The number one seed Washington Capitals were beaten 2-1 last night by eighth seed Montreal Canadiens in game seven of the Stanley Cup first round series and now how the rest of the offseason to ponder what could have been.
The Caps team that won the Presidents Trophy after collecting the most points in the regular season and were hyped as the top contender for the Cup in 2010 gave up a 3-1 series lead on the "Habs", an original six franchise that is probably the most decorated in league history but hasn't won hockey's biggest prize since 1993.
The Capitals were plagued in the postseason by star player Alexandre Semin's vanishing act (0 goals and 2 assists while leading the NHL in the playoffs with 44 shots), an ineffectual power play (1 for 33 in the series), and in the last three games, a brick wall of a goaltender by the name of Jaroslav Halak (131 saves on 134 shots in that span).
The Canadiens move on to play Capitals' rival Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. The Capitals will have to decide what direction to take the franchise in the offseason. Do they dismantle and overhaul the roster? Fire coach Bruce Boudreau?
In my opinion, they shouldn't do either of these things. These players are still young and have several great years of hockey ahead. Coach Boudreau has coached many of them up from the minor leagues as coach of the Hershey Bears so they already know his system and how to execute it. This team seems to have great chemistry and could probably use only minor tweaks to the roster at this point.
The first thing they must do is resign Nicklas Backstrom. The talented 22 year old Swedish center is a restricted free agent this offseason. The second thing General Manager George McPhee must do is find a defensive veteran leader in free agency. Adding a player like Scott Niedermayer or Sergei Gonchar, both of whom are available, could go a long way in helping to develop youngsters Mike Green and John Carlson. Finally, the team needs to figure out what their plan is for next year at the goalie position. They can resign free agent Jose Theodore but would probably be better off letting him go in order to free up salary cap space. If that's the case they can opt to bring in another free agent on the cheap or decide to rely on prospect Michal Neuvirth. Either way, Semyon Valamov should start next year.
It was a great year for the Washington Capitals with a tremendously disappointing finish for the team and fans. But after the initial pain wears away and the media frenzy over the next couple weeks quiets down, looking ahead to next season is going to seem pretty bright I think.
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