The Washington Capitals look like serious contenders

The important signs for a Stanley Cup contender are there. They just need a little more help.

The on-the-fly transformation of the Washington Capitals over the past three years remains one of the most impressive feats of front office work in the NHL in recent memory.

It was during the 2022-23 season that they looked like a team with a bleak short-term (and long-term) future after an extended run of success near the top of the league. They missed the playoffs, had the second-oldest roster in the league and had not won a playoff series in four years. It seemed like it was just going to be their time to rebuild or re-tool.

Even though they bounced back with a playoff appearance in 2023-24, it was mostly done with smoke-and-mirrors and a late-season surge that was in no way sustainable. Instead of sitting on their hands and being satisfied with that, the Capitals spent the summer of 2024 making a series of bold moves that added some major contributors to their lineup, while also welcoming in a new wave of younger talent to the roster.

At a time when everybody was probably looking at them as a team in need of an extensive rebuild, the Capitals leaned in the complete opposite direction. They were not ready to willingly become bad. It has, so far, paid off in a big way.

Aliaksei Protas and Connor McMichael became regular contributors (and good ones) through the farm system. Ryan Leonard is joining them this season.

They completely overhauled their defense with the additions of Rasmus Sandin (end of the 2022-23 season), Jakob Chychrun and Matt Roy, giving them a blue line that is now one of the most productive in the NHL offensively.

They traded for Logan Thompson, who has been one of the best goalies in hockey since his arrival in Washington.

They took a chance on Pierre-Luc Dubois bouncing back, and then reaped the benefits of him doing exactly that and giving them a matchup, two-way center that could also score.

Most of their NHL roster moves were home runs.

The result was a team in 2024-25 that was not even among the 10-oldest teams in the league, won 51 games, had a significantly better process than the previous team and won their first playoff series since their 2018 Stanley Cup. While the 2023-24 team looked like a fluke, the 2024-25 team looked legit.

Now that we are more than a quarter of the way through the 2025-26 season, this team looks even better than last year’s in a lot of areas, even if the record has not yet matched it.

A lot of the boxes you want to check off for a contender are there, and more help could — and should — be on the way.

Let’s talk about it.