Washington Capitals Season Preview 2011-12
The Washington Capitals have been one of the league’s best teams in the regular season over the last four seasons or so. However, the old saying that regular season success does not equal postseason success has been oh so true in the nation’s capital. GM George McPhee was once again forced to re-align his roster after the Capitals were swept in the second round of the playoffs by their division rival Tampa Bay. It was a case of trying to swap quality in for quantity during the offseason as the franchise bid goodbye to a host of players including: Semyon Varlamov, Jason Arnott, Matt Bradley, Eric Fehr, Boyd Gordon, Marco Sturm, Scott Hannan and Tyler Sloan.
There is reason for optimism once more though as McPhee was able to strengthen the roster at every position. Tomas Vokoun was the bargain of the offseason, signing on a cheap one-year deal, clearly looking for a shot at the Cup. Forwards Troy Brouwer and Joel Ward bring a combination of physicality and scoring touch to the lower lines, while Jeff Halpern is a strong veteran presence centering the fourth line. Roman Hamrlik joins a blue-line that should be stronger overall. This is a franchise that has reached the point where it is boom or bust time. It is hard to imagine the organisation not under-going large scale changes if the team doesn’t make a serious playoff run this Spring.
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin endured a difficult season by his own standards last year. Washington’s captain scored ‘just’ 32 goals and 85 points, both significant career lows. While niggling injuries and a greater emphasis on team defense can explain some of the drop in production, coach Bruce Boudreau will want his top sniper to reach his old levels of offensive production again in 2011-12. Ovechkin’s centerman Nicklas Backstrom also endured a difficult year offensively. Backstrom scored just 65 points, a career low, and he will be desperate for a bounce back performance. Mike Knuble is likely to complete the line, Knuble has scored 20+ goals in eight straight seasons. The other piece of the offensive jigsaw is Alexander Semin, who also struggled to meet expectations in 2010-11. Semin’s struggles for consistency are well-documented, but 54 points in 65 games still represented a disappointing effort. Semin looks set to lead the team’s second line centered by Marcus Johansson and flanked by Brooks Laich. Laich is perhaps over-paid, but has a steady offensive skill set, while Boudreau is perhaps hoping that Johansson develops into a second line center. Johansson’s rookie season was solid, but he didn’t get close to second line center production.
Another youngster in Mathieu Perreault looks set to anchor the third line. Perreault has had a great camp and preseason, but the book on him is that he has struggled to maintain his impact for longer stretches at NHL level. Still, the 23-year old has earned his opportunity and has talent to spare. Newcomers Troy Brouwer and Joel Ward will probably flank the youngster. Both bring grit and scoring touch, this really could be the sort of third line that Washington has previously lacked. It looks to have good physical and defensive presence, and should contribute offensively. Jeff Halpern, Matt Hendricks and Jason Chimera will probably start on one of the league’s better fourth lines. Boudreau won’t worry about giving this trio significant ice time if needed, and Chimera in particular could play up a line or two at times to try and spark some energy.
Defense
Last season the team radically changed its philosophy to one based on sounder defense, and unsurprisingly the team’s GAA went down quite a bit. The other result of that change in philosophy has been better attention to the make up of the blue-line. Rookies Karl Alzner and John Carlson impressed mightily last year, and became the go-to shutdown pairing by the end of the season. Expect them to resume that role, and don’t expect this talented duo to drop off much. Both have paid their dues in the AHL, both have good skating ability, play a sound defensive game, and Carlson in particular has tremendous offensive upside.
The solidity of that pairing really gives Boudreau freedom in using his other defensemen however he wishes. One option is to restore the pairing of Mike Green and Jeff Schultz. Green had a down year in 2010-11 only scoring 24 points, but he looked in good shape by playoff time, and should bounce back to the 60-70 point mark if he can stay healthy. The other option is to move new addition Hamrlik onto the top pairing and place Schultz alongside Dennis Wideman. Wideman and Hamrlik bring experience, a two-way game and the ability to eat up minutes. Neither is perfect, Hamrlik is now 37, and Wideman’s defensive deficiencies are well known, but if they are asked to be the #4 and #5 defensemen on this team, then this will be a good blue-line.
Goaltending
Few goaltenders have been as good as Tomas Vokoun since the lockout. The Czech netminder has an average .922 save percentage over the last six seasons, four of which were spent with the, at times, woeful Florida Panthers. A perfect defensive system will be less necessary with Vokoun between the pipes as he is used to and comfortable facing a lot of shots.
His back-up will be Michal Neuvirth, who did extremely well as a rookie in 2010-11, and is expected to re-take the starting job next season. Neuvirth is talented enough to steal the job off Vokoun this year, but for now will have to be content with 20-30 starts as Boudreau will want to keep his #1 fresh for the Spring.
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