Capitals 2024-25 NHL Season Betting Preview: Points Total, Player Futures Odds and Predictions

We are 17 days from the NHL's opening night on Oct. 8. The daily NHL picks will return once the season starts, but leading up to the big day I'll preview some future bets for every team in the league. Check out yesterday's article where we bet some futures for Robert Thomas and the St. Louis Blues.

We have finally reached last year's playoff teams in the lead-up to the opener. Let's look at two futures bets for the Washington Capitals in 2024-25.

Washington Capitals Future Bets for 2024-25 Season

• UNDER 89.5 Regular Season Points

• Alex Ovechkin OVER 29.5 Goals

UNDER 89.5 Regular Season Points

I couldn't wait to see where the oddsmakers placed the Capitals' regular season points total for this season. They may have had the luckiest regular season in NHL history in 2023-24, sneaking into a wild card with 91 points and a goal differential of -37. The Capitals think they've found something in Charlie Lindgren, who led the team to that playoff spot with some stellar goaltending. They believe in him so much that they shipped Darcy Kuemper to Los Angeles for Pierre-Luc Dubois.

Acquiring Dubois may not be the best move the Capitals could've done. I've seen Dubois wear out his welcome on too many teams to believe he can change this season. They also acquired Jakob Chychrun and signed Matt Roy, but their defense core doesn't look like an 89+ point team.

The Capitals are better on paper than last season, especially in their forward and defense groups. However, the recent LTIR designation of TJ Oshie will take away some of their swagger up front. The Capitals may have improved, but they played more like an 80-point team last season instead of what their final points total would suggest.

The Capitals have an advantage of the Metropolitan being a bad division, but I don't think that'll matter, as they'll still end the season in the mid-80s range for points.

Alex Ovechkin OVER 29.5 Goals

Alex Ovechkin used to score 30+ goals in his sleep on the way to 40, 50, and 60-goal seasons. However, he started the season slow last year and worried fans that we may never see him eclipse Wayne Gretzky's goal record. He now stands 42 goals away from the record, and it feels like he'll be able to do it barring any injuries.

Will he be able to do it this season? I think he's going to try his best to get close. The only reason the Capitals continue to go all-in is to surround Ovechkin with a good roster in his final years with the team. He unlocked a new hack last season where every player on the team feeds him the puck to help chase his record no matter how good of a scoring chance they have, which will surely continue this season.

Ovechkin doesn't have many NHL playing years left. It's a sad reality, but if Ovechkin breaks the record in 2024-25, we may not see him back in the NHL next season. Let's buckle in, bet on his goals total over, and cheer for Ovechkin to make a historic run.

DraftKings has the odds at +1000 for him to break the record this season. I won't make it an official bet, as I believe he'll come up just short and break it early next season. However, it's there if you want to cheer him to go all the way instead of just scoring 30 goals.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.