Over the last two decades, there’s only been one instance where a team won the Stanley Cup championship in back-to-back seasons. Over the same time span, there’s only been two instances where a team that played in the Stanley Cup championship made it back to the Stanley Cup Finals in the ensuing year.
Even though they were tied for the third-most points in the standings entering the NHL Playoffs last season, the Washington Capitals were barely more than an afterthought as far as winning their conference, let alone the whole thing.
The only team to repeat as back-to-back NHL champions in the salary cap era – the Pittsburgh Penguins – had done so over the previous two years, and were coming back to make it three straight. Tampa Bay was one of the favorites to win the Eastern Conference, if not the Stanley Cup outright. The Boston Bruins ranked among the top teams in the NHL in every major statistical category you could think of.
The biggest reason to believe that Caps are positioned for a “it felt nice so let’s do it twice”-type of season, is because they’ll be getting the band back together this year.
Many believed that Washington General Manager Brian MacLellan would be faced with very tough decisions regarding whom the team could realistically keep amongst all its free agents, which included three of their top six defensemen. But, those free agents made it easy for MacLellan and co: they all re-upped with Washington, likely with the “let’s do it again” modus operandi in mind.
Washington re-signed home-grown blue liners John Carlson and Tom Wilson, and even managed to bring back Michael Kempny. They brought back forward Devante Smith-Pelly, a fourth-line guy who came up huge for Washington throughout the playoffs, on a cap-friendly one-year deal. Washington even brought back veteran defenseman Brooks Orpik, whom they originally traded to Colorado, only to have the Avalanche waive him and pay the remaining $4.5 million on his contract.
Sure, critics will point to the fact that Washington’s major loss wasn’t necessarily on the ice, as the team’s front office couldn’t come to an acceptable agreement with head coach Barry Trotz, only to see the latter re-sign and soon after, take the head coaching job for the New York Islanders. But it’s no secret that the Capitals had been grooming Todd Reirden, who served as the top lieutenant to Trotz, to eventually take the head coaching job some day. While it might have been a tad sooner than they would’ve previously expected, they do view Reirden as someone they’re very comfortable with, in terms of assuming the reigns of this team.
Of course, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention the fact that the team's biggest stars -- Nicklas Backstrom, Evegeny Kuznetsov, T.J. Oshie, and Captain Alexander Ovechkin -- are still there to headline this group.
There’s something to be said about a group that has the offense, defense, and goaltending needed to hoist the Cup. Washington had it this past season, and from the way it looks right now, they have it for the next season too.
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