5 bold moves Capitals need to win the Stanley Cup
A lot of people think the Washington Capitals won’t even make the playoffs this upcoming season. If they stand pat and don’t make any other moves, those naysayers and doubters could be right.
So while the dog days of summer drag on and we await for the puck to drop against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday the 13th, here are five moves the Caps can make to win the Stanley Cup this upcoming June.
Now this is fun and just some brainstorming. So for this exercise I’ll look at five bold moves the Caps could not only make before summer ends but even after training camp and the regular season starts if necessary.
#5 Make a trade for a top six
I’ll start this with what I’ve mentioned over and over again the last several days. Trade for a top six. Keep scouring the trade market and see what you can do. Make Evgeny Kuznetsov happy by sending him out. Make the fans happy by getting a young return at the minimum.
There’s really not much more I can write for this bold move. But that’s why there’s four other moves we got to tackle. If they do these, the best is yet to come.
#4 Find the right coach for the power play
It will be important for Spencer Carbery to round out his staff and there’s one more opening in the staff that needs to be filled. That’s the offensive power play specialist. Blaine Forsythe had that unit since 2014.
It was good when he had it. It was one of the league’s worst when the Caps decided to part ways with Forsythe. He has since joined the Arizona Coyotes.
Carbery’s Toronto Maple Leafs had the NHL’s second best power play last season clicking at a success rate of 26.0 percent. John Tavares led that unit with 18 goals on the man advantage while Auston Matthews added 13.
The Edmonton Oilers had the league’s best power play last season at 32.4 percent. A power play success rate over 30 percent is actually insane.
Oh and the player stats get crazier. Leon Draisaitl had 32 power play goals. Connor McDavid had 21. Ryan Nugent Hopkins and Zach Hyman each had 15.
The mastermind behind the Oilers power play is Glen Gulutzan. If the Caps were to somehow entice him cool but I doubt it. But a guy like him or close to him plus Carbery at the helm could be enough to improve a unit that ranked smack in the middle of the NHL last season.
#3 Train and eat healthy
If a player is reading this, this is why I included it in here. The Caps need to make sure that even though training camp is still just over two months away that they train wherever they live in the offseason and eat healthy.
It’s the least they can do to prevent an injury. Other than that I don’t know how to except be careful when the season starts back up again.
One twitter follower said that Darcy Kuemper was the reason the Caps missed the playoffs. That couldn’t be any further than the truth. The primary reason the Caps missed the playoffs was injuries. Plain and simple.
I’ll get heat from the Laviolette haters but maybe if the Caps were just a tad bit healthier and squeaked into the playoffs maybe Peter Laviolette is still in D.C. and not finding a new opportunity now with the New York Rangers.
Unfortunately there’s only so much you can’t control and even eating healthier isn’t a magic pill to the fountain of youth, but it does help you live longer.
#2 Trade Evgeny Kuznetsov
You can’t keep a player that doesn’t want to be here.
Now that we know for sure from Mike Vogel that Evgeny Kuznetsov requested a trade to Brian MacLellan the Caps have to execute this correctly.
Now Kuzy was a big reason the Caps won the Cup in 2018. But that was then. He hasn’t found it. And if he still wants out and is still with the team at training camp it’ll create an awkward situation.
And if he starts the season hot, it’s going to make trading him even more awkward. Like trading Jakub Vrana type awkward. And no the Oilers won’t give you Connor McDavid in exchange for Kuznetsov. Not happening.
This will be an interesting few weeks unless MacLellan decides to continue to wait it out if the trade market is dry.
#1 Let the kids play
It wasn’t just Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Tom Wilson, and T.J. Oshie that helped the Capitals win the Stanley Cup in 2018. It wasn’t just Braden Holtby but that save was all him. It was a bunch of young bucks too.
Guys like Chandler Stephenson, Jakub Vrana, Christian Djoos, and a cast of others whether smaller roles or black aces all played a part.
Which is why Connor McMichael and Hendrix Lapierre, one or the other, or both, need to find a place in the lineup come opening night. They have a good chance as Max Pacioretty isn’t going to be ready for opening night.
Carbery will in fact let the kids play. Rangers fans? I feel sorry for you.
Carbery worked in Hershey as a head coach before joining the Maple Leafs and was like a proud dad seeing Connor McMichael and other players that he coached lift the Calder Cup this summer.
Must Read. Washington Capitals: Top 25 goals of all-time. light
Having a fresh face chomping at the bit to coach in the NHL and finally get his shot, it’s going to be fun seeing the buttons Carbery will press this fall and beyond.