State of the Capitals: Offseason Full Of Big Decisions For GM MacLellan

When Alex Ovechkin is on your team, the deck is never really stacked against you.

But after the Washington Capitals missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in nine seasons, saying that general manager Brian MacLellan has his work cut out for him this offseason is an understatement.

Following a sixth-place finish in the Metropolitan Division, MacLellan finds himself at a crossroads: he could attempt to retool, allowing the team to stay competitive and squeeze the last drops of juice from an aging roster, or he could embrace the team’s first lottery pick since 2014 and focus on the days ahead — not the days present.

Instead, he’s paving a new path — the one marked “all of the above.” It’s a move full of risk but if it works, could prolong a dynasty.

“We want to finish out a couple of careers of important players in our organization, and we want to stay competitive, but we also want to get younger,” MacLellan said last month. “It’s a challenging position to have all three of those things, but we’re gonna try it.”

Attempts to stay competitive started last month when the team parted ways with head coach Peter Laviolette, putting an end to his three-year tenure after a disappointing 2022-23 season.

It’s important to note that the Capitals are unlike most other teams looking for a new head coach. Anaheim and Columbus represent two of the youngest teams in the league, while the Capitals are one of the oldest. While the two teams possess the highest odds to pick first in this summer’s NHL Draft, the Capitals are already set with arguably the league’s greatest goal scorer.

Because of the team’s makeup, finding a coach who can effectively balance working with veterans and youth is a must.

“Our group’s changing,” MacLellan said. “We’re trying to get younger, we’ve brought in some younger players. It’s going to be different in that you want a coach that can work with young guys, and we’re gonna have a veteran group at the top that kind of needs a veteran coach. It’s going to be challenging to find the right guy for that. Probably a combination of what we’ve had would be the ideal candidate. I don’t know that we can find it, but we’ll do the best we can.”

Most of the team’s key contributors on the ice will return, and the Capitals stand to benefit as forwards Tom Wilson and Nicklas Backstrom, as well as defenseman John Carlson, rebound from injury-plagued seasons. Winger Connor Brown, who missed most of the season with a torn ACL, could also have an impact, despite being an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

NHL trade rumors continue to follow center Evgeny Kuznetsov, which could speed up a retool if seen to fruition. But MacLellan is pushing patience, a smart move as the Capitals could be one move away from Stanley Cup contention.

“Sometimes making changes to make a change is not right, but we’re gonna look for opportunities,” MacLellan said. “Opportunities present themselves in free agency and the trade market as we go towards the draft. We would be more open-minded to opportunities that present themselves this year would be the way to put it, for me.”

Washington Capitals Coach?

“We’ll see how it shakes out here. We’ll start looking at names and, with our group, talk about different coaches that people know and traits they have. Maybe we have to wait to talk to some assistant coaches that we think are candidates. We’ll see how it goes.”

On wanting a coach with experience: “Our group’s changing. We’re trying to get younger, we’ve brought in some younger players. It’s going to be different in that you want a coach that can work with young guys, and we’re gonna have a veteran group at the top that kind of needs a veteran coach. It’s going to be challenging to find the right guy for that. Probably a combination of what we’ve had would be the ideal candidate. I don’t know that we can find it, but we’ll do the best we can.”

“We’ll look at some things for sure. Sometimes making changes to make a change is not right, but we’re gonna look for opportunities. Opportunities present themselves in free agency and the trade market as we go towards the draft, so we would be more open-minded to opportunities that present themselves this year would be the way to put it for me.”