The Washington Capitals are up almost second to last when it comes to the scheduling as we have to wait till Saturday for the puck to drop while it seems like everyone else is watching the puck drop the next couple days. But have no fear. We've got the best and worst case scenarios besides an opening night schedule.
Starting with the worst:
Caps either miss the playoffs or barely squeak by
This is the scenario you do not want as it would be a repeat of last year's sweep to the New York Rangers. You also don''t want injuries so you gotta play your cards right like Spencer Carbery successfully did in his first season with the Caps. It was OK to do that last year because nobody expected the Caps to sqeak into the big dance.
Now things are different. Expectations are higher here. The team added Pierre-Luc Dubois. Charlie Lindgren is the guy in net with Logan Thompson as the new backup. Alex Ovechkin is 42 goals away from NHL history.
If things align perfectly and they play together as a team you don't have to worry about that. And now the best...
Caps finish top 3 in Metropolitan Division
This is the scenario that everyone wants from the organization to the fans. Of course anything can happen after that but snagging a top 3 spot in an imporoved Metropolitan Division would be a big leapfrog forward from last year.
We all know the big goal milestone at this point but when Ovechkin takes the ice on Saturday he'll be just three assists shy of 700 in his career. He can become just the sixth player in NHL history with 700 plus goals and 700 plus assists once he reaches the milestone. Ovi is also 74 games shy of 1,500 career games played and 50 points shy of 1,600 career points.
Not only has the offense looked better but the defense looks to be a lot more shored up than it was last year thanks to the additions of Jakob Chychrun and Matt Roy. John Carlson, Martin Fehervary and Rasmus Sandin will be back as well as Trevor van Riemsdyk. Alex Alexeyev returns and Dylan McIlrath makes the cut to round it out.
It's exciting times here. The season is just four days away. We are just as amped up as you are.