Washington Capitals: New-look New Jersey Devils will present a challenge

Reviewing the Washington Capitals competition within the Metropolitan Division, to better understand how the changes of the off-season have affected the match ups.

When you own the first overall pick in the draft, there are plenty of holes to fill. The only team below them in the standings in the Eastern Conference was the Ottawa Senators. Thus, the sky is the limit on how much the New Jersey Devils can improve and will be a challenging opponent for the Washington Capitals.

The Devils started by taking Jack Hughes first overall in the 2019 Amateur Player Draft. They immediately used the trade route to improve in adding P.K. Subban by trading their second round pick along with a 2020 second round pick, defenseman Steven Santini, and prospect Jeremy Davies. This worked in their favor two fold as there were rumblings that Taylor Hall was not pleased with the lack of star power on the team, where he was the only top of the line player.

Secondly, adding Subban improved their power play unit as well as brought up the team Corsi For % as he is a career 52.4 versus the Devils team CF% of 46.9 in 2018. It helps too that as Subban has progressed through his career the percentage of defensive zone starts versus offensive zone starts are leaning in favor of the former.

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They didn’t stay the course after this move, they continued to add by signing Wayne Simmonds to a one year $5 million deal. This move will give the team a veteran presence with good two-way play and an edge to offset the last few first overall picks which lean to a more skillful style of play.

According to Pucks & Pitchforks, they feel the addition of Simmonds will provide protection for the rookie center and make it so the team can place him in a less stressful role on the third line allowing him to work his way up. With the presence of 2017 first overall pick Nico Hischeir and Travis Zajac at center, there is no rush to push Hughes earlier than necessary.

One aspect you have to commend the Devils on is they managed to lose mostly AHL players and role players. Although as a rebuilding team they will most likely miss the two second round picks they used to acquire Subban the most.

How will these changes affect the match up for the Capitals? Last season the Capitals won the season series 3-1. Where the Capitals struggled in the one loss was dealing with the speed of such a young team and the aggressive fore check which comes with a faster team. However, the Capitals used their size and heavy play to produce the necessary response to win the remaining games against the Devils.

With the new additions, the Devils will be a more well rounded team and have a good balance of offensive ability with defensive awareness. Something to keep an eye on will be the Corsi For % as the Capitals had a better team value at 49.0 compared to the Devils with 46.9. With the key additions of Simmonds and Subban, they will only improve on this value and bring it to a more even match up.

The Capitals worked to improve their team defense through their own additions to the bottom six in Richard Panik, Brendan Leipsic, Garnet Hathaway and retaining Carl Hagelin. These will hopefully offset losing the offensive punch from the bottom six and help contain the speed of the younger Devils players, and further improve the Capitals ability to control play.

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Hopefully after losing to a team with similar skill set in the Hurricanes during the playoffs will help the Capitals recapture the hunger necessary to combat this younger, faster Devils team.

When will the Capitals get to see the new edition of the Devils?

Friday, Dec. 20th @ New Jersey

Saturday, Jan. 11th @ Home

Thursday, Jan. 16th @ Home

Saturday, Feb. 22nd @ New Jersey

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