Why Now Is The Time To Jump On The Capitals Bandwagon
By CJ Witt
New Faces
This has been a very exciting off-season for the Caps. After sputtering for a couple of seasons, one season having missed the playoffs completely, the other barely getting in then getting swept out of the postseason, the Caps have loaded up a bit.
Washington made one of, if not the biggest splash of the off-season. Early in the summer they traded for Pierre-Luc Dubios from the Los Angeles Kings for Darcy Kuemper.
Kuemper had issues in D.C. In two seasons wearing the Caps red, white and blue he did not play up to his potential and contract. Him not playing the best allowed his starting goaltender spot to be taken by Charlie Lindgren and he then became a "problem" for the Caps.
How often do you trade a somewhat expensive "problem", my apologies to Kuemper for continuing to call him that, for a potential key player? Not too often. Usually it's a key player for key player kind of deal. Two key players that need a change of scenery. Or one key player asks for a trade and another one gets caught up in the shockwave of that.
The Capitals got a potential top six center, who is 26 years old, who is already on a long term contract. And all they had to give up is an underperforming, on the expensive side, 34 year old goalie.
I can't even begin to describe how big a robbery this trade could be.
The Caps also made another really big splash in trading for defenseman Jakob Chychrun. This isn't a steal like the Dubois trade could be. The Capitals had to give up Nick Jensen to get Chychrun. Jensen was good for the Caps. But lets be real, the Caps won this trade on paper. Jensen will be 34 in a couple of weeks Chychrun won't turn 27 until the very end of next season. And to be blunt, Chychrun is just the better player.
This isn't as big a steal to me because Chychrun has just one year left on his deal before his hits unrestricted free agency. Hopefully everything goes well and the Caps are able to avoid him going to free agency. But this could be a one year thing.
Washington also landed one of the bigger prizes on defense in free agency signing Matt Roy to a six year deal. The 29 year old won't blow you away with numbers. He averages somewhere around 6 goals a season, his career high being 9 a couple of seasons ago. He also will get you in the twenties in total points. But he's a top four defenseman. And he's a new face to keep an eye on this season.
Someone that I'm keeping my eye on and excited to see how he plays in Washington is Andrew Mangiapane. The Capitals acquired him for just a second round pick in 2025. He's a bit of a reclamation project. But if it works the Capitals could add a spark to their offense on the very cheap side of things. A couple of seasons ago he scored 35 goals with the Calgary Flames. Can he come close to repeating that? If not, he has basically hovered around 15-18 goals a season. That's still not too bad. He brings the effort every night. He should be a fun player to watch. Hopefully he can recapture some of the magic he had a few season ago.
It's a new Capitals team. Keeping track of these new guys should be fun. If you're a casual fan, hop on the bandwagon now. It feels like a new start in Washington. Now is a great time to get invested in this team.