By Joe Pohoryles For the Washington Capitals and Alex Ovechkin, it’s been a rough start to the 2023-24 season. The Capitals currently sit fifth in the Metropolitan Division at 5-4-1 and they take on the Florida Panthers tonight at 7:30 pm. The biggest news so far this season is Nicklas Backstrom stepping away from theContinue reading “Chasing Gretzky XX: Time to Panic?”
Tag Archives: Nicklas Backstrom
The Pohory-list: 2023 Top 25 Under 25
By Joe Pohoryles For the fourth year, we have an updated edition of Washington, D.C. sports Top 25 players under the age of 25. This list does not rank the potential of each player, but rather where each player currently stands based on their performance from the past year. A player’s talent, role on theContinue reading “The Pohory-list: 2023 Top 25 Under 25”
Recapping the Capitals Changing of the Guard in Net
By Joe Pohoryles The Washington Capitals have completed their revamp in the crease. After trading away Vitek Vanecek to the New Jersey Devils on July 8, and jettisoning Ilya Samsonov to the open market on July 11, the Capitals signed Darcy Kuemper and Charlie Lindgren to serve as the goaltenders for the foreseeable future. Vanecek,Continue reading “Recapping the Capitals Changing of the Guard in Net”
Chasing Gretzky XIII: Lowering the Average
By Joe Pohoryles Entering the first season of Alex Ovechkin’s new five-year contract, 33 was the magic number. To break Wayne Gretzky’s record in five seasons, Ovechkin would have to average 33 goals across each of those seasons. He’s now at 34 this season. For every goal he scores above 33 this year, the lowerContinue reading “Chasing Gretzky XIII: Lowering the Average”
Chasing Gretzky XI: Power Play GOAT + What’s Ahead
By Joe Pohoryles 275. Despite playing on what’s been the Washington Capitals’ worst power play in recent memory, Alex Ovechkin passed Dave Andreychuk to move into sole possession of first on the all-time power play goals list, with 275 in his career. Last April, I predicted Ovechkin would break that record 34 games into theContinue reading “Chasing Gretzky XI: Power Play GOAT + What’s Ahead”
Chasing Gretzky 8: The Final Countdown
By Joe Pohoryles Alex Ovechkin is here to stay! The Great 8 signed a five-year/$47.5 million deal that will pay him $9.5 million per year until the 2025-26 season. He’ll be nearly 41 years old by the end of the deal, which is a lot of term and money to dedicate to a player ofContinue reading “Chasing Gretzky 8: The Final Countdown”
Unpacking the Caps Protected List for the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft
By Joe Pohoryles The 2021 NHL Expansion Draft is coming in two days, and the Seattle Kraken will soon have their first roster of players. The protection list deadline for the rest of the league (minus Vegas, who is entirely exempt from the draft since being an expansion team themselves just four years ago) recentlyContinue reading “Unpacking the Caps Protected List for the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft”
First impressions from the Caps’ opening back-to-back
Capitals hockey is finally back, and the team now sits 2-0-0 after a back-to-back with the Buffalo Sabres to open the season. This was the team’s first action since getting bounced by the New York Islanders in the 2020 postseason. A sluggish, frustrating performance in the NHL bubble led to a lot of questions surroundingContinue reading “First impressions from the Caps’ opening back-to-back”
Assessing the Caps roster with the Chara, Sheary additions
With the additions of Conor Sheary, Zdeno Chara and possibly Craig Anderson, the Capitals are putting the final moves in place before the 2020-21 season begins. As it stands, the team is more than $3.5 million over the salary cap (according to CapFriendly), but more on the cap situation later. For now, Chara becomes theContinue reading “Assessing the Caps roster with the Chara, Sheary additions”
Instant Reaction to the Zdeno Chara signing
What is happening? Out of no where, it was announced today that longtime Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara is signing with the Caps on a one-year, $795,000 deal. The oldest team in the NHL just added the oldest active player, as the 43-year-old blue liner will come in and compete for time on the thirdContinue reading “Instant Reaction to the Zdeno Chara signing”
The Wildcard 