Washington Capitals: 3 Reasons This Team Can Win The Stanley Cup

A Big and Physical Team

The Capitals are not the team with the most hits in the NHL but this is still a team that can throw their weight around. They still have Tom Wilson, and Garnet Hathaway is also a very big hitter. The entire fourth line plays a very energetic and physical game which is hard to play against.

One reason this is a good thing is, yes you can wear down your opponents, but it can be very annoying to play against. If you are annoying to play against, guess what, you can draw penalties. What did we just get through talking about? The Capitals are good on the power play.

If the Capitals use that physicality to annoy their opponents it could lead to more power play and more goals. We all know how much Tom Wilson annoys opposing teams.

Again, this is not a team that throws the most hits. Last season they delivered 1,318 hits, or 23.25 hits a game. That was the 11th most in the league last year.

That being said, the Capitals are an OK puck possession team having a Corsi% of 50.64%. The more you do not have the puck the more you can hit. If they have the puck more they will obviously hit less.

Still, big and physical teams are usually hard to play against. And it’s not like this Capitals team is a team from the old days. While this team is big and physical, nearly everybody on this team can skate well too.

They’re big, they’re physical, and they can skate. That’s a recipe most franchises are looking for. The Capitals have it, and it should make them hard to beat most nights.