Washington Capitals: July Metropolitan Division Power Rankings
Mandatory Credit: Billy Hurst-USA TODAY Sports
The Washington Capitals have had an extremely successful off-season so far. Unfortunately, so has a majority of the rest of the Metropolitan Division. Last season, the Metropolitan Division race for the final three spots was close, with the Washington Capitals edging out the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins to finish in second place. The New York Rangers ran away with the division and President’s Trophy thanks to having a very well balanced team with very few flaws. The Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Columbus Blue Jackets have each done quite a bit to lessen the distance between the Rangers and the pack.
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While it is early in the summer, the Washington Capitals and the rest of the Metropolitan Division have been making statements and improvements early and often. This has led to fans from each team in the mix arguing that they’re the better team. Debates are fu, so this power ranking is our opinion of who has the best team right now.
Several factors will be taken into consideration.
- How good is the team’s roster right now? We’ll assume that the Washington Capitals and the rest of the Metropolitan Division all re-sign their RFAs.
- How much has each team improved?
- What is each team’s biggest weakness?
In short, we’ll be looking for the overall best team. Is it the Washington Capitals with a revamped top six forward group and their elite goaltender? Is it the Penguins with arguably the best top six forwards in the NHL? Is it the New York Rangers who haven’t really lost anything of relevance? Could it be the surging fresh off the industry shaking Brandon Saad trade?
Next: #8: The Devils Are In The Details
Number Eight: New Jersey Devils
Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
The New Jersey Devils had high hopes at the beginning of last season. Those high hopes quickly turned into horrible nightmares as the Washington Capitals foe from just up I-95 finished in seventh place with an abysmal 32-36-14 record. It’s so weird seeing the Devils be this awful of a team. It’s hard to imagine that just four years ago, the Devils were in the Stanley Cup Finals.
The scary part? The Devils could have been a lot worse last season. The only thing that kept them from having a very good chance of getting Connor McDavid was star goaltender Corey Schneider. Ignore his 26-31-9 record, that doesn’t begin to tell the story of how stellar he was in net. He finished second place in goaltender point shares with 14.5. He had the fifth highest save percentage (92.5%) despite facing the third most shots among all NHL goaltenders (1,982).
Unlike the Washington Capitals, the Devils are lacking severely in the forward department. Their three highest scorers last year were Adam Henrique (43 points), Mike Cammalleri (42 points) and Patrik Elias (34 points). They desperately need more offensive from their blue line too.
They haven’t really done anything to improve their roster. The only move they’ve made to improve their roster? Signing depth defenseman John Moore. He’s a nice third pairing option and I think he might even have top four potential, but when he’s your only major addition, that’s not a good thing.
Looks like it’s going to be a long season for the Springsteen fans.
Next: #7 Sweet Carolina (BA BA BAAAAA)
7. Carolina Hurricanes
Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
The Hurricanes are coming off a last place finish in the Metropolitan Division. The Washington Capitals southern foe finished with a 30-41-11 record that saw them get the number five overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft. The Canes are still very much in a rebuild, but they have talent on their roster for sure. Their main issue is that their most talented players can’t seem to stay healthy. Eric Staal, Jordan Staal and Jeff Skinner can’t seem to stay healthy. Neither can aging and declining goaltender Cam Ward.
However, they have made two solid acquisitions this summer. They traded for Vancouver Canucks goaltender Eddie Lack, who should be at worst a cost-effective league average goalie for them. They also didn’t give up that much for him. They only gave up a 2015 third rounder and a 2016 late round pick for him. Considering what other teams paid for fairly similar goalies, I think that’s a pretty nice bargain for Canes.
The Canes also traded their backup goaltender for a legitimate, albeit expensive, defenseman in James Wisniewski. Quietly, he’s average slight under a point every two games in his career. Makes you wonder why the Columbus Blue Jackets traded him in the first place.
It should be a pretty long season for Hurricanes fans, but the rebuild is going as planned. They are slowly but surely stockpiling talent, especially on their blue line.
Next: #6: The City Of Brotherly Love
#6: Philadelphia Flyers
Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
The Philadelphia Flyers are a team that could be a dark horse candidate to make a playoff run. The biggest rival of the Washington Capitals finished sixth in the Metropolitan Division last season with a 33-31-18 record. They have three I’d say the top 75 forwards in the league in Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds. Brayden Schenn is a potential breakout candidate. They did a fantastic job in trading Zac Rinaldo, Nicklas Grossman and Chris Pronger. Sam Gagner, who they got for Grossman and Pronger, is a talented player who could have a breakout season.
Sadly for Flyers fans (but good for Washington Capitals fans), the Flyers are still very limited because of the salary cap. That said, they are definitely improving in that regard. So far this off-season they have re-signed Ryan White and signed Michal Neuvirth to be their backup goaltender.
The Flyers still have to get rid of more of their awful contracts, but this has been a pretty good start of free agency for them, relatively speaking.
Next: #5: The Aqua Coats
#5: Columbus Blue Jackets
Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports
Last season, the Blue Jackets overcame injuries to finish very strong. They played the Washington Capitals very tough. They finished in fifth place with a record of 42-35-5. Columbus has obviously improved quite a bit by trading for Brandon Saad without giving up too much in return. That drastically improves their top six. With Ryan Johansen, Nick Foligno, Scott Hartnell, Cam Atkinson and Brandon Dubinsky likely joining him, that’s an impressive top six forward group. They have a borderline elite goaltender if he’s healthy in Sergei Bobrovsky. I think they clearly have a bright future.
So why do I have them fifth right now? Because I really don’t like their defense. Unlike the Washington Capitals, who are stacked, Columbus’s blue line is a bit too barren for my taste. Jack Johnson makes good music and is a solid defenseman assuming he’s healthy. Same with David Savard (worth noting they’ll have to give him a nice contract next season when he becomes an RFA). They have a shade under $6,000,000 of cap space to acquire at least one strong puck moving defenseman. If they do that, I’ll most likely believe in them.
Next: #4: Islanders
#4: New York Islanders
Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Islanders are coming off an impressive season that saw them finish in third place in the Metropolitan Division with a 47-28-7 record. The Washington Capitals beat them in the first round of the playoffs in seven games. Since being beaten, despite having about $9,000,000 of cap space, they haven’t really done anything to improve other than re-sign an RFA (Anders Lee) and sign a bargain back up goalie (Thomas Greiss).
That said, they’re a curious team in that I don’t see any huge needs for them. Their top nine forwards are pretty much set in stone. They have a very impressive forward group. I think they could go after a few depth guys or maybe sign a defenseman. Other than that, I don’t see the Islanders getting overly involved in free agency.
I think they really need to add some more size to their blue line because their lack of size was exploited numerous times. The Washington Capitals picked on them all season long. This is a really good possession team that has some physical forwards. They are still a very dangerous team, but every other team in the Metropolitan Division has passed them, IMO.
Next: #3: Black And Gold
#3: Pittsburgh Penguins
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The Pittsburgh Penguins are coming off a disappointing year. They had Stanley Cup aspirations, but thanks to injuries, they were knocked out of the first round of the playoffs by the New York Rangers. What did the Penguins do? Pretty much what the Washington Capitals did, except they pretty much mortgaged their future to do it. They traded for Toronto Maple Leafs forward Phil Kessel. That gives the Penguins arguably the best top two forward lines in the NHL. They have Chris Kunitz, Patric Hornqvist, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kessel and David Perron. To me, that sounds like death. Good luck stopping those first two forward lines.
The Penguins are a very talented team. However, they have an issue. They currently have 16 players under contract (I’ll include one of their cheap backup goalies). That’s at least four more players, more likely five or six. They will have less than $6,000,000 to get those players.
They also have Kris Letang, who can single handedly carry their defense. If Olli Maata is healthy, he is very good on the blue line, as is Ian Cole. Derrick Pouliot is very good as well. That’s a cheap top two defensive pairings that could be pretty darn good. However, it all falls apart if Letang, who has a history of concussions, can’t stay healthy.
Next: #2: Washington Capitals
#2: Washington Capitals
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The Washington Capitals have drastically improved their team this off-season. They got rid of Troy Brouwer, Joel Ward and Mike Green. Obviously those guys are big losses. They could also lose Eric Fehr. However, all of that is moot because the Washington Capitals addressed their issues by making two huge moves.
They started off by signing former Los Angeles Kings forward Justin Williams. In effect, he replaces Ward. Williams is a proven veteran who drives possession like very few can. Even though his box car stats are dwindling, he still is an extremely effective forward. He’s going to do wonders for Evgeny Kuznetsov and potentially either Andre Burakovsky or Marcus Johansson on the second forward line.
The Caps weren’t done. They then traded Brouwer and others to the St. Louis Blues for right wing T.J. Oshie. Oshie is the kind of guy that the first line of Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom needs. He is an excellent playmaker who can also score at a pretty good rate.
I don’t see any huge flaws with the Capitals right now. The third pairing should be fine. Nate Schmidt and Dmitry Orlov have both looked very efficient in small sample sizes. If they can bring back Fehr or acquire a solid bottom six forward, they could take over the number one spot in our power rankings.
Next: #1: Rangers
#1: New York Rangers
Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
The Rangers have literally done almost nothing in free agency. However, they have also not really lost anything. Their worst loss is either a bottom six caliber forward (Martin St. Louis and Carl Hagelin) or their backup goaltender (Cam Talbot). Right now, the Rangers have the core of their 2014-2015 President Trophy winning squad coming back and their core is still relatively young. Hagelin trade hurts them a little bit, but I’m a huge fan of Etem. Rangers definitely have the forward depth to replace Hagelin, who was nothing more than a role player (albeit a good one).
As long as the Rangers have guys like Rick Nash, Mats Zuccarello, Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan McDonagh, Derek Steppan, Chris Kreider and Derick Brassard, they’re going to keep being really good. Right now, they are the defending Metropolitan Division champs. They are the defending President’s Trophy winners. Even with the improvement of the Washington Capitals, Penguins, and Blue Jackets, they deserve the number one spot until someone proves that they can beat them.