Winners, Losers and the Toronto Maple Leafs: Evaluating the NHL Off-Season

Another Misguided Team

The Washington Capitals were incredibly lucky to make the playoffs despite being a terrible team, and like the Predators, they have a misguided and romantic idea of remaining competitive while the best player in their franchise history, in this case, Alex Ovechkin, is still around.

Can't blame em, but it won't work.

I like Pierre-Luc Dubois as a high-risk high-reward play, but overall all they did was add expensive, mid-range pieces that won't really do anything.

Andrew Mangiapane is a decent middle-six guy but you shouldn't pay for mid-range players in the NHL because they have, by far, the lowest chance of returning value on their contracts.

$6 million on an expiring contract isn't the worst, but that 35 goal season was clearly a mirage.

Logan Thompson is a name, but that's about it.

Jacob Chychrun was acquired on the cheap, and Matt Roy will make any team better, but these aren't likely to be high-impact additions.

The Capitals got a lot more name-brand recognition but zero sure-fire stars. They could hit the lotto and get a star season out of Chychrun, Roy, Mangiapane and Dubois and have a very competitive season, which I guess is the goal, but there is almost no chance of this team wining a Cup.

As for even making the Playoffs, that's going to be a long-shot in itself.

The Leafs, Panthers, Rangers, Devils and Hurricanes are all but absolute locks to make the playoffs.

That leaves just three spots for Washington to sneak in, and the Sabres and Senators are both up and coming fast. The Bruins and Lightning have better rosters than Washington does, even with their improvements and so, too, do the Penguins.

The Capitals have no choice to try and win with the aging Ovechkin but it's not gonna work. Like the Predators they are extremely misguided.