Predicting Capitals breakout players for 2022

The Washington Capitals have a big season coming up and there are several players that have the potential to have a breakout season. We’ll take a look at who could have a breakout season today.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way. Alex Ovechkin will have a breakout season. The question is can he score another 50 goals despite turning 37 next month? Ovechkin needed to average just 33 goals to catch the great one heading into last season.

If he can score more than 33 goals this season and at least flirt with 50, he could very well catch Wayne Gretzky not next season but as early as the season after.

Ovechkin won’t be the only player who will breakout. With no Tom Wilson or Nicklas Backstrom for a while look for other top six players to step up. Specifically I’m talking about Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Last season Kuznetsov had 24 goals and 54 assists for 78 points. He could very well have the first 30 goal season of his career this upcoming season. No pressure but the Kuzy revenge tour I could easily see continuing into this season.

Another player who could breakout is John Carlson. Last year he had a career high 17 goals and 54 assists for 71 points. On the defense, look for Dmitry Orlov to have a breakout season as well. Last year Orlov had 12 goals and 23 assists for 35 points.

As far as forwards go, Conor Sheary is another player who is expected to breakout. He is very speedy and last season had 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points.

As far as newcomers go, I could easily see Dylan Strome having a breakout year. Last season Strome had 22 goals and 26 assists for 48 points with the Chicago Blackhawks before signing with the Caps last month as a free agent.

Strome was on some rebuilding Blackhawks teams and prior to that had played with the Arizona Coyotes. Coming to a team like the Caps with high powered offense could only help his production take off.