The Washington Capitals struggled offensively for much of the 2023-24 season, ending the regular season with the fifth-fewest goals in the league. A year later, not only are the Capitals scoring again, but they’re doing so with contributions from up and down the lineup.
Yet another Capitals player hit double digits on Thursday night against the Philadelphia Flyers, when Lars Eller tied the game in the third period for his 10th goal of the 2024-25 campaign. The Caps are now the only team in the NHL to have 10 or more 10-goal scorers this season.
Just nine Capitals players scored 10-plus goals in 2023-24 — Washington has already bested that number with 28 games remaining in their 82-game schedule.
Capitals players with 10+ goals in 2024-25
| Rank | Player | GP | G | A | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Ovechkin | 38 | 26 | 14 | 40 |
| 2 | Aliaksei Protas | 54 | 22 | 24 | 46 |
| 3 | Tom Wilson | 54 | 22 | 17 | 39 |
| 4 | Connor McMichael | 54 | 19 | 21 | 40 |
| 5 | Dylan Strome | 54 | 15 | 37 | 52 |
| 6 | Jakob Chychrun | 49 | 14 | 21 | 35 |
| 7 | Pierre-Luc Dubois | 54 | 12 | 30 | 42 |
| 8 | Nic Dowd | 54 | 11 | 10 | 21 |
| 9 | Andrew Mangiapane | 53 | 11 | 8 | 19 |
| 10 | Lars Eller* | 52 | 10 | 9 | 19 |
* Of note, six of Eller’s goals came with the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he played 17 games this fall before the Capitals re-acquired him in November. He has scored four goals in 35 games since returning to Washington.
Much of the Capitals’ goal-scoring versatility has come from the team’s newest acquisitions, with Jakob Chychrun, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Andrew Mangiapane, and Eller all joining the club since the start of the offseason. Those moves have largely paid off, especially higher up the depth chart — Chychrun now ties for third-most goals among defensemen in the league, while Dubois has flourished as a second-line centerman who can both contribute offensively and defend against opponents’ top lines.
But several of Washington’s home-grown players have also taken another step in their game. Aliaksei Protas, 24, has had far and away the best season of his career, smashing his previous career high of six goals with 22 goals in 54 games so far, and has proven himself as a talented top-six forward. Connor McMichael has also set a career high at age 24 and is now just one goal away from hitting the 20-goal threshold for the first time in his career.
Though the Capitals’ offense stagnated around the holiday break, they’ve picked up the pace in recent games, scoring four or more goals in their last four games. They now have 3.56 goals per game on the season, ranking just behind the 3.60 goals/game Winnipeg Jets for the league lead. If they keep up that pace for the rest of the season, they’ll end the year with 292 goals, besting their total of 216 from last season by 76 goals.
