Rock The Red Column: Can The Capitals Go Deep In The Playoffs? Are They For Real?

Little did everyone know, including the fans, that this season would turn out the way it did. Lot's of pundits pegged the Capitals to be a team that would make the playoffs, but barely get in like the season before. Lot's of folks were counting down the days to when this team will eventually rebuild and some were just waiting until Alex Ovechkin eventually broke Wayne Gretzky's goals scored record. However, the only ones who truly knew how this 2024-25 season was going to go was the organization themselves. Out of nowhere, the Capitals put up an amazing campaign with the best record in the Eastern Conference. The team made some shrewd moves like acquiring goalie Logan Thompson to shore up the depth behind Charlie Lindgren, brought in Jacob Chychrun and Matt Roy to improve the blue line defense, and then added scoring depth in Taylor Raddysh, Andrew Mangiapane, Brandon Duhaime, as well as taking a chance on an underachieving Pierre-Luc Dubois and the Capitals had their roster.

This team came out firing in the first month going 7-2 in October and never looked back with a 51-22-9 record. Outside of April, the Capitals never had a losing month and April wasn't even much to worry about anyways as they had already clinched and were just tuning up for the playoffs. Injuries also played a role, but just as long as the Capitals stay healthy, then they'll be fine.

The team got amazing contributions all across the board as no one on the team that played regular minutes recorded a negative rating (Raddysh was the worst at +1). Some of the most significant was Thompson as he is a candidate to win the Vezina award with a stat line of 31-6-6, .910% save percentage, and 2.49 goals against average. Just insane. Obviously everyone knows how great Ovechkin was as he put up 41 goals and probably would've scored more had it not been for an injury that cost him 20 games, but Dylan Strome was arguably the best forward on the team with 25 goals and 50 assists. Tom Wilson finally became a scorer with 32 goals and 29 assists thus making the scoring depth even better. Connor McMichael lived up to the billing with 25 goals and 30 assists and Aliaksei Protas broke out with 30 goals and 36 assists. Chychrun also had an outstanding campaign as a defenseman as he scored 20 goals and 27 assists and had a +19 rating and earned himself an extension. Nic Dowd was also outstanding with 13 goals and 12 assists and a +11 as well as also earning an extension. Dubois had underperformed everywhere he had played despite being as talented as he was and with the Capitals, well essentially both sides are reaping the benefits as he's been outstanding with 19 goals and 44 assists. Even players such as Duhaime, Mangiapane, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Rasmus Sandin, and Martin Fehervary have looked great. John Carlson has looked like his prime self and the Capitals even got contributions from acquisitions later in the season from Lars Eller and Anthony Beauvillier. Heck, even Ryan Leonard, Dylan Ilrath, Hendrix Lapierre, and Ivan Miroshnichenko performed in limited time. Essentially, this team has talent and depth and that's what helps win championships. With Spencer Carbery, in his second year as the head coach, the Capitals have every opportunity to bring a second championship to the city.

So, are the Capitals for real? While some players might be overachieving a little bit as sometimes any sports teams that have players all collectively having career years or resurgences usually have a bit of luck behind them, but even if that wasn't the case the answer to the question is yes. The Capitals are built well rounded and have scoring depth to overcome anything. It also helps having arguably the best goalie tandem in Thompson and Lindgren, but especially Thompson as while he and Lindgren were splitting time, Thompson eventually became the regular starter. With having goalie depth like that, your team is bound to go deep in the playoffs.

Which comes to the next talking point, can the Capitals go deep? It was sort of already been answered in the paragraph above and the answer is also yes. The scoring depth is absurdly deep, the blue line defense is outstanding, and goalie tandem is the best in the league, it's hard to find any weaknesses with this team. Even the youngsters coming up and filling in when needed have stepped up and provided even more depth. The Capitals have high expectations and they seem to match up well with any team in the playoffs.

The expectations this season seem higher than even when they took the ice for the first time in 2017-18, but this is a side that seems more well rounded and possibly even more talented than the team that brought a championship to D.C. for the first time ever. Injuries seems to be the only concern going in, but it seems like the Capitals have what it takes to overcome that problem. So strap in and kick back, this should be a fun ride for all of us fans.