The Capitals are one of the oldest teams in the NHL. Has Father Time passed them by?

New season, same narrative: This year will finally be the one that the aging Washington Capitals miss the playoffs. 

That’s been the prevailing take on the Capitals the past few seasons, and this year is no different ahead of Washington’s opener Wednesday against the Boston Bruins.

“Washington, to me, is a team that could drop,” NHL.com’s Dan Rosen said on NHL Network Sunday. “There’s a lot of injuries, there’s age, there’s question marks there.”

That exact sentiment was common last year too. Many websites and projection systems had the Capitals missing the postseason. 

Instead, Washington started last year scorching hot (before severely cooling off in the winter) and made the playoffs for the eighth straight season (before losing in the first round for the fourth consecutive time).

Washington again sports one of the oldest rosters in the NHL. According to CapFriendly, only the Pittsburgh Penguins have an older opening night roster than the Capitals. The team’s graying, combined with injuries to Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson have some convinced that the Capitals’ Stanley Cup window isn’t just closing, it’s slammed shut.

But general manager Brian MacLellan still thinks his squad can “pull it off.”

“I think we’re one of those teams,” he said to open training camp.

Just like last year, the Capitals — playing in a highly competitive Metropolitan Division alongside the Rangers, Hurricanes and Penguins — don’t make the playoffs in most preseason projections. If that happens, it would be only the second time since 2008 for Alex Ovechkin & Co.

Sporting News has the Capitals finishing fifth in the Metro behind the aforementioned top three and the Islanders, who didn’t make the playoffs last season. Nine of the 15 NHL.com writers who made predictions online didn’t have Washington making the postseason. And while a plurality of The Athletic’s staff has the Capitals as a playoff team, 10% of the website’s writers believe Washington will be the biggest disappointment in the NHL. 

DraftKings Sportsbook gives Washington the 13th best odds to win the Stanley Cup at +3,500 — significantly worse than the +2,500 line before last year and the franchise’s worst odds since 2014-15. 

“I think there’s some vulnerability there,” NHL Network’s E.J. Hradek said in response to Rosen’s comment. “But I’ve got to tell you. I am tired of coming on these shows that start seasons with writing off the Capitals and Penguins. So I’m no longer going to do that. I am just going to say that they’re going to find a way to win games and find a way to be in the playoffs again this year.”

The calls for the Capitals’ demise aren’t unwarranted, though. There are legitimate reasons for concern. 

Washington ran out of gas last season, going 8-12-2 in January and February and losing five of their last six before falling in six games to the Florida Panthers in the first round. Their solid .610 points percentage (or 44-26-12 record) was the franchise’s worst since 2013-2014 — the last time the team missed the postseason. 

While Ovechkin, 37, continues to defy Father Time, that’s not the case for most players in their 30s. The Capitals have 17 players 30 years or older, including Ovechkin (37) T.J. Oshie (36) and Backstrom (35) on the wrong side of 30. 

The injuries coach Peter Laviolette has to navigate aren’t minor either. Backstrom, who has been hobbled the past two years due to a lingering hip injury, underwent invasive resurfacing surgery over the offseason and is expected to be out for a significant portion of the year. Wilson will likely return before Backstrom as he rehabs a torn ACL that he suffered in the playoffs, but the timeline given at the time of his surgery would keep him out until after Thanksgiving. And Carl Hagelin, a fourth-line winger with prowess on the penalty kill, underwent hip surgery on Monday and is still recovering from an eye injury that sidelined him to end last season. 

There are positives, of course. Ovechkin is coming off arguably his best statistical campaign with 90 points for the first time since 2009-10 as he chases down Gordie Howe for second on the all-time goals list. He has two new forwards to play alongside in Connor Brown and Dylan Strome. And new goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who is coming off a Stanley Cup with the Avalanche, will be a much-needed veteran in net for a team that’s struggled to get consistent play out of its goaltenders since 2019. 

“We’re still dealing with that injury part of it again for the start of the year like we did last year. But the acquisitions that Brian [MacLellan] made this summer I thought were really important for the group,” Laviolette told reporters last week. “You take two top nine, top six forwards [in Brown and Strome] and put them in the lineup when you’re missing two top six forwards [in Backstrom and Wilson], right away that really helps coming in. 

“And the change in goaltending … Darcy is a little bit different where he’s more experienced and he’s been one of the top goaltenders for five or six years in a row now.”