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Geoff Burke

When <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/04/20/spencer-carbery-playoffs/" target=_blank>Spencer Carbery</a> sat down with the Washington Capitals’ veteran core last fall, the new coach told his leaders that getting this team back into the playoffs would be the hardest thing they would do in their careers.

Amid the long list of team and individual accomplishments for those players — the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capitals-insider/wp/2018/06/07/2018-nhl-stanley-cup-finals-capitals-golden-knights-game-5/" target=_blank>Stanley Cup in 2018</a>, Alex Ovechkin’s nine Rocket Richard trophies as the NHL’s top goal scorer, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/04/07/tj-oshie-john-carlson-1000-games/" target=_blank>John Carlson’s world junior championships gold medal in 2010</a> and so many more — Carbery believed their toughest task lay<b> </b>ahead.

“Because you’re going to have to now — as players, as veteran players, you’re not in the prime of your careers anymore — you’re going to have to not only carry the load on the ice, but you’re going to have to lead this group of young men,” Carbery <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/04/30/tj-oshie-back-injury-future/" target=_blank>recalled at Washington’s season-ending media availability Tuesday</a>. “… They can’t just go out on the ice and go, ‘Jump on my back; I’ll just go end-to-end and score.’ They can’t do that anymore. But what they did was they put they everything had on the ice and then led. And then [pulled] young players into the fight.

“To get this team back into the playoffs, given our roster and given where we’re at as an organization, I feel like is a feather in their caps of their careers that won’t go down — it’ll be very low on their list when you look at their Hall of Fame careers but, to me, one of the most impressive things that they’ve done.”

Bruce Bennett

Days after they were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/04/28/rangers-capitals-stanley-cup-playoffs-game-4/" target=_blank>swept out of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the New York Rangers</a>, the sting of the loss still lingered for the Capitals, and it will for a bit longer. But they also could begin to reflect on what they accomplished, having dragged an underpowered group that had to fight for every point just to sneak into the playoffs.

“I feel proud of the growth that we showed this year,” Carlson said. “What the season was looking like and where we ended up, I try hard to separate the two because of the sting of the postseason. There’s a lot of young guys that stepped up that did some amazing things. It’s great for them and their careers, but for me, too, it’s cool to see them do that.”

“I’m proud of this group because of what we’ve been through since the beginning of the year, ups and downs, injuries,” Ovechkin said. “We still tried to find a way to be in the playoff race and be able to be in that kind of mix until the end of year. It was a fun year. … For the future, it’s going to be very good for us and for this organization.”

Before Ovechkin went cold in the playoffs — a downturn Carbery said could be a result of how much the Capitals relied on him down the stretch — he scored 23 goals in the final 36 games of the regular season. While getting the most ice time of his career at 34, Carlson scored critical goals in those final, desperate games to help push Washington over the finish line as he anchored a blue line that became a revolving door. T.J. Oshie, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/04/30/tj-oshie-back-injury-future/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com" target=_blank>whose</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/04/30/tj-oshie-back-injury-future/" target=_blank>future is uncertain following another season marred by a chronic back issue</a>, gave it everything he had.

Tom Brenner

But the Capitals had just three players crack the 20-goal mark, and one of them, winger Anthony Mantha, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/03/05/anthony-mantha-traded-capitals-golden-knights/" target=_blank>was traded to Vegas in March</a>. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/03/27/dylan-strome-capitals-playoffs-push/" target=_blank>Dylan Strome,</a> with a career-best 67 points in 82 games, was the most productive player Washington had, and having 67 points doesn’t break the NHL’s top 50.

“As a team, we all need to take next steps to next year to kind of ease the burden on everyone else,” Strome said. “[The young] guys are huge parts of the team. Myself included, [we need to] just keep getting better, a little bit stronger, a little bit faster, the production to increase a little bit. That will kind of take care of the things we had to do in these last two months just to get into the playoffs.”

Washington’s young players — including Connor McMichael, Hendrix Lapierre and Aliaksei Protas, who are expected to be part of the new core going forward — gained valuable experience just by reaching the Stanley Cup playoffs. But by squeaking in as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, the Capitals became aware of the gap between where they are and where they want to be.

Carbery identified early in the season that scoring goals was going to be a significant challenge. Tweaks to his system, such as moving from a more high-tempo, rush-based offense to a grinding, forecheck-heavy style, helped Washington minimize its deficits but only to an extent. Increased production from Washington’s young players, as they grow and develop, will help, but the Capitals also are prepared to look outside of the organization for offensive help.

“I think trades and free agency — I think we need to add something in that area,” General Manager Brian MacLellan said. “We need to get a little more skill, a little more goals. We find a way to do that. I think both ways: externally and internally. We need to improve some of our young guys.”

Though Carbery often shied away from discussing front-office decisions or expressing his desires during the season, after the campaign ended he didn’t hesitate to make known what he thinks his team needs heading into next season.

“When you start to break down the individual player, what attributes do we need to add? Size on the back end, I think about. Speed is right up there,” Carbery said. “And you can tell, what sticks out is [Lapierre]. Lappy’s foot speed jumps off the page when you’re standing there on the bench, as I’m sure it jumps out to our fans and people watching. His foot speed makes a difference. When you have one of those guys — but we need more of that inside of our lineup, no question.”

MacLellan acquired five draft picks at the deadline, trading Mantha for a 2024 second-round pick and a 2026 fourth-rounder, defenseman <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/03/07/capitals-trades-joel-edmundson/" target=_blank>Joel Edmundson</a> for a third-round pick in 2024 and a fifth-round pick in 2025, and center <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/03/08/capitals-nhl-trade-deadline-evgeny-kuznetsov/" target=_blank>Evgeny Kuznetsov</a> for a 2025 third-round pick.

With 14 picks in the first three rounds of the next three drafts, the Capitals have trade chips — and salary cap space, with the limit projected to increase to $87.7 million next year, up from $83.5 million — to tweak the roster and transition into a new era.

Some of that transition has already begun, and McMichael and Lapierre showed signs of being productive pieces for the future. MacLellan wants to leave room on the roster for other players to take similar leaps while knowing that additions will be required for Washington to take another step forward.

“If we can add a player or two, I don’t know if we’re [a] top eight [team in the league]. You can be in that next group, though,” MacLellan said. “I think we’re in that group already. … There’s a level of play that the top eight to 10 teams are at. I think we can get close to that. That would be our goal.”

University of Michigan, BA in communications

Bailey Johnson joined The Washington Post in 2023 as the Washington Capitals beat writer. She previously covered the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Columbus Crew for the Columbus Dispatch. 

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