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Second Half Storylines to watch:

January 27, 2020, 12:52 PM ET [3 Comments]
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Second Half Storylines to watch:

1. John Carlson Racing for the Norris and 100 points
- After a blistering start to the season, Carlson is currently the favorite for the Norris trophy. His 13G, 47A – 60 points is best in the league. The next closest in points is 41 by Hedman and 39 by Keith Yandle. Dougie Hamilton wont be returning anytime soon. It truly is Carlson’s award to lose. Carlson will continue to get point opportunities. He is 5th in the league in TOI/G, he serves as the quarterback of a potent powerplay that includes the Ovi Office, and he also plays pivotal PK minutes. He will get his chances! It will be interesting to watch and see if he can reach 100 points. Last time this happened was 1991-92 by Brian Leetch of the NYR. He is averaging 1.22 points/game which is exactly on pace for 100!

2. Ovechkin's Quest for 700 Goals and Beyond – It seems like every other game Ovechkin passes another all-time great goal scorer. He currently is tied for second in the league with 34 goals and is on pace for 50. If he achieves 50, that will put him at 708 goals and tied for the most 50 goal seasons of all-time (9). At 708 goals he would be tied with Mike Gartner for 7th all time career goals. He continues to set and break record every other night. It is important to just take a step back and just appreciate we are blessed with the opportunity to watch the greatest goal scorer ever on a nightly basis. Bust out your popcorn cause this chase for Gretzky’s record will get interesting as the years come.

3. Braden Holtby and Ilya Samsonov – Leading into the All-Star Break, Samsonov had five starts compared to Holtby’s four for the month of January. It is no secret Holtby has struggled this season...BIG TIME! While Holtby has struggled, Samsonov has exceeded his already high expectations as a former first round draft pick back in 2015. He leads the entire NHL in GAA. I believe Samsonov deserves more starts but maybe in a 60-40 split moving forward. Holtby obviously will need reps to find his groove. A similar situation occurred in 2018 when they won the Stanley Cup. If you can recall, Holtby struggled in the months leading up to the playoffs. Philip Grubaur was playing well and got the nod against the Blue Jackets in the first round. Grubaur played mediocre but the team found themselves down 0-2 heading to Columbus after back to back OT defeats. Holtby started game three and never looked back. He was amazing the rest of the playoffs. He even had what NHL.com considered the “Save of the Decade” in game two of the Stanley Cup final. Braden Holtby has the 6th best playoff SV% of ALL-TIME. If there is any goalie in the league who can shake their regular season struggles, it’s Holtby. Who does Rierden throw in net for a playoff game one if Holtby continues to struggle the rest of the season?

4. Presidents Trophy Race –It is always great to win the presidents trophy and have home-ice + last change in a majority of games for a playoff series. However for this team, id personally like to do without that. Historically the Capitals have not fared well after winning the award. I believe the Capitals would not do well with the pressure and expectation that comes with being crowned the best regular season team. This is just the pessimistic fan in me that is bias from previous playoff disappointments that accompanied the award in the past. The Capitals post a league’s best 18-6-1 away record and is more than comfortable play road games. The crowd in DC is easily rattled in big playoff games IMO.

5. Trade Deadline – The team is pretty much set on offense. The third line is finally clicking and the fourth line is arguably the best fourth line in the league. The defense is where it gets a little more suspect. There are a few question marks that could potentially be exploited in a playoff series. Nick Jensen has struggled off and, on this season, and is somewhat of a liability. I am not exactly sure how it would look given the Capitals tight Cap space ($748,491) but I wouldn’t be surprised if the team looks to add a depth defenseman. Unless they move someone off their books, the most the team can only afford for a player is $1.8million. ($1.8mil / 82 games x 33 games remaining = $724,390) 33 games is about the average amount of games remaining for most teams. There simply are not a lot of guys like that out there for that price. The Capitals may be better off calling up some of the a talented prospect from the Bears. Fehervary has played well and looked solid in his limited NHL time at the start of the season.

6. Other Storylines to Watch – Some smaller but bigger picture storylines to keep an eye on are the following:

-Can Jacob Vrana keep up his personal best goal-scoring season?

-Will the third line continue to improve?

-Will the fourth line continue to produce?

-Will the power play find its groove?

-Will the team stop taking penalties?!



Did I miss anything? I appreciate your comments and feedback!

Brian S
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