Top 5 storylines as the Capitals enter a new season

The Washington Capitals return to action tonight. There are still some moving parts to the lineup ahead of the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins as today’s morning skate was an optional.

This is a new coach so there was no “we’re still working through some things in the room” said by Spencer Carbery. That’s a Peter Laviolette line and he has since joined the New York Rangers as the new bench boss.

First off congrats to Darcy Kuemper and his wife on the birth of their new baby last night. Carbery has yet to make a decision on the starting goaltender. Charlie Lindgren doesn’t know yet either. It could be either one. If Kuemper gets the nod, he could play with extra dad strength.

Alex Alexeyev and Aliaksei Protas appeared to take the scratches skate while Matthew Phillips came off the ice earlier. Still some decisions to be made. Stay tuned.

Update as we wrote this: Goalie Clay Stephenson gets called up from Hershey while Aliaksei Protas heads to the Bears. Lindgren and Phillips in.

Here are the top 5 storylines as the Capitals enter a new season:

#5 Not the oldest team anymore

According to Cap Friendly, the Caps are now tied for the sixth oldest team in the NHL with an average age of 28.8. A big part of that is the roster consists of eight players aged 25 years old or younger. We haven’t had that since the 2017 18 Cup year.