NHL Preview: Washington Capitals

Heroes in the regular season, zeroes in the playoffs. Charlie Boccanegra wonders where now for the Washington Capitals?

Four consecutive Southeastern division titles and three consecutive 100+ point regular seasons mean all but nothing for the Washington Capitals. With all the regular season success they have never made it out of the second round of the playoffs, having only won two series in the past four years.

For all that, the Caps remain a short NHL betting price, co-favorites with the Canucks for the Stanley Cup at odds of 7/1.

In past years the Capitals were always an elite offensive NHL team lead by superstar Alex Ovechkin and top 10 NHL scoring threats Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin. Since they had failed in the postseason three years in a row coach Boudreau changed the teams entire philosophy and identity to make them more defensive.

Once again it worked in the regular season but failed in the playoffs. So the big question is will Boudreau continue to preach a defensive style of hockey more conducive to winning in the post season or will they return to their old offensive ways?

Even though it didn’t work against the Lightning in the second round of the playoffs I can’t see Washington completely abandoning the defensive strategy after one year. Especially as changes on the roster make the Caps a better defensive team.

Besides the aforementioned top three forwards in Ovechkin, Backsrom and Semin Washington has other quality forwards in Knuble, Laich, Chimera and newly acquired Brouwer and Ward, all of whom give the Caps tremendous depth upfront.

But it’s the upgrades on the back end, quality stay at home defenseman Dennis Wideman and Roman Hamrlick, that really improve Washington. The rest of the defensive core Green, Schultz, Carlson and Alzner are all aged 26 or younger with tremendous upside.

They will continue to improve this year and could be the deepest back end 1-6 in the NHL. If Mike Green is healthy look for him to utilize his offensive talent because he has terrific stay at home defenseman surrounding him for support.

Washington made a huge upgrade in the net by bringing in former All-Star goalie Tomas Voukon. He signed a discount contract to have a chance to win the Cup. No more rookie goalies and questions going into the post season. This is the best goalie the Caps have had since the days of Olaf Kolzig.

Look for the Capitals to rank a top the NHL in goals against this year with Boudreau continuing to implement his defensive system. Even though I expect this to pay off and Washington to contend for the Cup the Caps are not NHL betting value at 7/1.

Rather I would look at their season point totals UNDER the high mark of 107.5. Even with their great regular seasons only twice in the times they have won the division have they gone over that total, once only having 108 points. I expect the team to put less stock and value in the regular season while continuing to perfect the style of play for the playoffs, resulting in a step back for their regular season record.