What Needs To Go Right For The Capitals To Compete Next Season
By CJ Witt
The Young Players Need To Step Up
If guys like Backstrom and Ovechkin finally start to get tackled by Father Time the Capitals are going to need some of their higher end prospects to start making a difference at the NHL level.
Connor McMichael has had his chance in the NHL. You can and probably should argue, this year it is pretty much the “put up or shut up” year. If he can’t prove himself to be a no doubter NHLer, in the lineup every night this season, that could be it for him in D.C. Congrats, you’ve done OK in the AHL, you’ve won some things. But that does next to nothing in the NHL. He’s 22, will be 23 in the middle of next season. It’s time.
Will Ivan Miroshnichenko be able to play games with the team this season? If and likely when he does, will he be a difference maker?
What will Hendrix Lapierre look like when he gets NHL time again. He is one of the top prospects for the Caps. At what point does he start pushing for a spot.
Can Protos turn into an effective NHL player? He had moments last season with Washington where he looked pretty good. But never was able to turn that into much, scoring just 4 goals and 15 points in 58 games. Can he take that next step?
Do you also look at younger no doubter NHLers like Rasmus Sandin and Martin Fehervary? It’s time for them to take the leadership away from John Carlson. It’s not that the Caps have to move on from Carlson, but they should start making this their D and taking a ton of pressure off of number 74. If they can, does that make the D a lot more deep?
The Capitals have some good young players and they have been there for a while. It’s just time for one of them (or more) to finally take the chance they are given and run wild with it. Because some have gotten that chance, and have just done nothing with it. This is potentially a big year for some of these young players this season. Like I said earlier, it’s time to prove it for some of these guys, or maybe it’s time to find work elsewhere.