Top 3 storylines heading into Capitals preseason action

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Darcy Kuemper, Washington Capitals (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

#2 New goalies in town

For the first time in years, possibly since the 2018 Cup run, the Caps have some stability in net. At least on paper.

After Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov were unable to prove themselves as the true number one starter, Brian MacLellan looked outside of the organization to fill the hole.

The Caps started free agency with no goalies on their roster. They traded Vitek Vanecek to the New Jersey Devils to move up in the draft. And then they decided to not give Ilya Samsonov a qualifying offer. He’s now on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Good luck to him, those fans are like us but times 10.

The Caps signed Darcy Kuemper to a five year deal and went with Charlie Lindgren to back him up. Lindgren was good whether he played in the NHL or AHL last season. But this year it’ll be his first full NHL season.

As for Kuemper, he helped the Colorado Avalanche win the Stanley Cup last season. Having that on his resume helped him become the highest sought after free agent net minder on the market and MacLellan hit a home run with this signing.

The last two years analyzing two young goalies gave me headaches. But I shouldn’t have much of a headache this year covering Kuemper.

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