How Do Capitals Stay Competitive Next Season? I BMitch & Finlay

WJFK-FM / 106.7 The Fan

JP asks Washington Capitals analyst Craig Laughlin what the team needs to do in the offseason to stay competitive in 2025.

Transcript

00:00I was really impressed last year by kind of, you know,

00:04they're in a tricky spot because they were trying to rebuild

00:08and give Ovi a chance at the record at the same time.

00:12And maybe rebuild's too strong of a term, but like, you know what I mean?

00:16They were trying to, they kind of had like competing agendas

00:20that they were able to merge, which was really hard to do.

00:23And I think some of these young dudes, Protus, Chikarin,

00:27like a lot of these dudes that will only continue to get better,

00:30I think gives them a real chance at keeping the window alive with Ovi.

00:36You know, does that make sense?

00:38I think so. Yeah, I think that makes sense.

00:40I think, you know, there's never now, remember guys,

00:43you can't say rebuild in Washington anymore.

00:45We're not in that mode.

00:47We want to continue to have a chance to win.

00:50And the mandate is let's spend to the cap.

00:52Let's get the best players.

00:53Let's put the best product on the ice and let's go for it.

00:56And that's what they did this past summer.

00:58It was amazing what they did in about a week in June to put this team

01:02into a playoff position, number one, to push them into the second round,

01:06number two, and to push them into the situation where they have a lot of good

01:11young players.

01:13Their stable is very good.

01:15So now they've got to make decisions on who they bring back.

01:20Are they going to bring back Bovillier?

01:21Are they going to bring back Maja Pawnee?

01:24Are they going to bring back X, Y, and Z?

01:27To me, that's the $10 million question.

01:30How are they going to work through those type of things?

01:32Plus, they have some guys coming up on contract next year, like a Connor

01:35McMichael.

01:36He's still, you know, he had a bridge deal.

01:38So now he's going to probably want big dollars after the season he had last

01:42year.

01:42So you've also got to work the cap.

01:44But the guys they brought in and signed long-term, like a Chikran, like a Protus

01:49that still signed long-term because he jumped on the opportunity for a five-year

01:52deal, they probably got him at a steal after you saw that he was a 30-goal guy.

01:57Can they replicate that?

01:59That's my question.

02:00Can they get the same type of stellar goaltending?

02:03It's going to be a tough season next year.

02:06Everyone's going to have them marked down as one of the top teams in the league now.

02:10And how do you get over the hump next year just to get into the playoffs in a

02:14very parody-driven league like we have now in the NHL?

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