The Washington Capitals were forecast by statistical models to miss the playoffs. They had no players picked for the 4 Nations Face-Off — the most galling snubs being goaltender Logan Thompson and Tom Wilson.
No ESPN personalities or their hockey analysts picked the Capitals to win the Stanley Cup. Ahead of their second-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes, none of the major hockey statistical models picked the Capitals to advance to the Eastern Conference Final. Money Puck gave the team the worst odds out of the remaining 8 teams to win the Stanley Cup.
Friday after practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex, head coach Spencer Carbery admitted to the media that the team has a chip on its shoulder and feels like an underdog despite being the Eastern Conference’s number one seed and owning the NHL’s best record for a chunk of the season.
“I do think that is (true),” Carbery said. “We don’t talk about it a lot. We don’t bring it up. We don’t show the playoff odds. I think, I sense it in, we’re human. Guys read things, they look at different stuff. We know, since the beginning of the year, that we haven’t been where most people projected us to be. It just adds a little bit to, we’re going to try to do what we do and prove people wrong and continue to do that.”
Carbery continued, “I don’t think it’s played a significant role this year, but I do think that it’s in the back of guys’ minds, of a little bit of an underdog mentality of continuing to prove people wrong… I look at a lot of individual players coming here with a lot to prove… guys like Jakob Chychrun and Logan Thompson, Pierre-Luc Dubois. I love using John Carlson as a prime example because I think it’s so impressive, what he’s doing at this stage in his career, of continuing to prove that he’s an elite defenseman in this league. So yeah, I think it’s in the back of our minds of guys and the underdog mentality of people outside of our walls doubting the Washington Capitals and our group.”
Carbery’s comments came on the same day NHL.com published a feature on Logan Thompson where the goaltender revealed that he wears number 48 due to being initially passed over for a team at age 10.
“I wasn’t selected to be on that team — shocker!” Thompson said to NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. “I always seemed to be the late add and they added me late and they said there’s 48 and 12. No one wanted those numbers, so those were the only two numbers they had. As a goalie, I’m not going to pick 12, so I chose 48 and just stuck with it.
“I feel like no one really wanted me along the way and no one wanted that number. So I think it fits me well.”
Thompson ended up on the Capitals this past summer after the Vegas Golden Knights dealt him for picks on the second day of the 2024 NHL Draft. Thompson requested out of Sin City after never being given a chance to be te full time number one goaltender.
“So I knew him even further back when I first started in South Carolina (ECHL),” Carbery said in early April. “What I would tell you the most impressive thing that sticks out when you get to know Logan Thompson is his competitiveness. He’s just an ultra, ultra competitive guy that when the puck drops and the game starts, he wants to win so desperately and will do anything to keep that black rubber thing out of our net. It’s the best way I could describe it. Not that other guys don’t have that, he just has it to the 10th degree.
“It’s why, in my opinion, one of the main reasons why he’s been able to be so successful in his career and why he’s been able to achieve things that a lot of people didn’t think he was going to achieve,” Carbery continued. “He’s overcome obstacles and adversity, proven a lot of people wrong because of that competitive fire in his belly. o the skills, the tools, everything that goes along with a great personality, he’s brought great, who he is as a person to our group and our team. That competitiveness just adds for our group, and I think that’s why he’s been so successful.”
Thompson responded with a 31-6-6 record during his first season with the Capitals, posting a 2.49 goals against average and .910 save percentage. He also finished third in the league in goals saved above expected. He’s started all seven games in the playoffs thus far.
Thompson’s struggles to be accepted and believed in during his hockey career are feelings likely also felt in the past too by current teammates Jakob Chychrun and Pierre-Luc Dubois, who were traded to the Capitals over the summer after receiving criticism and not fitting in on past teams.
First-line center Dylan Strome is another star that has something to prove with the Capitals after being non-tendered a contract by the Chicago Blackhawks as a restricted free agent several years ago. Strome signed with the Caps as a free agent and has since found a new home in DC. He recently finished the 2024-25 season with a team-high 82 points (tied for 20th most in the league) while centering Alex Ovechkin. He also currently leads the team in points during the playoffs with 10.
Those past slights for certain players, combined with analysts and analytic models that doubt the team, might help explain why “the power of friendship” and “agape love” have come to define this Capitals club. They may not have the best top-end talent, but the players have the drive and will to succeed, as evidenced by their league-leading 25 comeback wins during the regular season.
Maybe they aren’t underdogs, but they feel that way all the same. And that could turn into a powerful motivator as the the Caps try to go deeper in the playoffs.
