Washington Capitals: Top 3 needs heading into the offseason
The Washington Capitals embark on a big offseason.
The Washington Capitals should still be playing hockey right now. Or they absolutely shouldn’t. Either way here we are for another early and long offseason ahead where we don’t know the length or what to expect. What we can do is figure out the needs and come up with three.
The Caps season ended to Barry Trotz and the New York Islanders in five games. After exiting the bubble, General Manager Brian MacLellan promptly relieved Todd Reirden of his head coaching duties. This brings us to the head coaching search and there’s already some big names.
We’ll get to the coaches more later. On the roster the defense is something they gotta address this offseason as a unit that needs to improve next season. They also gotta look at the goaltending and a decision will have to be made.
Either way, it’s one of the most important offseasons of the Alex Ovechkin era. As he reaches his latter years, this offseason determines the course the team plans to go for the foreseeable future. Will they keep the core intact or will they blow it up?
Here are the top 3 needs this offseason.
#3 Defense
The Caps will need a new defensive coach as well as an upgrade to the current personnel. Todd Reirden has found an opportunity as an assistant coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. As far as who would be a good assistant coaching defense on the Caps they should look no further than Brooks Orpik.
The Caps will have two unrestricted free agents in Brenden Dillon and Radko Gudas and a restricted free agent in Jonas Siegenthaler. Gudas carries a cap hit of $2,345,000, Dillon’s is $1,635,000. Siegenthaler carries a cap hit of $714,166.
There are several big names available if the Caps are unable to re-sign Gudas or Dillon though they should certainly try to bring back Dillon. One player is Chris Tanev. Other names include Trevor van Riemsdyk, Dylan Demelo, Dustin Byfuglien, Alex Pietrangelo, Justin Schutz, Tyson Barrie, Torey Krug, Andy Green, and Sami Vatanen. They need a defenseman who’s proven and that’ll be at the top of their shopping list.
The Caps next coach should have a defensive mind as well. Someone like a Peter Laviolette. The Caps were ranked 17th in goals allowed by surrendering 212 goals in the regular season. In the playoffs the Caps were ranked 13th allowing 23 goals.
#2 Goaltending
The writing is on the wall. Braden Holtby very likely played his last Washington Capitals game. This means goaltending could be a need this offseason as they figure out who will backup Ilya Samsonov. Though with the salary cap flat, it could be enough to keep Holtby in Washington for one more year.
“It’s still to be decided. I think it’s going to be difficult but sometimes opportunities come up that you don’t expect and I think we’d like to play it out and see what happens,” said Caps General Manager Brian MacLellan.
Samsonov was selected in the 2015 NHL Draft and had a good rookie season. He is the goaltender of the future. If the Caps indeed move on from Holtby, they have two options: veteran free agent goalie or call up within the pipeline. If they choose B they can bring up Pheonix Copley, who has NHL experience or Vitek Vanecek.
If the Caps go the route of the veteran netminder there are several free agents available such as Robin Lehner from the Vegas Golden Knights among others.
Defense and goaltending are two needs for the Caps this offseason. Now there’s one more need to address and it can’t be more obvious.
#1 A new coach
The number one need the Caps will have to address this offseason is who the new coach will be. After letting go of Reirden the message can’t be more clear, anything less than a championship is a failure. Reirden failed to live up to that. Now the team is looking to add a new bench boss and if anything they should go the veteran route. I recently wrote about how they should hire Peter Laviolette.
There are other coaches available too. Coaches like Gerad Gallant and Mike Babcock. If they want to hire a rookie head coach, they should go with Alan May.
Out of the three veteran coaches though the choice can’t be more clear. Laviolette is “very much a contender” according to Elliotte Friedman and now has an opportunity to coach the Caps after he was relieved from his duties as coach of the Nashville Predators back in January. He has 18 years of experience in the NHL.
Laviolette has taken three different teams to the Finals. He took the Predators in 2017, the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010 and the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006. He won the Cup with the Hurricanes. While in Nashville, the Predators made it to the playoffs each season under Laviolette.
More. Washington Capitals: A look ahead at improving during the offseason. light
Those are the top 3 needs heading into the offseason. What are your top 3 needs for the Caps?