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.

#4 A new bench boss

Spencer Carbery was brought in to coach the Capitals at the tail end of May with his first press conference with the D.C. media in the beginning of June. As the youngest coach in the league at age 41, there is inexperience. But don’t let it fool you.

Carbery when he takes the bench tonight will have officially coached at every level of hockey from the ECHL to the AHL and then finally to the NHL. But he does have a bit of NHL experience under his resume as he was an assistant for two seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs that helped form them into one of the league’s top power plays.

After his playing carer ended, Carbery spent five seasons as the head coach and director of hockey operations with the South Carolina Stingrays from 2011 to 2016. They joined the Caps as their ECHL affiliate in Carbery’s final two seasons.

After that he spent three seasons with the Hershey Bears. His final season saw the Bears post the best AHL record. He coached a lot of young Capitals players that wound up on today’s opening night roster.

He also seems to know the veterans well and looks to engage every player. Will this coach’s new life added to the Capitals translate into wins? That question will be answered throughout the course of the season.

#3 Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson and John Carlson are healthy

Last year the Capitals started the season out without Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson. In the middle of the season they lost John Carlson to a gruesome injury right around as they got hot. They got cold after that.

Backstrom has earned his chance to prove himself to the coaches and general manager Brian MacLellan. He proved himself enough to the point he’ll be centering the top line tonight alongside Alex Ovechkin and T.J. Oshie.

Wilson got a full summer of training and entering a contract year, we don’t have to worry about any drama surrounding that or those annoying “Wilson trade rumors” on hockey twitter. Thank the lord the Caps re upped him for seven more seasons after this season.

Carlson’s journey back from his injury is inspiring. He hurt himself blocking a slapshot from former Capital Brenden Dillon. He was on a stretcher when Alex Ovechkin hit the historic goal to pass Gordie Howe. He has since come back in late March.

Having those guys back are huge especially when you start the season without Max Pacioretty and Joel Edmundson.

#2 It’s put up or shut up for Evgeny Kuznetsov

By now you’ve probably heard about Evgeny Kuznetsov’s Russian language interview. In case you haven’t we’ll break it down. He ripped former Capitals coach Peter Laviolette. He called his teammate and fellow countryman Alex Alexeyev a fool for thinking he’d be the sixth defenseman. That was just part of it.

He also criticized the NHLPA for their handling of his suspension in 2019 over illegal drug use. In addition, he said the following about the Dmitry Orlov trade, “It seems like those who want to be here are kicked out while those that don’t are left behind.”

Ouch.

Kuznetsov is still in the lineup for tonight’s game but now this season is a prove it season. You can’t say all that and not back it up with your game. If he struggles even the slightest it could run him out of town.

If he has a bounce back season, which he is certainly capable of if Spencer Carbery “fits the style”, maybe the relationship is restored between player and team. If it isn’t, boom, there’s your trade value going up.

A bounce back season is easy on paper but hard to see until we see it. Everyone knows what Kuznetsov can do at his best, which hasn’t happened since the 2017 18 season. That year saw Kuznetsov score 27 goals and 56 assists for 83 points in the regular season.

We all knew what happened in the playoffs and it was more than just that game winner that knocked off the Penguins. That spring saw him lead the team in assists with 20 and points with 32 while adding 12 goals.

Those are the types of numbers his teammates and fans alike want to see from Kuznetsov. Can he do it remains to be seen. Last season was mid where he had just 12 goals and 43 assists for 55 points.