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Washington Capitals: Players who will improve in 2019-2020

By David Trice

RALEIGH, NC - MARCH 28: Jakub Vrana #13 of the Washington Capitals scores a game tying goal and celebrates with teammate Carl Hagelin #62 during an NHL game on March 28, 2019 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NC - MARCH 28: Jakub Vrana #13 of the Washington Capitals scores a game tying goal and celebrates with teammate Carl Hagelin #62 during an NHL game on March 28, 2019 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 18: Richard Panik #14 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal with teammates against the St. Louis Blues during the third period of a preseason NHL game at Capital One Arena on September 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 18: Richard Panik #14 of the Washington Capitals celebrates his goal with teammates against the St. Louis Blues during the third period of a preseason NHL game at Capital One Arena on September 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

Change in Scenery Players

This covers all the free agent and trade acquisitions the team made in the off season. The best chance of a player in this category would be gaining a better environment than they had in their previous situation. The environment is also dictated by the status the player is expected to have on the Capitals versus that of their previous team.  Are they going to have better line mates? Or will they be asked to contribute in new ways, that they were not awarded previously?

washington capitals
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 18: Radko Gudas #33 of the Washington Capitals skates past Evan Polei #64 of the St. Louis Blues during the first period of a preseason NHL game at Capital One Arena on September 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

In the case of Radko Gudas, he was mostly a second and third pairing defenseman for the Flyers. Gudas then spent most of his time with the lower portion of the lineup on a team sitting firmly out of the playoff hunt by the end of the season. He was expected to provide a defensive first presence while giving the team a physical edge to impose the Flyers will on their opponents.

Gudas was actually very successful in providing this while finding a way to stay out of the penalty box as much as he was accustomed to in the past. His PIM gradually decreased over the last four seasons from 116 in 2015-16, to 93 in 2016-17, to 83 in 2017-18 and finally 63 in 2018-19. At the same time his hits ranked 2nd in 2015-16, 4th in 2016-17, 37th in 2017-18, and 10th in 2018-19.

While I think Gudas will provide a huge boost to the team with his physical nature of hockey, I believe his production on the score sheet will be approximately the same as we have seen. And with his past of nearly leading the league in hits a number of times, he will again be among the best in the league but I don’t foresee him leading the league with other well known hitters on the roster in Tom Wilson, Alex Ovechkin and Garnet Hathaway.

washington capitals
CALGARY, AB – APRIL 19: Garnet Hathway #21 of the Calgary Flames skates against the Colorado Avalanche in Game Five of the Western Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 19, 2019 at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Gerry Thomas/NHLI via Getty Images)”n /

Speaking of Garnet Hathaway, he is another addition to help with the team defense from the fourth line. He also falls into a similar category as Gudas, as he applied 200 hits last year for the Calgary Flames. Where he differs from Gudas is his previous teams success, while the Flyers were well out of the playoffs the Flames were the second best team in the league as a whole by finishing with 107 points and 50 wins.

On a roster filled with a good balance of veterans and youth, Hathaway was able to up his point production by scoring 11 goals and 8 assists as a fourth line player mostly. This made last season his best thus far in the NHL, question is whether he will be able to match or better that with the Capitals roster.

As a team last year the Flames finished 3rd in the league for GF with 289, while the Capitals finished 5th with 274. For the GA the Flames allowed 223 versus the Capitals 248, good for 9th and 17th respectively. With the addition of Hathaway, this will most likely provide a boost for the Capitals. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean Hathaway will actually improve his production from last season with the Flames.

I believe with the other question mark at wing on the fourth line and the teams move to better the team defense, I think if the Capitals can get the same output if not more would be all they can ask for from Hathaway.

washington capitals
GLENDALE, ARIZONA – MARCH 09: Brendan Leipsic #14 of the Los Angeles Kings skates with the puck ahead of Mario Kempe #29 of the Arizona Coyotes during the third period of the NHL game at Gila River Arena on March 09, 2019 in Glendale, Arizona. The Coyotes defeated the Kings 4-2. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

Brendan Leipsic joins the Capitals from the Los Angeles Kings as the other fourth line winger option. He has shown a struggle to find a home in the NHL as he has been traded twice already in his short three year career, while also sitting out one year between 2015-16 to 2017-18. During his struggle to find adequate playing time, he has produced at least 22 points from the fourth line over the last two seasons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lViAoyFsKVI

Considering he was given a contract from the Capitals in free agency he already has an advantage over the incumbents for the fourth line role. Much like with Hathaway and Gudas though I think if he is able to replicate his previous production and help better the team defense from a consistent role he will be worth the add. But asking him to produce more than he already has on a new team in the first year will be asking too much of Leipsic.

WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 18: Richard Panik #14 of the Washington Capitals skates with the puck against the St. Louis Blues during a preseason NHL game at Capital One Arena on September 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 18: Richard Panik #14 of the Washington Capitals skates with the puck against the St. Louis Blues during a preseason NHL game at Capital One Arena on September 18, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /

That brings us to the player I believe will be evidently better on his new team, Richard Panik. While I think all the previous players will improve or at the very least contribute as expected, Panik comes from a team lacking in offensive prowess thus making him one of the few threats to score.

With the Arizona Coyotes, Panik scored 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points good for the 6th highest scorer. If he produced the same point production with the Capitals he would have been the 10th highest scorer, thus the pressure to be one of the main threats won’t be present.

While he won’t be on the wing with a center in the realm of Jonathan Toews, he will be with a consistently reliable center in Lars Eller.  Eller scored 36 points last year good for 9th best on the Capitals, while having a winger in Connolly who managed to score 46 points.

Panik could find himself more in the neighborhood of scoring 40 points while on a line with Eller and Hagelin, he will find himself the main scoring option on this line with a great setup man in Eller.  In the same instance, this could be one of the most reliable lines both offensively and defensively that the Capitals have deployed on the third line in a long time.

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