This is about one of the 15 teams who wasn't so lucky.
How They Finished:
42-32-8 92 points 2nd in Southeast Division, 7th in Eastern Conference. Lost in seven games to New York.
What Went Wrong:
To answer that question you need to go back to the end of game five.
Washington had a 2-1 lead when forward Joel Ward was called for a high sticking penalty on New York forward Carl Hagelin. Ward's stick ended up cutting open Hagelin's face with the result being a double minor.
As a result the Rangers had a four minute power play. In the Capitals favor was there was only 21 seconds to play in the game so all they had to do was kill the penalty and Washington would have a 3-2 lead in the series with game six being in D.C.
Instead Brad Richards, who was the prize free agent acquisition last summer, came up clutch scoring the game tying goal with eight seconds to play.
Not only would that goal force overtime but New York would still be on the power play because of the double minor. As they did at the end of regulation the Rangers would take advantage in overtime thanks to Marc Staal.
As a result New York snatches victory from the jaws of defeat winning the game 3-2 and taking the series lead 3-2. Washington would win game six on home ice but they would come up short in game seven.
Now I'm not going to say Joel Ward is the reason Washington lost the series. He wasn't. Remember if not for his goal in game seven against Boston the Capitals might not even be playing in this series.
The penalty that Ward took could have happened to anybody on the ice. That's hockey. Things like this happen all the time on the ice. This penalty just happened to come at the worst possible time for Washington.
I'm not saying the Capitals would have won the series had they held on to win game five but I sure liked their chances better being up 3-2 than down 3-2 in the series.
Where Do They Go From Here:
This should make for an interesting summer in the beltway.
Right after Thanksgiving GM George McPhee deciding to make a coaching change firing Bruce Boudreau and bringing in Dale Hunter.
With the coaching change Washington went from being an offensive minded hockey team to one that stresses playing defense first. The results however were the same as they lost in the 2nd round for the third time in four seasons.
Yesterday it was announced that Dale Hunter would not return as head coach of the team. That's not a complete surprise as rumors swirled around for most of the year that this was a temporary deal for him.
The dilemma McPhee has now is does he go with a coach that stresses offense or one that stresses defense? Keep in mind that Alex Ovechkin is under contract for the next nine seasons.
I'll give Ovechkin credit for not openly complaining about his ice time under Hunter. Of course part of that may be he knew Hunter wasn't coming back and he decided to ride this season out.
Whoever McPhee hires to coach this team will have to find a balance between Boudreau's team and Hunter's team. The good thing for McPhee is there are plenty of qualified coaching candidates out there that would love to have a chance to coach the Capitals.
As for the team next year their projected cap space is set at just over $19 million. Of their unrestricted free agents it sounds like Alexander Semin is set to test the free agent market.
To me Semin has always been one of those players with a lot of raw talent but you never seem to get what you need out of him. With a pricetag of at least $6.7 million Washington might just let him skate away.
As for the other UFA's the Capitals have I can see them bringing back Mike Knuble and Dennis Wideman, especially if Semin doesn't return. Jeff Halperin could return as well depending on what his asking price is on the free agent market.
Two free agents that won't be returning are goaltenders Tomas Vokoun and Dany Sabourin. The reason for that is because of the emrgence of Braden Holtby.
Holtby was spectacular in the playoffs finishing with a GAA of 1.95 and a save percentage of .935. His play in net gave the Capitals a chance to win every game they played this post-season. He'll have a good chance to win the starting job in September when he competes with Michal Neuvirth.
This is a critical summer for Washington as they are no longer the team to beat in the Southeast Division. Florida are the defending champions while Winnipeg, Tampa Bay and Carolina should be much improved from a year ago.
The Capitals should still be a playoff team as their nucleus is still strong but as this season proved it is no longer a given.
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