Goal Scoring Could Be An Issue After Several Key Washington Capitals Left

Lets take a trip back to the summer of 2017.

The Washington Capitals were coming off yet another disappointing playoff performance, losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second consecutive year and the third time in the Alex Ovechkin vs Sidney Crosby era. The result was frustrating enough but what came after the loss was perhaps even more important.

That summer the Capitals parted ways with four very good players, some of them key players for several years. The names that left that summer included Marcus Johansson, Justin Williams, Karl Alzner and Kevin Shattenkirk.

The Capitals Stanley Cup chances seemed to go out the door with those players. The “window” that we often refer to in hockey had seemed to close, at least in the near future for the Caps. Instead the complete opposite happened. We don’t need to go into too much detail here, we all know what happened. The Capitals won the Stanley Cup the very next season.

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Losing all those players and winning the Cup resulted in one of the very best quotes in the entire history of the Washington Capitals. “We’re not going to be suck this year!”

Why are we talking about this? There has to be a reason we’re talking about the 2017 off-season right?

The reason I bring this up is because the 2017 off-season and this past off-season has been a little similar. The only difference is the names the Caps lost in 2017 were bigger names. The production lost however is very similar.

In losing Johansson, Williams, Alzner and Shattenkirk in 2017 the Capitals lost 53 goals scored that season. This summer the Caps lost 48 goals scored.

I’m not sure that gets talked about often enough. Is it because the names aren’t as big and noticeable? Williams, a guy who had won Stanley Cups and being a huge part in those wins. Johansson a well-known core player for the Capitals. Alzer a well-known and respected defensive defenseman. Finally Shattenkirk, a big name acquired at the trade deadline that year.

This time the names lost include Brett Connolly, Andre Burakovsky, Matt Niskanen, Brooks Orpik and Devante Smith-Pelly. The biggest names in there are probably Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik, two aging defesemen. One aging so much he isn’t playing anymore in Orpik’s case.

Losing 48 goals is nothing to sneeze at. Washington scored 274 goals last season which was the fifth best total in the NHL. Without those 48 goals the Caps scored 226 goals and if that was the case they would have ranked 21st in goals scored. Losing those goals you go from a top five team to a bottom third team in the league.

The Capitals scored 263 goals in 2016-17 with all those key players we mentioned above. The next season the Caps scored just four fewer goals. They also won the Cup. I’ll just mention that since Capitals fans love to hear it.

Guys stepped up and made up the difference and the Capitals soon returned to the top of the league in goal scoring. Who’s going to step up this time around? 48 goals have been lost and how are the Capitals going to get them back?

The potential problem I see is most of the guys on the team last year scored their career average in goals. Which means to make up lost goals you’re going to need a couple of guys to have career years. At the same time you also need players to not regress, like an Ovechkin who scored 51, or T.J. Oshie who scored 25, or Wilson who scored 22.

Which guys could have career years? It’s unlikely to be Nicklas Backstrom. His career high in goals is 33 and that came back in 2009-10. Backstrom hasn’t scored more than 23 goals since then. He averages in the low twenties and he had 22 last season.

Is Evgeny Kuznetsov going to have a big goal scoring year? I doubt it, Kuznetsov is more of a playmaker and passer. His career high is 27 goals scored back in the 2017-18 season. Another mid twenties season should be expected from Kuznetsov which is his career average.

Jakub Vrana is an interesting option. The twenty-three year old Czech native scored 24 goals last season. Is that the start of a career average or the start of something special? Could he be a thirty plus guy more times than not? We’ll see.

Tom Wilson is another guy to watch. Is he now a twenty goal scorer after his 22 goals last season? I tend to think he won’t get many more than that, but you never know.

Looking at the rest of the team. Lars Eller is a mid teens guy, John Carlson is a mid teens scorer, Dmitry Orlov can probably increase his total from three to around 10, that would help. Other than him you probably can’t expect that many more goals from the guys.

To make up for the goals lost you have to look at the new guys. Guys like Carl Hagelin. While he’s not technically new this will be his first full season with Washington after being acquired in late February last season and playing in twenty games in red. Could he score more goals than expected?

Hagelin has lost his scoring touch in recent seasons being more of a 5-10 goal scorer, but he was once a 15-20 goals guy. He also scored three goals in twenty games last year with the Caps which puts him on a 12-15 goal pace. That would help the team.

How about Richard Panik? The twenty-eight year old signed a four year $11 million contract with the Capitals this off-season, what can we expect from him in terms of goals? His career high is 22 with Chicago in 2016-17 and he scored 14 last season with the Coyotes.

Is Brendan Leipsic an option? He’s never been a big goal scorer. That being said he’s only twenty-five years old and he scored a career high seven goals last season with the Canucks and Kings. Possibly a good bottom line guy.

If those three guys give you 12, 15, and five goals respectively, that’s just over 30 goals. That’s pretty good and you’re well on your way to making up the 48 you lost.

Maybe a young guy comes up from Junior or the AHL and has a surprise season? The most exciting prospects in the Capitals system seem to be defensemen so you can’t really expect much help them in terms of goal scoring.

You never know how a season will go. That goes for both whole teams and individual players. Still, the Capitals are probably going to have to rely more on defense this coming season. You can’t expect veteran guys to have career years out of nowhere, not to say that won’t happen. We know just about where players will finish in the goal scoring department. They’ve proven this over their many years in the league.

You also have to hope the Capitals don’t become a top heavy team and over reliant on guys like Ovechkin, Oshie, Kuznetsov, Backstrom and Carlson.

If Washington doesn’t get help from guys like Hagelin, Panik and Leipsic and maybe a young player it could be a win via defense year. If that’s the case they’ll have to improve there as well. Last season the Caps finished 17th in goals allowed giving up 248. Not a bad number but not good enough if the goal total drops.

Related Story. T.J. Oshie predictions. light

The Capitals are going to need several guys to help make up for the lost goal scoring. Who do you think will help the most?

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