Anthony Mantha is scoring goals again. (Caps Outsider)
Even in the worst Caps seasons of the past two decades, there is typically a silver lining. In 2005-06, when the Caps were truly a bad team, there was a young Alex Ovechkin to watch. Things didn’t fare much better the following year, but the Caps went on a tear in the following seasons, and the hope didn’t fade even with early playoff losses. After the Caps won the Stanley Cup, Ovi’s goals kept fans watching, even in losses.
Forget what’s going wrong this season. It’s too depressing to discuss. What’s going well this season? Even the good things aren’t really that great.
- Anthony Mantha is scoring goals again. Good? Sure. It’ll be his best season with the Caps, but he has yet to put up the numbers anywhere close to what he did with Detroit (once getting 38 points in 43 games, plus two seasons with goals in the mid 20s).
- Dylan Strome is playing well! Yes, he’s scoring more goals this season, but isn’t even on pace to get the same number of points – 65 – that he had last season.
- Connor McMichael is having a career year! True. He’s on pace for almost 28 points.
- Tom Wilson is an All-Star again! But he scored more last season, with more points in 12 fewer games.
- Aliaksei Protas just signed an extension through 2028-29! Plenty of time to beat his season high of four goals.
- T.J. Oshie has been on a tear lately! Remember that hat trick against St. Louis? That was almost 25% of his points on the season.
- Nic Dowd is playing well, right? Yeah, he remains a solid fourth line player.
There’s only one player who is putting up good numbers this year, and that’s backup goalie Charlie Lindgren. His 2.46 GAA and .920 save percentage is around 6th-7th best in the league. But Lindgren is only signed through next season at $1.1 million a year, and will deserve a hefty raise. Meanwhile, Kuemper is making $5.25 million through 2026-27.
The Caps have surprised everyone a handful of times this season with some gutsy victories and upsets, and there is plenty of time for players to turn things around and earn their paycheck. That’ll have to be the reason to keep watching.
