With the season on a pause, we figured it’s time to hand out awards for the Washington Capitals.
There are many players who have stepped up to the plate and have made the 2019-20 Washington Capitals season memorable in it’s own unique way. This post will recognize the best of the best.
We’ll take a look at them all: the most improved, the most regressed, the most impactful, social media butterfly, and the best with the media.
Most Improved: Jakub Vrana
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Jakub Vrana‘s game has elevated since getting that raise in his contract and I believe if hockey was still being played he could be a 30-goal scorer if the season was to be completed. Vrana has 25 goals and 27 assists on the season and should get some looks up top at some point so he can have an even bigger impact.
Most Regressed: Richard Panik
Richard Panik was brought in to fill the third line void of Andre Burakovsky after his departure. After scoring 14 goals last season he’s only had nine this season but has improved since moving to the fourth line after the team acquired Ilya Kovalchuk.
Most Impactful: Alex Ovechkin
Alex Ovechkin knows how to take over a game when his number is called and it was on display during the heat of his pursuit to 700 goals after he had a natural hat trick in a comeback win over the Los Angeles Kings. Big time players make big time plays and it’s no surprise that Ovechkin leads the Capitals with 48 goals this season.
Social Media Butterfly: Tom Wilson
Now if this was an award given to a player’s spouse, Alex Ovechkin’s wife easily takes the tape with all the content of their baby Sergei. Since this is a player award we’re dishing out this award to Tom Wilson simply because he and girlfriend got a new puppy and get this, made an Instagram account for the puppy!
Best with the Media: Evgeny Kuznetsov
The best part about an Evgeny Kuznetsov interview is that you never know what he’s going to say. Sometimes he’s being funny, other times his jokes are legitimate where he actually means it. We don’t know if he enjoys the media scrums or not, but thankfully we can be along for the laughs.
He even stuck up for his teammate Ilya Samsonov and wondered why they didn’t cover his momentum that he showed during his hot streak after a win in Carolina.
You don’t “because he is Russian, right?”, joked Kuznetsov.
Those are our player awards for the season thus far. Here’s hoping we can do this again if the season gets to be completed.