The roster is set and the Washington Capitals’ 51st season is just days away. So what lies ahead for the 2025-26 Caps? We take a look at three questions the Caps will need to answer over the next 82 games (and hopefully beyond).
Can they replicate last year’s success?
Last season, the Caps defied expectations, surprising everyone with an 111-point finish and a first-place spot not only atop the Metropolitan Division but the Eastern Conference. It’s a tough act to follow, to be sure – such an impressive season that was fueled by career-bests for so many players in the lineup, to say nothing of a historic record chase, will not be easy to replicate (and it seems to be the consensus opinion among experts and “experts” that they won’t).
That’s not to say that they can’t, of course. Finding the right line combinations, putting the right people in the right situations, and having a system that is well-executed by and well-suited to the players carrying it out? Those are all things a good coach does, and the Caps have a great one in Spencer Carbery.
Repeating, or even coming close to repeating, the success of 2024-25 will require the team to stay relatively healthy. It will require the new-look third line to step up and do what last year’s third-line combos couldn’t (more on that in a sec). It will also likely require the team to get out of the gate hot once again, as the top of the Metro is going to be a battle. And it will require them to find something to rally around without having the quest for 895 as a drive (although one could argue that quest was actually a distraction at times and caused players to do things they maybe wouldn’t have otherwise).
In short, a lot of things have to go right for the team to hit the heights of last year…but as we all know, that’s the case for every team with hopes of being a Cup contender. The Caps have the pieces they need, and room to make tweaks if necessary, to have another successful season; let’s see if it all comes together again.
Have the Caps found the answer to their third-line woes?
Unlike the first question, this is one that we’ll likely (hopefully) have an answer to fairly early on in the season. Based solely on training camp and preseason, it seems like the tentative answer is yes, as Hendrix Lapierre has done what many of us hoped he would do and picked up his game enough to grab that 3C spot. With him holding down that third-line pivot spot, it gives the team room to create a feisty, fast and talented third line around him with some combination of Sonny Milano, Ryan Leonard, Ivan Miroshnichenko and Anthony Beauvillier.
That seems to be the plan for now; as we learned last year, however, making the team out of training camp is no guarantee that things will work out (Exhibit A: where’s Jakub Vrana these days?). The hope is that Lapierre is able to carry over his strong performance in camp to a permanent spot in the NHL, and the Caps won’t need to look outside the organization to fix that third line going forward.
Will this be Alex Ovechkin’s last season?
Get ready for this to be a question hanging over Ovechkin until he officially makes the call to hang up the skates…whenever that may be.
Since the end of last season, the captain has been coy about his plans for the future. As we saw last season, is still capable of playing the game at a high level – whether he’s able to do that for a full season, or beyond, remains to be seen. Regardless, as he heads into Season #21 (!!!) with the goal-scoring record secured, we are once again reminded of just how lucky we fans have been to get to experience his talent for two decades and counting.