Follow @james_tanner123 The Washington Capitals will finish up their horrifying pre-season today at 3pm with a game against the St.Louis Blues.
The regular season begins Wednesday, and the Caps will take to the ice Thursday for their first game against the Senators.
While the preseason is a meaningless tune-up, and no one should get too concerned with whatever happens in it, the Capitals eight goals in six games (half of those coming in their one victory) is slightly concerning.
Of even more concern, is that the Capitals have all but said they are putting Brooks Orpik into the top four. There are reasons to think a team with Ovechkin, Backstrom, Holtby, and Kuznetsov will be a good team, but that said, any team with Brooks Orpik in their top four has a good chance of missing the playoffs.
The Caps, who lost a ridiculous amount of talent over the summer, and couldn't replace it due to being right up against the cap, would love to get rid or Orpik and his ridiculous contract, but the fact that they couldn't even pay a team to take him tells you all you need to know about his usefullness as a top-four defenseman.
Even worse news than the Capitals eight goals in six games, is their three 5v5 goals in six games. Yikes. But, as much as that is concerning, I'd like to at least point out that the Caps are a veteran team used to being a contender, and that their players probably care very little about the preseason. I wouldn't be surprised to see them come out and score a bunch of goals on Thursday night.
It's not like you could get a much better opponent than the Senators, who should compete for next year's top draft lottery, and won't even have Erik Karlsson in the lineup to start the year.
Here is what the Capitals forward lines will probably look like on Thursday:
So, lines:
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) September 30, 2017
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Vrana
Burakovsky-Backstrom-Oshie
Connolly-Eller-Wilson
Chiasson-Beagle-DSP
Of concern is that what was formerly one of the best third lines in hockey now has fourth line player Tom Wilson on it. What was a strength is now an average, at best, line. The fourth line is bloody awful, and last year with Winnick, Beagle, Wilson it too was one of the best in the league.
I like the top six, but I fully expect to see T.J Oshie's game drop off a cliff when his crazy-high shooting percentage normalizes.
As for the defense, the top pairing is Orlov and Niskanen (good), the second pairing is Carlson with Orpik (who will decrease Carlson's ability to be good) and then there are four guys they'll use a combo of, Chorny, Djoos, Bowey and Ness.
What ended the season as the league's deepest defense group is now minus Shattenkirk, Schmidt and Alzner (who I'm no fan of, but he's still a decent #5/6).
What makes this even more problematic is that Ness and Chorny are terrible. Bowey could be good, and Djoos probably wouldn't even make the team if he didn't have to clear waivers to go back.
So good luck Washington!
While I don't want to predict a total disaster, I think this might be a fun year for the Penguins fans who love to show up in this blog and razz their rivals.