Capitals Without the Great Eight: Can Washington Maintain Their Momentum in Ovechkin’s Absence?
With the 2024-25 NHL regular season more than a month old, the Washington Capitals have been one of the league’s most surprising teams so far. After being quickly disposed of in the first round of the NHL Playoffs by the New York Rangers last postseason in a four-game sweep, the Capitals entered this season having undergone major roster changes, with seven new players joining the team in an attempt to quickly fix the issues that plagued them last season. As a result, the Capitals have emerged as one of the NHL’s most dominant teams through the first month and a half of the season, holding the best record in the Eastern Conference and being tied for the second-best record in the entire league, with a 13-4-1 record for 27 points. However, in their most recent victory over the Utah Hockey Club on Monday night, longtime Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, who has been one of the team’s most potent scoring threats and leads the NHL in goals scored with 15, suffered a lower-leg injury and has been listed as week-to-week. With that said, the Capitals must now navigate the period without their star goal-scorer as they look to maintain their dominant pace while Ovechkin recovers.
Even with the recent injury to Ovechkin, the Capitals have received significant offensive depth to start the season, with several players excelling. Notably, Connor McMichael, a fifth-year center who had a career-best season last year with 18 goals, has continued his scoring success. He currently ranks second on the team behind Ovechkin with 12 goals, tied for the fifth-most in the NHL, along with seven assists for a total of 19 points. As McMichael plays on the Capitals' second line, he is expected to be heavily relied upon during Ovechkin's absence, as head coach Spencer Carbery aims to maintain strong production from Washington’s other playmakers.
On top of McMichael’s goal-scoring success, the Capitals will be relying on some of their offseason acquisitions to step up even further, including Pierre-Luc Dubois, who has been instrumental in helping set up his fellow linemates in advantageous scoring situations, having recorded 11 assists and a plus-two plus-minus rating so far this season. Additionally, Ovechkin’s first-line teammates, Dylan Strome, and Aliaksei Protas, will be relied upon even more to pick up the pieces on the top line with Ovechkin out, as Strome and Protas have been an excellent combination alongside Ovechkin, with Protas scoring seven goals and 11 assists and Strome tallying six goals and a team-high 22 assists. While the Capitals’ goaltending duo of Charlie Lindgren and Logan Thompson has both been equally impressive this season, it is the Capitals’ offense that has taken the league by storm, leading the league in goals per game at 4.33 and holding the third-best penalty-kill percentage at 87.7. While the Capitals have historically struggled when Ovechkin is out due to injury, holding a 26-29-4 record in 59 games without him in his 20-year career, this season’s roster has the depth and pieces required to overcome a stretch of games without their captain in the lineup, compared to a season ago.
