5 strategies the Capitals should do after the holiday break

#1 Throw the forward lines into a blender

Here’s what the forward lines looked like from yesterday’s practice:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Sheary-Backstrom-Protas
McMichael-Eller-Hathaway
Hagelin-Dowd-Leason

I would play around a little with this. I originally thought McMichael should get bumped to the second line but let’s wait until Sheary gets in a bit of a slump before we make that switch. Right now Sheary is on a career high five game point streak.

I would move Hathaway and Protas to give the Caps a 1-2 punch of Garnet Hathaway and Tom Wilson in the top six. Hathaway has seven goals and three assists for 10 points. Protas so far has two goals and four assists for six points.

For the first time this season the Caps have their top four centers back in the lineup. It’ll take some time to see if these lines above would gel so I would wait and see how tonight’s game goes before making these changes.

Now that I think about it, a McMichael-Eller-Protas line would make more sense than a McMichael-Eller-Hathaway line. And then there’s T.J. Oshie who hasn’t cleared COVID protocol yet but practiced during the optional morning skate. You also have to see where to slot him in as well.