Capitals’ future darkens after latest first-round playoff exit

The Washington Capitals, who have not won a postseason series since the 2018 Stanley Cup Final, move into another unsettled offseason after the New York Rangers unceremoniously swept Alex Ovechkin and Co. out of the playoffs Sunday night.

Ovechkin remains the key ingredient in any hypothetical reformulation or overhaul, but the Russian will be 39 years old at the start of the 2024-25 season. The 12-time All-Star struggled against New York, failing to record any goals or assists in four games. It’s the first time in Ovechkin’s career that happened in a playoff series.

He has two seasons remaining on his contract, which he has implied will be his last in the NHL.

The three-time MVP is 42 goals shy of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL scoring record. He found the back of the net 31 times this season — Ovechkin would likely need to keep scoring when he’s 40 years old to have a shot at the record.

“I hope I’m still going to get a couple more chances,” Ovechkin said Sunday, when asked if he was worried that this would be his final trip to the playoffs.

The Capitals will have to sort out their priorities: Will they look to scrape toward more playoff trips for their aging superstar? Or will they pivot to the future, allowing Ovechkin to chase history on a losing team?

Owner Ted Leonsis has said that the Capitals will not rebuild as long as Ovechkin is in town.

“I’m sure there’ll be an influx of some young players, but we’re not gonna rebuild the team,” Leonsis said in December 2022. “To me, a rebuild is when you look the players, the coaches, the fans in the eye and say we’re gonna be really, really bad. And if we were really, really bad, I don’t think Alex would break the record.”

At this past trade deadline, the Capitals looked like an organization preparing for a rebuild. They traded away Anthony Mantha, Joel Edmundson and Evgeny Kuznetsov in exchange for draft picks. The franchise now holds 26 selections in the next three drafts.

Few players remain from the 2018 Stanley Cup squad. Much of Washington’s organization is primed for a reset, but building a contender is typically a years-long process. Without a top pick in this year’s draft and the fourth-least cap space in the league, the Capitals’ path back to a championship would likely wait until Ovechkin’s retirement.

But the foundation of the next-gen Capitals, including young players like Hendrix Lapierre and Connor McMichael, grew stronger in 2024. Eight Capitals players had their first taste of playoff hockey against the Rangers.

“I think for me and the young guys playing four games at this level and seeing what it’s all about — playing in away buildings, at home, managing different situations — I feel like it helps a lot,” the rookie Lapierre said Sunday. “It was intense. It was just how we dream of playing when we’re kids.”

First-year coach Spencer Carbery led the team back to the postseason after they missed the playoffs in 2023. He says he’s already thinking about how to get back here.

“I don’t care what our scenario: rebuild, youngest team in the league,” he said. “It will not matter to me, and we will never be satisfied if we ‘gained experience,’ ‘made the playoffs.’ Because to me, that’s a loser’s mindset.”

Washington’s farm system ranks 20th in the league, according to The Athletic. Ryan Leonard, last year’s first-round pick, announced that he will return to Boston College next season and delay his professional debut by another year. There aren’t any young players in the pipeline ready to make a game-changing impact.

Though the future is murky, several Capitals players sounded hopeful after a dour end to the season.

“I’m proud of this group of guys,” Ovechkin said. “We’ve been through lots of injuries, trade deadline, but we stick together and it showed the character of this group and that experience that the boys have this year, it’s going to help.”