Washington Capitals: Top 5 predictions for next season

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Brenden Dillon, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /

#3 The defense will improve

The Capitals made some adjustments to their defense during free agency as well as re-signed Brenden Dillon and Jonas Siegenthaler. They also added Justin Schultz, Paul LaDue and Trevor van Riemsdyk. What does this mean for current questionable defensemen Nick Jensen and Dmitry Orlov, who both struggled last season?

The lineup should look like this: Brenden Dillon and John Carlson up top, Dmitry Orlov and Justin Schultz in the second pair, and Jonas Siegenthaler on the third pair while Nick Jensen and Trevor van Riemsdyk are rotating.

One of the Caps biggest priorities this offseason was re-signing Brenden Dillon which was exactly what they did on the night of the NHL Draft. Dillon didn’t score any goals but did have a Corsi For percentage of 47.04 percent in his eight playoff games with the Caps. Before the bubble, his Coris For percentage was at 51.12 percent in 10 regular season games. Still a small sample size.

Justin Schultz comes from the Pittsburgh Penguins and had a Corsi For percentage of 49.77 percent along with three goals and nine assists for 12 points in 46 games. Trevor van Riemsdyk was a steal from the Carolina Hurricanes. His Corsi For percentage was 53.22 percent along with a goal and seven assists in 49 games.

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