
#3 Braden Holtby
The Capitals will need Braden Holtby to return to his Vezina Trophy-winning form in order to have a successful season. Holtby finished the last two regular seasons with 34 and 32 wins, respectively, and will look for a much better season in 2019-20.
Last season, Holtby amassed a record of 32-19-5 with a 2.82 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage. Although he won more games the previous season, Holtby’s GAA lowered last season from 2.99 and his save percentage improved from .907. Holtby also added three shutouts.

The Capitals offseason upgrades this summer had a heavy emphasis on improving their defense overall and for a netminder like Braden Holtby, that’s great news for him.
Part of Holtby’s struggles was the inexperience of the defensemen while last season injuries played a factor for a couple of their high end guys such as Brooks Orpik, Christian Djoos, and ultimately, Michal Kempny.
The better Holtby plays this season, the better position the Caps will be against a competitive Metropolitan Division. As a result, his value next summer will only get higher and it’ll make things very complicated to keep him after the massive $70-million contract that was signed by Sergei Bobrovsky.
Obviously, Holtby doesn’t want this final year of his contract to be a distraction. He said that to J.J. Regan of NBC Sports Washington on media day:
"“Obviously, my goal is to win a Stanley Cup here and everything else, I’m not an agent for a reason. I’m a hockey player.”"
Holtby will look to lead the Caps back to another Stanley Cup. After all, that comes first before we even have to worry about next offseason.