Top 5 concerns Capitals must address this offseason

#2 Youth

Youth should definitely be a big concern facing the Washington Capitals. Should the Capitals once again look internally for youth like they did last season? Though they didn’t quite have a choice with the injuries and COVID 19 concerns.

Or should they trade youth for youth or in other words look outside the organization?

If you’ve read my recent stuff I think the veterans who should be on their way out for youth are John Carlson and Lars Eller. It pained me to write that but at the same time you gotta give something to get something.

Internally there are some options though. On the forward front there’s Axel Jonsson Fjallby, Connor McMichael (who should emerge into a bigger role next season), Brett Leason, Aliaksei Protas and more.

On the defense there’s Lucas Johansen and Alex Alexeyev in the pipeline. There’s also Trevor Van Riemsdyk who will be due for a raise soon. As will be Martin Fehervary.

On the goaltending front if both Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek walk there is Zach Fucale who could serve as a valuable backup. He had a shutout in his NHL debut and didn’t have a bad start until his third game.

Overall, the Caps should get younger if they want to avoid a fifth straight second round exit.