The Washington Capitals took big steps during the 2024-25 season. A year after barely making the playoffs, the Capitals went 51-22-9 to lead the Eastern Conference and advance to the second round for the first time since 2018.
Much of that improvement arguably began with the team’s aggressive offseason, with Washington following up a short-lived playoff run last spring by turning over a third of the roster in the summer. Then-general manager Brian MacLellan, now president of hockey operations, said Monday that he expects the Caps to make fewer moves this offseason.
“We had some big spots to fill last year, our goals for roster spots,” MacLellan said. “This year, there’s fewer holes. We’ve had some growth in young players. We have some players that are young and are coming up to make the next jump, so you’ve got to be cognizant of leaving room for improvement, leaving room for guys to come in and, hopefully, still add a piece or two. It’s not going to be the same as last year.”
The Capitals are projected to have $8.6 million worth of cap space to work with this summer. But with the league’s salary cap jumping by $7.5 million, Washington will have plenty of competition on the open market, and general manager Chris Patrick noted that free agents could become particularly pricey this offseason. Still, he didn’t rule out the possibility that the Capitals could take a bigger swing in free agency.
“We will definitely evaluate everything,” Patrick said. “I think a big hack this summer could potentially be like a really big hack. With a rising cap environment, a lot of teams that are looking to spend — the prices, I think we saw it at the trade deadline with the prices going up, I think it could follow the same path here in free agency. We’ll see what we have available to spend, and hopefully we can be competitive in some of that stuff if we think it’s the right fit.”
He also noted the team would consider trading their first-round pick (27th overall) for the right deal.
“Yeah, I think you have to be open to all options…we’ll try to be creative with what we can do,” he said.
As they have for the last several years, the Caps will look to get younger ahead of next season. They went from the second-oldest team in 2023-24 (30.0) to the 11th-oldest in 2024-25 (29.5), and hope to continue that trend as Washington’s core players reach the twilight of their careers.
“I think we’re willing to be aggressive, but I think our goal, as within the last two years, is to get younger,” MacLellan said. “We’re transitioning from a mature, older team into a younger team and it continues to be that goal going forward for us. We’re going to inject a bunch of prospects into Hershey next year that we’re pretty excited about. Not sure where they are in their development path. But over the next two years we’re going to be adding young guys, and hopefully we can complement it with a good transaction or two in free agency or the trade market.”
Asked what areas the Capitals could improve this summer, Patrick named two priorities: the team’s third line and the addition of a high-skill player. Washington’s third line stood out as a weaker spot throughout much of the season, even after the addition of Lars Eller at center, though Patrick noted the Caps could fill that role internally by moving Connor McMichael back to his natural center position. And as the team’s core ages, a skilled player could help the team shore up its high-end talent.
Patrick also noted that the Capitals’ plans were still developing in the days after their season ended against the Hurricanes. He and MacLellan will meet with the Capitals’ scouting and analytics staff this week to evaluate their options and decide which sorts of players they’ll try to target.
“We’re going to talk a little bit this week about what we see,” Patrick said. “But talking about Connor McMichael, do we use him as a wing or a center? That has an impact on what we go after. It would be great to add another skilled player to our lineup, for sure. It would be great to also have a third line that is a really dependable third line. The Dowd line is effectively a third line; it would be great to have two third lines, like Nic’s line.
“So those are two areas we’d like to improve on. Can you do both at the same time? I don’t know. We’re going to have to see what’s available and what’s out there. But those are certainly, at least, what my focus (is).”
The Capitals will have just over a month to determine a final strategy, with the 2025 NHL Draft set to begin on June 27 and free agency opening on July 1.
