Very Early Thoughts on How the Capitals Look so Far

The Washington Capitals are four games into the 2022-23 season.  It’s too early to know who this team is, but let’s talk about how they have looked so far.

The Caps are 2-2-0 in their first four games with losses to the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs, so two top teams in the East. In those games, Boston and Toronto had a lot of help from their top lines. Washington’s top lines in those games were not a factor.

In the last two games, we saw T.J. Oshie, Anthony Mantha, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Alex Ovechkin play a much more significant role. And would you look at that; they got two W’s.

The offense started slow, and honestly, so did the defense. The Caps gave up 13 goals in their first four games. Only nine players on the Caps have a positive +/-, and the highest is +2.

Here’s my concern.  Especially in the game vs. Vancouver, Washington looked like the old Capitals. Offense first with a flimsy defense, but the offense isn’t as good as it was back then, lacking Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson, two impact players. It isn’t the weak defense with the amazing offense that could still win a President’s Trophy. This is an older team, so they need to play smarter.

We know the Caps can score goals. When you have Alex Ovechkin, it is no shocker that it is usually what they’re best at. But they aren’t the best anymore, so they must tighten up on defense.

In the first game, we saw one goal where David Pastrnak went around Dylan Strome and scored as three Caps players collapsed on him. That isn’t team defense.

Overall, I think the Caps are still a good playoff team that can make some noise if they get to the postseason. However, based on what we have seen so far, I don’t think the playoffs are a guarantee the way it has felt in the past. Washington will have to fight every game while battling injuries and pick up every win they can to make the playoffs.

They are still an extremely talented team with free agent additions including a new goalie, and a youth movement. It will take time for them to click and play really well as a team—more than just four games. But I am an optimist, and I think the Caps will be fine.