What's next for the Capitals after a memorable 2024-25 season ends early?

New York Times

17-05-2025

WASHINGTON — A handful of minutes after their season ended, some of the most important Washington Capitals players had already started to turn the page.
It's not that Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and coach Spencer Carbery were solely future-focused after the Carolina Hurricanes eliminated them in the fifth game of their second-round series Thursday night; there was still plenty of evident frustration and disappointment over how things had gone down. How couldn't there be? None of them had enough time to grab a shower, let alone fully process the premature end to months' worth of work.
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Still, the overall vibe in Capital One Arena was laced with equal parts sadness and optimism, and that made sense. The 2024-25 Capitals season was highly memorable and fairly successful. What comes next is in the eye of the beholder. The optimist will see a group that went from the fringes of the playoff discussion to the top of the Eastern Conference, primarily on the backs of players whose best hockey would seem to be in front of them.
Strome, a point-per-game center in his age-28 season, is in that group. He deserves to be.
'A lot of us in here, (it's our) first time winning a playoff round and something to build on,' Strome said. 'A lot of us are here for the future and for a while. So it's something to build on. And of course it stings.'
Wilson, a one-of-one force on the wing who had something of a mid-career renaissance in his second season back from ACL surgery, feels the same.
'I guess that's the one kind of silver lining,' he said. 'We can be excited about the future. A lot of good teams play a lot of good hockey at this time of year and fall short. And we got tested in this series. And we're going to learn from it and do the best that we can moving forward. Learn from it, build on it. We got a great foundation.'
Wilson nailed it, though. The lining is silver — kind of. If you're invested in the Capitals, there should be at least some degree of concern over the repeatability of the overall procedure. Here's an early look at what could come next for Washington. Overall, consider it a warning against planting yourself too firmly on either side of the line — because a wide range of outcomes are going to be in play for 2025-26.
In two seasons on the job, Carbery has dragged an overmatched, undermanned roster into the 2024 playoffs, then overseen its growth into a legitimate contender — navigating, all the while, a once-in-a-generation record chase by an NHL icon. Young players have emerged under him. Key players have improved dramatically. The team has, too. And it all happened in an environment that, with a less steady hand at the wheel, would've capsized the boat. He's almost certainly going to win the Jack Adams this summer, and it should be for the second time.
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'You hope that guys learn from this,' he said Thursday. 'And you hope it doesn't take seven years to get to the Cup finals. But it is a process. And you got to learn how to win this time of year. And you got to learn how to score goals this time of year. You got to learn how hard it is to win on the road and how slim the margins are. Every little puck touch, every little mistake, every power play, penalty kill.
'So I am optimistic of the group and the new players that came in this year that will be returning next year about where this group potentially can go in the future.'
When the Capitals acquired Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Los Angeles Kings, he was a distressed asset. Best-case scenario, it would seem, was that he'd play like a passable No. 2 center. In the regular season, he was closer to a passable No. 1, thanks to some high-end two-way minutes with Wilson as his primary running mate. If that's who he is, the Caps will be in great shape.
Jakob Chychrun, 27, had the best season of his career, scoring 20 goals, putting up 27 assists and earning a big-time new contract ($9.0 million AAV for eight seasons). Carbery and his staff put Chychrun in a position to succeed, feeding him lots of relatively easy minutes with sturdy partners, and he hit them out of the park. His skill with the puck on his stick, whether it's on breakouts or in the offensive zone, started to shine through after some time in the wilderness with the Arizona Coyotes and Ottawa Senators. Like Dubois, he played like a legitimate building block.
A little more generally, the fact that president Brian MacLellan and general manager Chris Patrick identified those two as worthy gambles bodes well for future offseasons.
Wilson, 31, has never been better. He set career highs in goals (33) and assists (32), and he did it while playing substantive, effective two-way minutes on a line with Dubois. Not many players league-wide can impact games like he can. It's also worth noting that, two years out from his ACL tear, his skating still looks just fine and he's very clearly the team's emotional fulcrum. He has matured into a vocal, responsible leader who makes life easier on his teammates, and the dressing room seems to be as much his as Alexander Ovechkin's, at this point.
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Strome isn't a perfect player, but he's plenty good. In his third year with the Capitals, he produced like a legit first-line center, showing offensive creativity at five-on-five and on the power play. If this is where his development maxes out, he'll still be a valuable piece.
Aliaksei Protas may or may not have another 30-goal season up his sleeve, but the 24-year-old seems a safe bet to, at minimum, give Washington productive two-way play along the middle six. He's huge, skilled and versatile.
Connor McMichael, with 26 goals in his third full NHL season, would've been the breakout forward on most other teams. He's not the potential total package like Protas, but he looked particularly strong as an offensive element alongside Dubois and Wilson.
For the first few months of the season, Logan Thompson played like a Vezina finalist. When he signed a contract extension on Jan. 27 (six years, $5.85 million AAV), Thompson was near the top of the league in save percentage (.925) and goals saved above expected (18). He regained his footing in the playoffs, helping the Capitals keep the Hurricanes closer than they otherwise would have been. Carbery raves about him, and his teammates do, too. That late-season wobble is a legitimate concern, but there seems to be more good than bad.
It'd be unwise to doubt Carbery and his staff's ability to coax even more out of the players currently on the roster. It's also fair to wonder just how much better they're going to get. There are elements of Strome's game that could improve — zone entries, for one — but the guy just had 82 points. What's next for Protas? A 40-goal season? In some ways, Washington should be relieved that Dubois put it together as well as he has; expecting much more would be unwise, if not greedy. It's also worth noting that in the first round against the Montreal Canadiens, his point production flatlined, and against Carolina, his overall game nosedived.
Defensively, Chychrun's postseason might've been a bit of a red flag. Martin Fehérváry's injury forced Chychrun to play tougher minutes, mainly alongside John Carlson, and both of their games struggled. Carlson, 35, had a wonderful regular season; in the playoffs, he often looked injured or a step slow. If he's starting to hit the downslope, there should be questions about whether Chychrun is capable of taking over his minutes, full freight.
The coaching staff has shown the ability to make players better while maximizing their strengths and minimizing their weaknesses. It's easy to imagine it happening again. At some point, though, the guys at the top of the roster are going to be finished products, and outside of Ryan Leonard, there are no obvious potential impact players behind them on the NHL roster.
Here, we have a classic 'two things can be true' situation. We'll start with this: Ovechkin just pulled off one of the most remarkable runs in the history of the sport. At 39 years old, and after breaking his left fibula in the middle of the season, he scored 27 goals in 43 games to set the NHL record for career goals. The finishing ability, clearly, is still there.
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The issue: Down the stretch, especially against Carolina, not much else was. If Ovechkin was gassed, so be it — old, broken fibula, once-in-a-generation record chase, etc. He had valid excuses. If that becomes the norm, though — if he stops scoring at a rate ridiculous enough to justify his issues with keeping the pace at five-on-five or even passively contributing away from the puck — Washington is going to have a pretty serious problem. Carbery deserves a world of credit for putting Ovechkin in a position to break Wayne Gretzky's record and still clock in as a positive overall asset. Still, if the goals dry up, look out.
Carbery said Thursday that he expects Ovechkin, who is signed for one more year, to return for 2025-26. His center is looking forward to it, as well.
'It's an honor to get to play with them and see the way he competes and plays and wins battles and scores and does everything for the Caps,' Strome said. 'It's easy to get in line and follow. And who knows how much longer he has left, but we'll still be following as long as he's here.'