82 games (and hopefully more) await as the 2025-26 season is just around the corner. Are you hyped? Pumped? Jazzed? You should be – and here are just a few reasons why!
Familiarity
In Year 1 of the Spencer Carbery Era, there was a new coaching staff. Last year, it was practically a new team, with roughly a third of the roster turning over in the offseason. This year, however, there are familiar faces behind the bench, familiar systems on the ice, and familiar players on the roster. Everyone knows each other and knows what’s expected every night – which means very little adjustment needed to get back into the season. It’s not the sexiest reason, but it is nice as a fan to know that the things that were working are still in place (and are fun to watch in the process).
Building on Last Year’s Success
Look, no one saw a 111-point, Eastern Conference-leading season out of a Caps team that just the year before had backed into the playoffs in Game 82 (and bounced right back out four games later). It is an incredibly high bar to clear – and yet there’s something exciting about seeing whether they can. What will Aliaksei Protas have in store for us to follow up his first 30-goal campaign? What about Alex Ovechkin, defying time at 40 years old? What changes does Spencer Carbery have up his sleeve to make his team better? Everyone’s counting them out yet again, and you know how this team loves to play with a chip on their collective shoulders.
Changing of the Guard
The future of the Caps’ remaining veteran core – namely Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson – is still very much unknown, but the team is already preparing for the transition from one generation to the next. You have Protas and Connor McMichael coming into their own; strong centers in Pierre-Luc Dubois and Dylan Strome; Rasmus Sandin, Jakob Chychrun, and Martin Fehervary making up the core of the defense – and all of them under the age of 30. Add in newcomers like Ryan Leonard, the hope that Hendrix Lapierre can carve a path similar to McMichael, and future stars like Ivan Miroshnichenko to Andrew Cristall to Ilya Protas waiting in the wings (and waiting for a call-up)…the future sure seems bright. And it’s kind of already here.