The Washington Capitals’ lineup has been relatively consistent throughout the first half of the 2024-25 season. The team has navigated injuries and down stretches of play without drastic change, but after a few weeks of recent sustained inconsistency, head coach Spencer Carbery is switching things up.
In the club’s four post-Christmas games, they’ve struggled to generate positive pressure at five-on-five. Despite their 2-1-1 record, the Capitals have seen just 48.6 percent of the shot attempts, 43 percent of the expected goals, 43 percent of the scoring chances, and 36.5 percent of the high-danger chances.
“Just looking for a little bit of a different look, some chemistry on some different lines,” Carbery said Friday. “See if we can find a little spark with our forward group and some of our D pairs.”
Lines from Friday’s practice
Taylor Raddysh’s move up onto the top line with former junior teammate Dylan Strome and Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin was a big story after the skate. Raddysh, who has 17 points (4g, 13a) in 38 games this season, only recently moved back to Washington’s fourth line and continued the five-on-five success with Nic Dowd and Brandon Duhaime that the Caps saw to start the campaign.
With those three on the ice, the Capitals have seen 51.4 percent of the expected goals, 53.7 percent of the scoring chances, and 52.5 percent of the high-danger chances. This success has come despite them seeing a vast majority of defensive-zone starts – just 10 percent of their faceoffs have come in the offensive zone.
“That’s the one move that I was really reluctant [to make] because he’s playing so well with Dowder and Dewey,” Carbery said. “I feel like they’ve been productive for us and played some really solid minutes. But, in order to do some other things, we felt like we needed to make a change with that line, and Raddy is a guy that is a pivot player that can play anywhere up and down your lineup.
“Now, I do understand there’s risk there because he’s playing really, really well right now, and now you disrupt that and put him on a line with Dylan Strome and Ovi. We’re hopeful that he’s earned that, and he takes advantage of that opportunity, and it fits okay.”
The only line that remains completely intact is the second line, comprised of Aliaksei Protas, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Tom Wilson. The three forwards were the team’s top three forward scorers in December, combining for 31 points (15g, 16a) in 13 games.
“I think that [second] line has been our best line by far, so just trying to find some other balance to help them out really,” Strome said. “They’ve been carrying our team for a while now, so just trying to find something that we can sustain five-on-five a bit more and see what happens. Obviously, last couple games not good enough at controlling the play. It’s on us to figure that out and make sure that we’re putting them in a good spot and not just leaving them out to dry.”
Washington’s third line has seen the most significant change, as Connor McMichael is lining up at center for the first time since the preseason. Carbery has tried several combinations of players on his third line this season, but none of them have stuck.
Lars Eller, acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins in November to try and stabilize the situation, has struggled to regain his footing with the Capitals. The veteran Dane recorded just one point in December and had a plus-minus of minus-5.
On the fourth line, Andrew Mangiapane has dropped down into the role vacated by Raddysh. The Capitals have seen success with Mangiapane playing next to Dowd this year, outscoring their opposition 4-2 and garnering 76.9 percent of the expected goals in 32:31 of ice time.
The only changes on defense are Jakob Chychrun moving back up into the top four and Martin Fehervary swapping down to the third pair. Chychrun is slated to play with fellow offseason acquisition Matt Roy, which has happened rarely this season. The two have only shared the ice for 44:54 of five-on-five ice time.
Carbery’s first opportunity to see his changes in action will come on Saturday afternoon against the New York Rangers. The Rangers are a good first opponent against whom to try to find some chemistry. The Capitals’ Metropolitan Division rival recently placed star netminder Igor Shesterkin on injured reserve and are 3-7-0 in their last 10 games.
