Will the Capitals look much different in 2022?

The Washington Capitals suffered a fourth straight first round exit. It was inevitable when the Caps gave the series away to the Florida Panthers three straight times when they had an opportunity to put the President’s Trophy winners on the brink.

Now enters an offseason filled with questions. The biggest? Will the Capitals look different in 2022? If so, how much different?

Capitals General Manager Brian MacLellan said this on breakdown day:

"“We’ve lost in the first round the last four years. We’re going to explore changes. I don’t think anything is off the table. We’re going to talk to different teams and monitor the trade market. We have to identify free agents.”"

Alex Ovechkin was asked if he still believes this team can win with the core that they’ve got:

"“I think the experience, what we have, it helps. It’s not my job to decide who’s going to stay, who is going to be out. But yeah, how I said, this group of guys is tremendous, you know, unbelievable atmosphere in the locker room.”"

The team is going to look different next season. That is inevitable. The team will try to fix the goaltending issue by going for a veteran net minder with the goal of attracting one to come here. The window is closing and we saw that running it back with two unproven goalies didn’t work.

On the defense I don’t see any of the free agents coming back which could open a spot up there. Justin Schultz will probably be gone as will Michal Kempny. On the forward front Marcus Johansson and Johan Larsson, both acquired at the trade deadline, will likely depart.

There’s also Connor McMichael and his future regarding his role with the Caps. The coach and GM said that they would like to see him get more time at the center position. There’s one problem though, all four centers: Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Lars Eller, and Nic Dowd are under contract.

Three of those four names are untouchable with Dowd signing an extension earlier in the season. That means Eller could be the odd man out unless something tragic happens where Backstrom can’t play hockey anymore due to that hip injury.

Nonetheless, it is going to be an interesting summer seeing what the Caps can do to try to keep the window open as long as possible. But time is running out.