Washington Capitals: Most Intriguing Players To Watch This Upcoming Season
By CJ Witt
The most intriguing Washington Capitals players this season.
The NHL looks to have its start day and we will be playing hockey this season after all. The obvious caveat here is with the season starting so late and with the league wanting to get back on a regular schedule and needing to be off TV for the upcoming Olympics this will not be an 82 games season. Instead it looks as if the league has settled on playing 56 games with some kind of modified playoffs.
This season will look different. There will be twenty-six less games than usual and the divisions will be altered thanks to the pandemic. But, hockey is hockey. As long as it’s safe it will be great to watch this sport, this league and this Washington Capitals team again.
Just like every season there are some players that go into the season that are more intriguing than others. Now with the season apparently very close it’s time to take a look at some of the more interesting players to watch for this upcoming and shortened season.
John Carlson
John Carlson is coming off of his best season as a pro. Last season he played in just 69 regular season games for the Capitals, he posted career high numbers, notably career highs in assists (60) and points (75). He was also nominated for the Norris Trophy for best defenseman in the NHL last season.
While he is getting older, that doesn’t mean we’ve seen the best that Carlson has to offer. With the Capitals window seemingly getting tighter and tighter every season it will be interesting to see how the stars of this team plays for the next couple of seasons. Carlson being a star of this side is no exception.
He won’t be setting a career high this season thanks to the shortened schedule. So what would a similar season look like from Carlson?
Last season Carlson scored 75 points in 69 games, meaning he put up about 1.08 points per game. If he plays in all 56 games this season and bumps that number up to just 1.10 per game he has a chance to score 62 points. Anything less than that means he had a worse scoring season than the previous season.
Every season for the next few seasons should be intriguing for John Carlson. His best season may not be behind him. Any season could be his best going forward. A Norris Trophy could still very much be in the cards for Carlson. Could this be his year?