The encouraging news is that the Washington Capitals are showing everybody, including the Bruins, that a quick, successful NHL roster retooling can be done.
The Capitals enjoyed an extended run as one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, culminating with Barry Trotz leading them to a Stanley Cup in 2018. However, age, roster turnover and some shaky decisions had left them treading water since hoisting that Cup. They followed the Cup win with five straight first-round exits in the playoffs that included some pretty infamous scenes of players squabbling on the bench when things began to go sideways, including falling in the first round to the Bruins.
Then in the last few years the Capitals had devolved into a borderline wild card playoff that actually missed the playoff cut altogether a couple of seasons ago in Peter Laviolette’s final season guiding the Caps.
That all sets up to this season where Washington improved to 48-17-9 with a 4-3 win over the Bruins at TD Garden on Tuesday night, a victory that included Alex Ovechkin scoring career goal number 891 and former Boston College standout Ryan Leonard making an impressive NHL debut with Washington.
When Cam Neely and Don Sweeney reference a retooling effort with the Bruins once this lost season comes to a close, the example of the Capitals is exactly what they are pointing at as Ovechkin, Tom Wilson and John Carlson remain foundational building blocks. The retooling included drafting some talented young players like Connor McMichael (2019 first-round pick, 25th overall) and Allaksei Protas (2019 third-round pick, 91st overall) in a 2019 NHL Draft class that’s becoming an impact group, but also smartly utilizing trades and free agent signings to further augment the core group.
A big moment in that roster regroup was Washington’s somewhat surprising decision to trade away Garnet Hathaway and Dmitry Orlov to the Bruins at the end of the 2022-23 NHL season when the Capitals ended up missing the playoff cut. The Capitals used the first-round pick acquired from the Bruins to land solid defenseman Rasmus Sandin and ended up using their own No. 8 overall pick in that draft on Massachusetts native Leonard, who made a solid NHL debut on Tuesday night.
The Bruins have to hope they can hit in the same kind of way with what looks like a surefire top-10 first-round pick that’s coming their way.
The signing of Dylan Strome, who scored the big go-ahead goal in Tuesday night’s win, has paid big dividends for the Capitals, as has trading for well-traveled veteran players Pierre Luc-Dubois and Jakub Chychrun. Dealing Nick Jensen and a third-round pick to Ottawa for Chychrun, in particular, was a major coup for the Capitals after the 27-year-old defenseman posted 20 goals and 46 points along with a plus-20 rating in his first season playing for Washington.
Generally speaking, though, it’s been about making a number of good, solid decisions on the NHL roster across the board by Washington GM Brian MacLellan that’s raised the team profile back to what it used to be at the top of the Metro Division.
“Obviously they have a collective buy-in of what they’re doing there as a group, and that’s important,” said Joe Sacco. “You just look at the way they play. They play hard. They’re a big, heavy, strong team and they play to their identity. They have an identity, and they stick to it. Typically, when you do that, you can have success.”
Interesting, Sacco said after the game that young B’s forward prospect Fabian Lysell was purposefully held out of the game against the Capitals because of the rugged style of play Washington consistently employs.
The same Capitals-style turnaround could happen in Boston if the Bruins opt to build around Jeremy Swayman, David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm while using their salary cap space, a trove of draft picks and free agency/trades wisely. One would expect that Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm are going to be part of that retooling as well, but Lindholm, in particular, is going to need to be a lot better coming off a very disappointing first season.
Certainly, there have been some acquired players like Marat Khusnutdinov and Henri Jokiharju that have done well with the opportunity given to them at the NHL level in Boston and may get a chance to stick around to be part of the turnaround plan.
But that’s just the top of the iceberg for getting the Black and Gold back to a prideful, well-rounded and deep roster that’s going to be a tough out.
“We have our work to do,” admitted Sweeney to Boston.com a couple of weeks ago. “There’s no question we have some areas we need to address moving forward. We’ve got some guys that are getting a hell of an opportunity, as I referenced earlier. I think it would be better if we were healthy to have a complete understanding of how the puzzle is going to fit. … But we have to do a better job of supporting and bringing players around that are going to play the identity of what this fanbase expects and get back on track.”
Another big part of the Capitals' turnaround has been the hiring of 43-year-old Spencer Carbery as head coach, a former assistant with the Providence Bruins and a candidate for the vacant Bruins head coaching position in 2022 that eventually went to Jim Montgomery. Carbery has done a good job getting buy-in from veterans like Ovechkin and Wilson as well as shepherding along youngsters like Protas and McMichael, and that’s exactly the kind of synergy from a young, energetic and innovative head coach that the Bruins will be searching for in the offseason.
Could Jay Leach, an assistant on the B’s staff and another of those candidates for the B’s head job in 2022, be that guy for the Black and Gold?
The hope is that there will be room on staff for Sacco as an experienced associate head coach should he choose to stay with the Black and Gold, because he’s done an excellent job with a tough hand dealt to him after replacing Montgomery.
But it feels fairly obvious, amidst the current nine game losing streak, that more significant change will be coming for the Bruins this offseason, and the Washington Capitals are a shining example that a diligent, coordinated retooling can be exactly the kind of thing needed for a team like Boston at their present-day crossroads.