As the Capitals enter season 50 we have 3 burning questions
With 49 days until the Washington Capitals enter season 50, we have three burning questions. Of course an important topic is the health and status of T.J. Oshie but what about the others?
The Bears from Hershey?
No pun intended but the Caps barely made the playoffs. But getting to the party as we all know requires something to prove. That's what the Bears did up in Hershey winning back to back Calder Cups. Guys like Hendrix Lapierre and Ivan Miroshnichenko have impressed and the team brass strongly believes they could possibly make the team out of training camp.
But then things got real interesting when the team acquired Jakub Vrana for a PTO. After the success of Sonny Milano, now there's competition there as well. But both players have the skill so that's an early camp battle to watch.
There's two years left on the Alex Ovechkin contract so making the team is always imperitive for that chance to be a part of NHL history. And it would be ideal for the team to continue to get better even after the Ovi era to keep the next 50 years bright as well. Spencer Carbery we believe knows what he's doing.
Can the Caps win the Metropolitan Division?
The short answer is no, but they can rise from third to second which is still a big improvment. Given the offseason additions like Pierre-Luc Dubois and Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren projected to start on opening night, it's looking good with 49 days until season number 50.
Sammi Silber believed so in her mailbag in The Hockey News and so do us.
The New York Rangers will likely repeat unless the upgraded New Jersey Devils have something to say about it. The Caps also upgraded at the blue line especially with Matt Roy from the Los angeles Kings.
This brings us back to the previous slide about the Hershey Bears. Like good neighbors the Caps should be in good hands no matter who is in and out of the lineup on opening night which is still a tad bit early but training camp is still much closer than you think.
Guys like Vincent Iorio and Alex Alexeyev should be early position battles but guys like Ryan Chesley, like Ryan Leonard, should remain in college for one more season for development purposes. Leonard wants to stay after falling short in the Frozen Four which is totally understandable.
How many goals can Alex Ovechkin score?
I'll give you a hint:
Ovi can score 40 goals and we've seen him score in 40s and 50s range alone. Teams like the Carolina Hurricanes sadly took a step back with the whole Evgeny Kuznetsov saga.
You know Kuzy will be rooting for Ovechkin overseas and the great eight will be home soon. And like the Cup year Alex Ovechkin will have a cast of characters for their 50th season trying to be the guy to assist him on the record breaking goal.
Based on the recent informal skates at MedStar Capitals Iceplex it's looking like the Screaming Eagle is making a comeback in some way, shape or form. It's been all but confirmed the black Screaming Eagles will be back.
The Caps additionally retired their blue alternate jerseys but get this, in the black Reverse Retro Screaming Eagle, Ovechkin has scored in every game. And the actual look still remains to be seen.
Either way Ovechkin has dazzled night after night and whatever jerseys the Caps rock this season we all know that when he hits that 42nd goal everyone will let out a joyeous celebration.
