Washington Capitals: Top Three Storylines Of The Early Season
By CJ Witt
Goaltending Is Still A Question
Goaltending has been a hot topic in D.C. for several years now. This is going back to the season where the Capitals won the Stanley Cup in 2018. That year the question was Holtby or Grubauer. Holtby was struggling, Grubauer was better. A couple of seasons later it turned to Holtby or Samsonov. Now, it’s Samsonov or Vanecek.
Coming into the season it looked like the Capitals were probably going to use a 1A, 1B goalie system. Someone was going to get more starts, but marginally. Ilya Samsonov, at least in my eyes, was still the “starter” or in this case 1A. He had the inside track, all he had to do was take the job.
Well, to start this season he hasn’t looked that great. I can’t come out and say he’s looked bad, but the starters job is up for grabs and he hasn’t been able to reach it yet.
Samsonov has played in 5 games this season, starting in 3 of them. One of those non starts being a weird situation. So far this season he has a 2.91 GAA and a now bad .893 save percentage. Even when you just look at his 5v5 numbers it still isn’t anything that great. At 5v5 he has a 2.53 GAA and a save percentage of .907%. Average numbers.
Then you go to Vitek Vanecek. He has played in 7 games this season for the Capitals. To start this season he has a 2.49 GAA and a .902% save percentage. Still pretty average numbers, the goals against average pretty good, but the save percentage is pretty weak.
His 5v5 numbers are very good though. While at full and even strength this team can count on Vanecek. He has a 1.26 GAA and a save percentage of .946%. Very good numbers.
Goaltending will be a story all season long and probably beyond that quite honestly. Who do you want in net for the Washington Capitals?