Window is Still Wide Open for Capitals
Barry Trotz needed to go back to the drawing board this offseason after failing to get beyond the next round of the playoffs for the second consecutive year. The Capitals were undoubtedly the best team in the 2015-16 regular season but were extremely unfortunate to run into a Penguins team that discovered its match later in the summer and remained hot till they hoisted the Stanley Cup after six games in the final. This is the problem with seven-game series: it’s incredibly tough to acquire you, let alone four in a row.
Washington is still a remarkably gifted, well-coached team which has a star goalie and the best goal scorer in the league. The Caps have some heavy expectations weighing on them heading into the new season and if they falter in the playoffs again, there could be some serious changes on the horizon.
Stanley Cup +1000
The Caps are entering their 43rd season this season, making it 42 straight years they haven’t won a Stanley Cup. Thus, what are the chances they could break that trend and earn their first league title this season? Well, just one team since the 2005-06 lockout, the 2007-08 Red Wings, was in a position to win the Cup the year after winning the Presidents’ Trophy. Washington is getting decent chances right now due to the crazy line around the Blackhawks, and it is logical for them to be connected with the Penguins. They have to win a Cup sooner or later, right?
Eastern Conference +500
The track record is a tiny bit better for conference championships but not by a lot — Washington has won only one Eastern Conference championship and qualified for the final round of the Stanley Cup playoffs only once in its foundation. The Caps haven’t made it past the second round of the playoffs since 1997-98 when they won their first and only Prince of Wales Trophy against the Buffalo Sabres en route to their just Finals appearance, where they were swept from the Red Wings.
Metropolitan Division +195
The race to the Metropolitan branch is predicted to be between two horses as the Penguins slightly edge the Caps in division odds at +180 on BetOnline. Pittsburgh is likely going to be a tough train to stop if they have retained any of the vicious momentum which carried them through the late stages of the 2015-16 season.
The Caps have won nine division championships in their history, including four in a row from 2007 to 2010. Since 2005-06, 27.5 percent of teams which have dropped out from the playoffs at the next round have gone on to win their division the next year. That is not a great tendency for the value being provided but as I mentioned this race is essentially a toss-up between the Caps and Pens — pick your own dog and stick with your guns.
Season Points OVER/UNDER 106.5
Since the NHL adopted the shootout, teams that have led the league in points have gone on to score a mean of 106.5 points the next season — hmmm, sounds familiar. BetOnline really nailed online so it’s tough to find much worth here. My only advice is that I can’t find the Caps being any worse this season than they had been the last. Goaltender Braden Holtby is at his prime right now and forwards such as Evgeny Kuznetzov have made major leaps forward. The bottom teams in their division will be more competitive this season in order that they may lose a few of the easy things they got last season. I think they go OVER although maybe not by much — I’ll say 109.
The Caps have the highest projected point total on many betting sites and if they do wind up winning back-to-back Presidents’ Trophies, see. Only eight winners since the inception of the award in 1985 have begun to win the Cup — that’s only 25 percent of Presidents’ Trophy winners.
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