Fansided

Projecting every NHL team’s chances of hoisting the Stanley Cup in 2019

By Griffin Youngs

LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 07: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates with the Stanley Cup after defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in Game Five of the Stanley Cup Final during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena on June 7, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 07: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals celebrates with the Stanley Cup after defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in Game Five of the Stanley Cup Final during the 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena on June 7, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 12: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals holds the Stanley Cup during the Washington Capitals Victory Parade And Rally on June 12, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 12: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals holds the Stanley Cup during the Washington Capitals Victory Parade And Rally on June 12, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images) /

5. Washington Capitals

The Washington Capitals have waited a long time to call themselves “defending champions,” and they are in no hurry to give up that honor anytime soon.

Last season the Washington Capitals finished sixth in the NHL with 105 points before going on to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. With the most of the same squad back, another run could be on the horizon for this season.

Why they could win

It’s hard to doubt the team that just won the Stanley Cup last year, especially when they bring almost the exact same group into the fight this year. They resolved all their free agency issues, and got creative to make room for what they needed.

Finally we saw what happens for the Capitals in the playoffs when the players outside of the top six show up and put goals on the board, and that was always the concern not matter how well the Capitals performed in the regular season. For once, it was not just Alex Ovechkin and Braden Holtby doing it all, but everybody pitching in to get the job done.

Ovechkin is still Ovechkin and will continue to torch the league as the greatest goal scorer of this generation and leader of this Capitals squad, and now he has proven performers behind him that can take the load off. They’ve got one of the best top nines in the league today, and a center depth that is the among the best in the league with Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Lars Eller. Not to mention the incredible bond this team shares.

To top it all off, Washington has plenty of youth ready to make significant jump next season, most importantly Andre Burakovsky who has been hampered with injuries the last few years. Other young players ready to make a jump are Jakub Vrana, Christian Djoos, Chandler Stephenson and Madison Bowey.

Why they won’t win

It’s hard to repeat as Stanley Cup champions; the playoffs can take a lot out of you. Not to mention the famous Stanley Cup hangover that a lot of champions and finalists suffer from throughout the following season. Hopefully they’ve been training instead of partying all summer, because that determination from losing won them the Cup.

One of the reasons that Braden Holtby was so good in the playoffs was that Phillip Grubauer was able to allow him to rest when he became fatigued towards the end of the season, but now Grubauer is gone, replaced by an unproven Phoenix Copley. Holtby has had a heavy work load the past few years, and he can exhausted again soon if the Capitals aren’t careful.

Conclusion

Without a doubt, the Capitals comfortably make the playoffs, and they very well could go all the way again, but eventually somebody is going to figure them out and they’ll have to lose. The playoffs are fickle in terms of luck, and nobody can attest to that better than the Capitals. They’ve been on the wrong end for years and finally got it their way last year. They might have used up all their luck last year for the Stanley Cup run. In terms of the Capitals on paper, there is no reason to think that they won’t at least make a run with that amount of talent. It’s a season that Capitals fans can finally just enjoy, no matter the result.

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