Fansided

3 players who were the biggest surprises on Capitals this season

Which players rose to the occassion in the most unexpected way?

By Michael Marzzacco |
Dylan Strome, Washington Capitals
Dylan Strome, Washington Capitals / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
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The Washington Capitals season is over and it's time to assess things on how it all went down. Lots of folks didn't expect them to make the playoffs and it was thanks to these three unlikely heroes that willed them to it.

Dylan Strome

Let's start with Dylan Strome who isn't too much of a suprise but his point production for a team that was -37 in goal differential was vital. Strome led the Capitals in points this season and became the first player other than Alex Ovechkin to finish an 82 game season as Washington's points leader since Nicklas Backstrom in 2016-17.

Strome set career highs in games played with 81 along with a career high 23 goals, 42 assists, and 65 points in his first season with the Caps. In year two he surpassed all three categores. He ranks first on the Caps in games played with 163 along with 82 assists since the start of the 2022-23 season.

This year Strome ranked second on the Capitals in goals with 27 and assists with 40. He was one of two Caps to appear in all 82 of the team's games this season. After recording 26 points with 15 goals and 11 assists in his first 41 games of the season, Strome was a point per game player in the second half with 41 points in 41 games to help will the Caps back to the playoffs even though it was short lived.

John Carlson, Washington Capitals
John Carlson, Washington Capitals / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

John Carlson

For a veteran to log the amount of minutes John Carlson did was truly remarkable and like Strome, Carly played in all 82 of the Capitals games this season. Carlson ranked first in the NHL in ice time per game this season averaging 25:54 minutes. That marks a new career high after he averaged 25:03 minutes of ice time in the 2018-19 season.

Carlson's 82 game season marked the eighth time in his 15 year career he appeared in every game. He skated a game high of 29:20 in the Caps regular season finale on April 16 at Philadelphia which marked his league leading 14th game with 29 plus minutes of ice time this season. No other skaer in the NHL has more than nine games with over 29 minutes of ice time.

Carlson is the only player in the NHL to record at least 1,600 minutes of even strength ice time, 250 minutes of power play ice time and 200 minutes of shorthanded ice time.

Charlie Lindgren, Washington Capitals
Charlie Lindgren, Washington Capitals / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Charlie Lindgren

Perhaps the most important player throughout the stretch run for the Caps return to the playoffs was none other than Charlie Lindgren who went from reliable backup to postseason starter.

Lindgren started in 19 of the Caps final 22 regular season games, posting a record of 12-6-2 with a 2.39 goals against average, a .919 save percentage and three shutouts. Lindgren's 12 wins from March 7 through the end of the regular season ranked first in the NHL, while his three shutouts were tied for first.

Lindgren started both games of Washington's back to back to close out the regular season with a shutout on April 15 against the Boston Bruins and stopping 27 of the 28 shots faced on April 16 at the Philadelphia Flyers to help the Capitals clinch a playoff berth.

Among goaltenders with 50 or more games played this season, Lindgren ranked eighth in save percentage (.911) and ninth in goals against average at 2.67. In addition, Lindgren's six shutouts were tied for the most in the NHL.

This past season Lindgren finished with a 25-16-7 record with a 2.67 goals against average and a .911 save percentage. Those are our top 3 surprises on the Caps this past season.

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