – | Defenseman? Forward? Waiver fodder? |
| Forwards | ||
| Nicklas Backstrom | ▲ | Could Backstrom become just the fourth player in history to hit the 100-assist mark in a season? |
| Matt Bradley | ▲ | Three points and a plus-three rating through five games is all you can ask of the grinder. |
| Chris Clark | – | Skating well, but with just one point (a helper) and six shots on goal in five games, he’s not showing up on the score sheet enough. |
| Eric Fehr | – | It’s now or never, Fehrsie. |
| Tomas Fleischmann | – | It’s a couple of weeks from now or never, Flash. |
| Boyd Gordon | ▼ | Winning 60% of his draws, but three penalties and a minus-two rating aren’t what you’d like to see from your fourth-line center. |
| Boyd Kane | ▼ | D.C. was only big enough for one Boyd, apparently. Plus, Kane stunk. |
| Mike Knuble | – | Just one goal (and no assists) through five games, but he’s been better than that would indicate. |
| Brooks Laich | ▲ | Skating on the top PP unit with Ovechkin, Backstrom, Green and Semin. Jackpot! |
| Quintin Laing | ▼ | If Laing has no points, a minus-two rating, and the team’s penalty killing percentage is well under 80% effective, is he doing his job? |
| Brendan Morrison | ▲ | Three goals (on just six shots on goal) and a 57.4% mark in the faceoff circle make the early returns on this signing look fantastic. |
| Michael Nylander | – | Sigh. |
| Alex Ovechkin | ▲ | White-hot out of the gate, needs to establish a consistent commitment to all aspects of the game… but then again, so does everyone on the team. |
| Alexander Semin | – | Called out by his coach after two bad penalties in the Detroit game, he’s mixing jaw-dropping skill with maddening decision-making. Ladies and gentlemen, Alex Semin. |
| David Steckel | ▼ | The good? 63.1% in the dot. The bad? Team-worst minus-4 rating and no points. Maybe he’s not a third-line center after all. |