The Washington Capitals did a lot of good things this summer, building off a roster that was one game away from making the Eastern Conference Finals. Brian MacLellan traded for TJ Oshie, signed Justin Williams, and re-upped Braden Holtby. These moves, on top of another year of Barry Trotz, has three NHL.com writers— John Kreiser, Mike Morreale, and Matt Cubeta–seeing red.
Seven out of nine NHL.com writers also predicted Alex Ovechkin would win the Richard Trophy for the fourth straight season. Three predicted Braden Holtby would win the Vezina.
If our collection of prognosticators are right, fans of the Washington Capitals will be very happy. The Capitals appeared as Stanley Cup champions on four [sic] of nine ballots, while Tampa Bay and Anaheim also received multiple votes. Washington star Alex Ovechkin was a near-unanimous choice to win the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy for the fourth straight season, while Braden Holtby received some serious consideration to claim his first Vezina Trophy.
This is all great, and sure, I’m getting a little excited. But the Caps fan inside of me who has watched this team for a quarter century is like wut iz dis strange new world of ppl picking us to win.
Don’t they know who we are?
Justin Williams, as a player, has more Game Seven victories than the Caps do as a franchise.
#Capitals sign Justin Williams:
Game 7 victories
Justin Williams: 7
Capitals franchise history: 4— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) July 2, 2015
Tony Kornheiser called this team choking dogs as far back as 1996.
But you know what, who cares? History is history and it’s made to be broken. Preferably with an Alex Ovechkin slap shot and a Braden Holtby cross check to the face.
My body is ready, NHL.
