Alex Ovechkin can pinpoint the second the Washington Capitals’ season began to disintegrate. The night time was Dec. 23 and in a recreation in opposition to the Winnipeg Jets, John Carlson was blasted by a puck to the face — fracturing the defenseman’s cranium and leaving a path of blood on the ice. 

By the time Carlson returned from a 36-game absence in March, the possibilities of Washington making the playoffs had been slim.

“When your best D is out for long term, it sucks,” Ovechkin stated over the weekend. “Everything is changed.” 

Carlson’s damage could not have been the only cause that the Capitals missed the playoffs this yr for the primary time since 2014.  The Capitals, in any case, had been the oldest staff within the league, weren’t constant as in previous years and had a number of different important accidents all year long. The staff completed with a 35-37-10 document. 

But that recreation in opposition to the Jets proved to be an ideal snapshot of the place the Capitals are at as a franchise: That night time, Ovechkin handed Gordie Howe to change into the NHL’s second-leading all-time aim — however Washington, as a staff, didn’t have the expertise to face up to the lack of a participant like Carlson in the long term.

Now, months later, the Capitals enter a pivotal offseason having to discover a new coach — and gamers that may reposition Washington as contenders within the remaining years of Ovechkin’s profession. Otherwise, Ovechkin’s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s scoring document may maybe look rather a lot like LeBron James’ chase of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar within the NBA. 

On Feb. 7, when James surpassed Abdul-Jabbar to change into the NBA’s all-time factors chief, the Lakers misplaced to the Oklahoma City Thunder to fall 5 video games beneath .500. 

Ovechkin is 73 targets from breaking Gretzky’s document. General supervisor Brian MacLellan’s aim is to maintain the Capitals aggressive because the staff’s captain makes an attempt to make historical past. 

“Trying to stay competitive while getting younger is going to be challenging, yes. But that’s the stage we’re at,” MacLellan stated. “That’s the choice we’ve made right here. We wish to end out a pair careers of essential gamers in our group and we wish to keep aggressive, however we additionally wish to get youthful. 

“So it’s a challenge to be in position to have all three of those things, but we’re going to try.”

First, MacLellan should discover a new coach. The staff and Peter Laviolette agreed to half methods Friday — a call that MacLellan stated occurred sooner than anticipated. Washington deliberate to guage Laviolette’s future over the approaching days, although a cut up turned clear when MacLellan and Laviolette met for a dialog Friday. Laviolette, the coach of the Capitals the final three seasons, departs on an expiring deal and can probably be within the combine for different vacancies. 

When the Capitals final had a gap, MacLellan stated discovering a veteran coach was a precedence for Washington’s core. But the overall supervisor made no such declaration this time— telling reporters he’s “more open” to a wide selection of candidates. MacLellan stated he needs somebody who can work with Washington’s growing old core and mentor youthful gamers. “It’s going to be a challenge to find the right guy for that,” he stated. 

Beyond that, MacLellan made clear that upgrading Washington’s prime six is a precedence. The Capitals didn't get constant manufacturing from these like Evgeny Kuznetsov (12 targets), Anthony Mantha (11) and Nicklas Backstrom (7) — the latter of whom was coming off a critical hip damage and didn’t make his season debut till January. 

To add extra top-end expertise, MacLellan could need to be prepared to shake up Washington’s core. There are solely six gamers left on the roster from the Capitals’ 2018 Stanley Cup run: Ovechkin, Backstrom, Kuznetsov, Carlson, T.J. Oshie and Tom Wilson. 

Would he actually look to interrupt the group aside? 

“We’ll look at some things for sure,” MacLellan stated. “Sometimes making change just to make a change is not right, but we’re going to look for opportunities. … We would be more open-minded to opportunities that present themselves this year would be the way to put it for me.”

On Saturday, MacLellan and a number of other gamers stated the Capitals wish to get sooner subsequent season. By that, they don’t imply by way of simply pure skating velocity however reasonably how briskly they'll transfer the puck and make split-second selections. That’s one thing the Capitals struggled with this previous season because the staff completed twentieth in targets per recreation. 

“But gamers and MacLellan all appeared to share one opinion: the Capitals aren’t removed from having the ability to contend as soon as once more.

“The core group, the older guys that they’ve been the superstars for this team for so long and they still got game,” Wilson stated. “So, hopefully, we can switch a couple things up and, like I said, hopefully not too far from getting back to playing really good hockey.”

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