Hello,

With a decisive 4-0 loss to the NYI last night, the Washington Capitals have officially been eliminated from the 2020 postseason tournament.

I will first start off by giving Barry Trotz, his coaching staff, and the Islanders players all the credit in the world. They were the better team for the entire series and quite frankly, it wasn’t even close. The Islanders stuck to their identity and suffocated the Capitals everywhere on the ice all series. I absolutely love Barry Trotz. I could not be happier to see him continue to find postseason success, albeit with a division opponent in the NYI. When Trotz was the Capitals head coach, I would watch every minute of every interview he did with the media. I could sit down and listen to Trotz talk Caps hockey for an endless amount of time. He is steady, stoic, and calculated with his analysis and assessments. When Brian MacLellan + Caps upper management decided to part ways with Trotz after winning the Stanley Cup, I was very upset! How do you not find the money to pay the man who has easily been the best coach in the Ovechkin era, possibly franchise history? Trotz coached the Capitals to a 2nd place finish in the division in his first year and followed it up with three straight division titles + a Stanley Cup championship. Not keeping Trotz may be a worse decision than the Martin Erat-Philip Forsberg trade back in 2013. New head coach, Todd Reirden (former assistant to Trotz on the Caps) has been largely a disappointment. Yes, the Capitals have won two straight division titles under Reirden. Under the playoff microscope, Reirden has consistently failed to make adjustments throughout the two series he has coached. This year particularly, the players just did not look motivated and looked like they had no heart. That ultimately falls on the coach. I do not expect Reirden to be back next year, he is a better assistant coach in my opinion.

The Washington Capitals may have been the most overrated team this season. In 2019 (Oct-Dec), the Caps rode a blazing hot start to a league leading 59 points, ranked #1 in the league. For the remainder of the regular season, the Capitals went 14-11-3 for 31 points which was ranked 20th in the league during that span. So, what happened? The Caps struggled with goaltending, defense, and their power play continued to decline. I don’t think any Capitals fan thought this team had a real shot at winning anything considering how poor their play had been to finish the season. To be fair to Islanders fans, the Islanders also rode a hot start and a similar second half decline but were able to come out of the restart looking very sharp.

To make matters worse, the Capitals slept-walked their way through round-robin games and never really looked like they were in playoff mode. National media and Islanders nation may be quick to point out how the Islanders were able shut down the Capitals high-powered offense this series. Sure, I’ll give you that. But let’s be clear, the Capitals were struggling before this series. In the small sample size of round robin games, the Caps ranked 20th of 24 eligible teams with 1.67 goals per game. They ranked 23rd of 24 teams at 25 shots per game. They ranked 18th in the power play at 10%. Lastly, they averaged a 41% CF%. Yikes. The eye-test watching the games would say the Caps were disengaged, unmotivated, and lacking discipline. I have seen preseason games with more energy than some of these playoff games. This is on both the players and coaches.

So, are the Islanders really this good or are the Capitals just that bad? Honestly, it’s a little of both. The NYI are certainly playing at an elite level right now. They have a suffocating defense, the best coach in the league, and a strong core of tight knit players who are willing to go to battle for one another night in and night out. Whoever they get next round, I would imagine the series will go to six or seven games, but I am not sure they advance. I want to see them dominate a team who is actually playing well, then I will be all-in on the NYI hype train. Do I think the NYI beat up on an overrated, injured, and sleepy Capitals team? Absolutely. Nothing I have seen since the NHL restart has led me to believe the Caps were capable of competing with any team over the course of a playoff series. I honestly think the Caps would have lost to any team like NYR, FLA, TOR, CBJ had they got any of them too.

Looking towards the future, Todd Reirden will likely be gone, Holtby likely played his last game in Capitals uniform, and the roster will continue to age. Like Pittsburgh, the Capitals window is indeed closing. The next five years will likely be highlighted by Ovechkin’s chase for Gretzky’s goal scoring record rather than seriously competing for a cup. The Capitals are still elite and as it stands, will still compete for the division in the coming years but in typical Capitals fashion, the team will probably lose in the first or second round unless something drastic changes.

Thanks for reading
Go Caps!

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