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Capitals 2023-24 season primer: 8 storylines you need to know if you didn’t pay attention over the offseason

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The Washington Capitals open the 2023-24 NHL campaign on home ice against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Friday night. The Capitals are coming off quite a five-month summer break as they missed out on the postseason for the first time in nine years.

That long break meant no hockey in DC for quite some time. So, we don’t completely blame you if you checked out on the news cycle and are only just now returning. We’ve got you covered.

Here’s an overview of some of the more important things you may have missed.

Spencer Carbery’s hiring

The Capitals and former head coach Peter Laviolette went their separate ways just days after the regular season was over. The team went through a brief search for a new voice and brought in former Hershey Bears bench boss and Toronto Maple Leafs assistant, Spencer Carbery.

Carbery, who has familiarity with many current Capitals due to his time in Hershey, immediately got to work on putting together his new supporting staff. Mitch Love, two-time AHL coach of the year, was the first to join the project and more veteran names Kirk Muller and Kenny McCudden joined on soon after.

Love will exclusively handle the team’s defensemen, Muller will be in charge of the power play and chip in with the forward group, and McCudden will instruct skills-based practice sessions. The complete staff also still features Scott Allen, Scott Murray, Brett Leonhardt, and Emily Engel-Natzke as they have all retained their prior positions.

Early on in his time in charge, Carbery has emphasized the word “pace” to describe how the Capitals will play under his watch. The youngest coach in the league has also given major attention to tweaking the Capitals’ stale man advantage unit and expressed desire to involve more younger players in his lineups.

Offseason additions

Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan handled the coaching search and then got to work on trying to reshape the team’s roster after a disappointing 2022-23. MacLellan made it clear several times that he was exploring trades to add another top-six forward to his team but that move never materialized.

MacLellan did manage to make one deal but it involved a defender not a forward. Veteran rearguard Joel Edmundson was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for two draft picks. Edmundson will start the season on injured reserve after fracturing his hand in Training Camp.

The lone other summer additions that will start the year in the NHL include veteran forward Max Pacioretty and preseason surprise Matthew Phillips. Pacioretty, signed to a one-year deal, is on long-term injured reserve to begin the campaign as he is still recovering from a torn Achilles. There is no exact, expected date for his return yet although Pacioretty himself has said “it shouldn’t be too long.”

Phillips, a top scorer in the AHL under Mitch Love in the Calgary organization, was also signed to a one-year deal. The diminutive winger impressed in his preseason appearances enough to win one of the sparse, few roster spots up front. Phillips has only played in three prior NHL games.

Evgeny Kuznetsov did a tell-all interview

The much maligned Evgeny Kuznetsov could not stay out of the news cycle this past summer. Where we last left Kuznetsov was after a severe downturn in point production and a reported trade request. Over the summer that trade request was confirmed in a Capitals article, Kuznetsov was openly shopped by the team, and the Russian center did a controversial tell-all interview with a Russian outlet.

In that interview Kuznetsov did all of the following:

Kuznetsov has since returned to the Capitals in a much more positive frame of mind. The talented playmaker is excited for a fresh start under new guidance from Carbery. “He’s a great person and I feel like the way he sees hockey — it’s a perfect match for me and a perfect match for a lot of guys inside the team,” Kuznetsov said. “There is a lot of positivity in my head when I talk to him. The most important, he was very honest with me and I was very honest with him too.”

Carbery has Kuznetsov skating on the team’s second line with Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson to start the season. Good play from Kuzy could heal all wounds.

Tom Wilson and Nicklas Backstrom are healthy

Tom Wilson and Nicklas Backstrom missed half of last season, recovering from their respective knee and hip surgeries. When they returned they were less effective than the previous very high standards that they have set in their careers. Wilson would eventually miss more time due to a fracture in his ankle and Backstrom posted his worst season in the league production wise with just 21 points (7g, 14a).

Wilson, who signed a huge, seven-year extension with the team over the summer after months of popping up in trade rumors, and Backstrom both have had successful, fully healthy preseasons. Backstrom has returned to top line duties next to long-time running mates Alex Ovechkin and TJ Oshie while Wilson is back playing at all strengths and being a pivotal leader in the team’s locker room.

Backstrom in particular has drawn rave reviews from both teammates and trainers alike. “[He] looked amazing. He looked like himself from 10 years ago,” Wilson said. “He was moving his feet really well. I’ll play with that guy any day of the week. He’s such a smart player. He makes the guys on the ice around him better.”

Backstrom’s Swedish trainer and close friend, Andreas Öhgren added his own praise in response to Wilson’s. “I’ve agree 100%,” Öhgren said. “I’ve never seen you move better than you’re doing now. Your hard work is showing. I’m so proud and happy for you my friend.”

In the only press conference Backstrom has had so far with Caps media, Backstrom made it clear himself that he wants to speak with his play this year and his focus is no longer on his hip.

“I’ve got nothing more to say about it — I’m 100%,” Backstrom said earlier in September. “I’ve done everything I can this summer. I worked really hard, really excited to be here for the training camp.”

The market for Anthony Mantha

Anthony Mantha, much like Kuznetsov, had a 2022-23 season that put him on the outs of the Capitals. The big winger went through a 19-game goalless streak and a spell out of the lineup as a healthy scratch.

Mantha’s struggles and the fact that he takes up a solid chunk of the team’s salary cap ($5.7 million) made it so that the Capitals very openly looked to find a trade suitor for him this summer. That search did not pan out and the team eventually decided they would prefer to give Mantha another season under a new coaching staff.

All of that talk inspired Mantha to try and have an offseason that would put him back into the conversation of top contributors on the roster. The 29-year-old forward lost ten pounds in an effort to re-find his game and get faster. “I find that I was not present and involved enough for my team,” Mantha said. “Points, hits, and all the little details. I want to be ready this year to accomplish them.

While Carbery was initially convinced that Mantha would come into camp highly motivated and ready to grasp a more permanent spot in the team’s lineup, that hasn’t exactly gone to plan. Mantha started in Carbery’s initial top-six forward plans but slid all the way down to 13th forward duties at a recent practice.

Monumental Sports Network

The Capitals have a new TV network home. Well, sorta. NBC Sports Washington was acquired by Ted Leonsis’s Monumental Sports & Entertainment in September of 2022 but the network wasn’t fully rebranded into the new Monumental Sports Network until last month.

MSN will air 69 of the Capitals’ 82 regular season games this season. Joe Beninati, Craig Laughlin, and Al Koken will all be returning for gameday broadcasts while Alexa Landestoy and Alan May will continue their pre and postgame responsibilities.

This past week, MSN announced direct-to-consumer subscription membership plans for local fans that do not already pay for TV subscriptions. The MSN subscription plans will include access to all live Capitals games being broadcasted by MSN this season.

Fans can purchase a monthly or annual membership priced at either $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year on the network’s website.

Youth movement started

Per Capitals PR, this year’s roster will have the most players 25-year-old or younger on their roster (8) since the start of the 2017-18 campaign (10). While obviously not in full swing, Carbery’s proposed youth movement has definitely begun.

Here are the eight young players from this year’s roster if you need your memory jogged.

  • Connor McMichael (22)
  • Aliaksei Protas (22)
  • Matthew Phillips (25)
  • Beck Malenstyn (25)
  • Martin Fehervary (24)
  • Rasmus Sandin (23)
  • Alex Alexeyev (23)
  • Lucas Johansen (25)

Rasmus Sandin is back for his first, full season as a member of the Capitals and will start the campaign skating top-pairing minutes alongside John Carlson. Sandin has spoken about how appreciative he is of Carlson actively mentoring him.

“He’s been on me a lot,” Sandin said. “Stuff I’m doing wrong and stuff I’m doing right. No, but he’s huge to be around, not just on the ice, but off the ice as well. He’s an unbelievable guy and obviously an unbelievable player as well. So for a young guy like me, it’s awesome to have him beside me.”

The other expected major contributor from that younger group is Connor McMichael. McMichael, who fell out of favor under Peter Laviolette, has shot up the depth chart under his former Hershey head coach, Carbery.

“I think it was the best camp I’ve ever had since I’ve been drafted here,” McMichael said. “I think I started to flash what I can do in this league and showed my confidence. I was making plays. I thought I was pretty good overall.”

McMichael posted two points (1g, 1a) in four preseason games and had 10 shots in one of his outings. McMichael’s five-on-five process stats were also some of the best on the team.

Carbery spoke to senior Capitals reporter Mike Vogel about the overall value of incorporating more youth in the lineup.

“In the salary cap era, having that relief from entry-level players being able to come into your lineup and play, that’s something that we will emphasize,” Carbery said. “Having those relationships with a lot of our younger players that the expectations aren’t going to change. The rope — obviously I understand young players and I’ve talked about this before — they’re going to make mistakes, they need opportunity, and time, and they will develop, and I’ve seen that firsthand.”

Chasing The Great One

Alex Ovechkin will come into the season sitting at 822 career goals scored, just 72 goals away from matching Wayne Gretzky’s all-time best total. The Great Eight will look to match or even improve on the 42 goals he scored last season and if he does that, will overtake Brett Hull (37) for the most goals scored in an age-38 season.

Ovechkin made his return to DC on September 5 after spending his summer in Russia. The 2023-24 campaign will mark Ovechkin’s third year of his current five-year contract that will take him through his age-40 season.

The Russian superstar must average 24 goals per season during his remaining time in the NHL to match Gretzky. Over the offseason, Ovechkin revealed that he was still dubious that he’d be able to reach 894, but was going to give it his best shot.

“I can’t predict how long it will take me to break Gretzky’s record,” Ovechkin said. “In every interview I’ve given over the past two years, someone is sure to ask about the record. Of course, I would like to do this. I once said that it is unrealistic. I still doubt that this is possible, but I will do my best to get close to this figure. Gretzky sincerely believes in me and expects this to happen. I think all the fans want it because it’s history. To be in this race is worth a lot.”

While scoring the full 72 goals this season is an incredible long shot, they are other milestones that Ovechkin can still chase. For example, his next goal will tie the NHL’s all-time Era Adjusted Goals record and he is just 15 points shy of becoming the 16th player ever to reach 1,500 career points.

Ovechkin will open the season skating in his normal left wing position on a line with Backstrom and Oshie. He will also retake his signature left circle position on the team’s 1-3-1 power play setup.

That’s a short list to sum up about half a year’s worth of news. There are many more storylines and things to watch out for but this should be a good start if you need to catch up.

The first puck drop of the year is against the Penguins at 7:30 pm tonight inside Capital One Arena. Let’s go Caps!

Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB

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