{"id":567002,"date":"2026-05-04T23:30:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T23:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/567002\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T23:30:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T23:30:20","slug":"3-burning-questions-washington-capitals-must-answer-in-2026-offseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/567002\/","title":{"rendered":"3 burning questions Washington Capitals must answer in 2026 offseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Washington Capitals (43-30-9)<\/a> came down to Earth after a spectacular 2024-25 season. Last season, they were the best team in the Eastern Conference during the regular season, but the Carolina Hurricanes<\/a> stunned them in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n

More: Auston Matthews emerges as early focus for Maple Leafs\u2019 new GM John Chayka<\/a><\/p>\n

This season, they earned that form at times, but far too often, they fell back into the mid-tier of teams. They went from the No. 2 offense in the NHL (286 goals for) to No. 15 (261). Logan Thompson<\/a> was still a beast in net, but he had to carry the Capitals most nights, as Charlie Lindgren<\/a> flopped as a backup. Now the Capitals have a potentially eventful offseason coming up.<\/p>\n

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Is this the end of the Alex Ovechkin<\/a> era?\"\"<\/p>\n

Alex Ovechkin is the best player in Capitals history already. He has the NHL record for goals, and even at age 40, he\u2019s still producing. He led the team with 32 goals and 64 points in 82 games, and there\u2019s a hope that Ovechkin could break 1,000 goals before everything is said and done.<\/p>\n

However, Ovechkin\u2019s contract expires after this season. It\u2019s an awkward situation, with rumors of his retirement growing rampant. \u201cI hope it\u2019s not my last game,\u201d Ovechkin said after the final game of the season. \u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen. So, we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

More: Former NHL goalie Devan Dubnyk flags major issue in Oilers\u2019 goaltending setup<\/a><\/p>\n

He has made it clear he wants to return to the Capitals. In his exit\u00a0interview with reporters<\/a>, he discussed what he wanted to hear from Capitals GM Chris Patrick when they met to discuss his future.<\/p>\n

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Ovechkin\u2019s answer: \u201cTwo more years. Here\u2019s your contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

More: NHL Stanley cup playoffs power rankings in round 2<\/a><\/p>\n

It seems like it\u2019s in Patrick\u2019s hands to negotiate a contract with Ovechkin. Hopefully, the long-tenured Capital winger can agree on a deal to ride out his final seasons in the NHL with Washington<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How do the Capitals replace John Carlson<\/a>?\"\"<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, John Carlson didn\u2019t get the same treatment as Alex Ovechkin. The Capitals shipped off Carlson to the Anaheim Ducks<\/a> for a first-round pick, and while it appears to be a win-win deal for both sides, it leaves the Capitals with a hole on their right side.<\/p>\n

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More: Coach Martin St. Louis lets his inner \u2018player\u2019 out after Canadiens\u2019 Game 7 win<\/a><\/p>\n

All things considered, they don\u2019t have a ton of weaknesses on their defense outside of that. Jakob Chychryn had a career season in 2025, and their defensive core is still one of the best in the NHL. However, they still might need a little bit of help on the right side.<\/p>\n

Darren Raddysh<\/a> should be their top target. The Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> defenseman had a breakout season, with 22 goals and 70 points in 73 games, and while some might find that unsustainable, the Capitals would be a great fit for him.<\/p>\n

More: Jon Cooper blames \u2018hockey gods\u2019 as Canadiens shock Lightning in Game 7<\/a><\/p>\n

They could also just re-sign John Carlson if he hits the open market. However, considering his great fit with the Anaheim Ducks, I doubt the Ducks let him go to free agency.<\/p>\n

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What does the Connor McMichael<\/a> extension look like?\"\"<\/p>\n

As it stands, the Capitals have a lot of budding young talent on their roster. They\u2019ve been able to draft incredibly well, to the point that even with most of the core from the 2018 Stanley Cup, they\u2019ve been able to stay in contention for a long time.<\/p>\n

More: Jon Cooper blames \u2018hockey gods\u2019 as Canadiens shock Lightning in Game 7<\/a><\/p>\n

However, they might need to give a pay raise to one member of that core: Connor McMichael. He\u2019s evolved into a great two-way second-line center who can earn minutes on the first line if need be. Even though he decreased his goal output from 26 to 14 this season, he is still a reliable playmaker and great in his own zone.<\/p>\n

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Safe to say, he\u2019s going to want a massive chunk of change, especially with arbitration eligibility. I imagine he\u2019ll probably gun for $7 million, but it\u2019ll probably be a little less than that. AFP analytics<\/a> suggest he could get around that number if the Capitals sign him to a long-term deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Washington Capitals (43-30-9) came down to Earth after a spectacular 2024-25 season. Last season, they were the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5114],"tags":[426,233,532,265,191,29,908,1601,2580,12269,1939,2217,5,281,907,11289,4,24,1469,100,168,157,92,413,190,109,5222],"class_list":["post-567002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-washington-capitals","tag-alex-ovechkin","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-auston-matthews","tag-canadiens","tag-capitals","tag-carolina-hurricanes","tag-charlie-lindgren","tag-connor-mcmichael","tag-darren-raddysh","tag-devan-dubnyk","tag-district-of-columbia","tag-eastern-conference","tag-hockey","tag-john-carlson","tag-logan-thompson","tag-mandatory-credit","tag-nhl","tag-oilers","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-stuart-skinner","tag-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-usa","tag-washington","tag-washington-capitals","tag-washingtoncapitals"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116518914462101512","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}