Washington Capitals Metro Division Preview - Introduction
Last year, the Washington Capitals finished number one in the Metropolitan Division. This year, with rivals like Pittsburgh and New York being in contention, the Caps look to repeat last year’s success. How will Washington fare this season against a division with difficult opponents in it?
The Washington Capitals had a season to remember last season, not only winning the Metropolitan Division, but the Presidents’ Trophy as well. Of course, their season ending prematurely in the Stanley Cup Playoffs as they were beat in the second round in six games by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Of course, the Penguins, being one of Washington’s rivals in the Metro division, the loss stung far more than the previous playoff exits did.
This season, however, the Capitals look to not only get back into the playoffs, but win their first Stanley Cup as well. Some people may even consider it to be the window closing as Washington is pressured to win the cup at least once during the Alex Ovechkin era. Still, the focus would be on this upcoming season for the Caps to win it all, as they are considered a Stanley Cup favorite each year. Given their success last year, it’s not absurd to say that they would be the top favorite this year. So what will it take for the Caps to make their cup dreams a reality?
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The easiest step would be by winning the Metropolitan Division again. Of course, given the young history of the division, there have only been three winners: the Pittsburgh Penguins, the New York Rangers, and the Washington Capitals. There is a good opportunity for the Caps to win the division again, seeing as they did very well against the division last season with a record of 20-5-5.
Then again, the rest of the division, especially those who missed the playoffs, they will be looking at the likes of Washington and Pittsburgh in hopes to overtake them. In the Capitals case, they are both playing with a target on their back and eyeing Pittsburgh in order to gain the chance to hoist the Stanley Cup. The main thing that must be said is that for the Washington Capitals to finally win it all, they must be able to exorcise the ghosts of playoffs past and look at this season as the one where they have to stay at a high powered level no matter what. Like it was said before, winning the Metropolitan Division would indeed be the first step to doing that.
So, for the first week of September, I will be covering each of Washington’s divisional opponents and observe how they finished, what moves they made over the off-season and how I think they will finish in the Metro division. The articles will start in the order of how they finished last season. Next time, Stars and Sticks will begin by analyzing the current Stanley Cup champion, Pittsburgh.