It's kind of weird that it seems like the Capitals have been quiet, but they've actually made quite a few moves since winning the Cup.
I think this must be because all the moves were just to re-sign their own players and none were really unexpected or controversial or interesting. Even the coach they hired already worked for them.
At the draft, they made no trades. They picked last, it barely seemed like they attended.
They Drafted Alexander Alexeyev 31st overall, a player who sounds like he escaped a Gogol novel.
He's a defenseman and there really isn't much known about him that doesn't sound like generic prospect talk. "He's a bit of a project but a potential sleeper' yayayaya.
The Capitals re-singed should-be bottom-pairing defenseman Micheal Kempny to an insane amount of term based off of an all-righ 40 game sample.
They failed to qualify and then surprisingly re-upped playoff Hero (and replacement level player) Devonte Smith Pelly.
They changed coaches in the most telegraphed move the NHL has seen since Brian Burke left the Ducks for the Leafs in 2008. They hired 'Old Reirdy' and are ready to rock again next year by defending their Cup win as a fringe playoff team.
They've got $8 million to spend, minus whatever they waste on Tom Wilson. The only way they've improved this offseason is to lose Brooks Orpik. Now, usually if you win the Cup you don't need to improve - you're the best.
But even the Capitals most hard-core fan knows they aren't the best. They were a team that vastly outperformed their statistics (impossible to do long term) and who happened to have their goalie get super-hot for the Playoffs.
The Capitals ironically won the Cup with the worst roster they'd iced in years, after being a contender and one of the NHL's best teams for almost a decade.
The fact that they did nothing to improve their team this summer is going to hurt them next year, and when they fail to score as often as they did last year, people will ask why, but it will have been obvious all along.
Brian McClellan should not have sat on his hands while everyone else in the NHL worked to get better.
Washington Capitals Blogger • 
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