GM: John Charles
Coach: Mike Babcock
Last season: 17th overall. Missed the playoffs.
Ins and Outs
(Season 16 to Season 17)
In: Mason Lohrie (draft)
Out: Dmitry Kulikov (free agent)
Potential Lineup
Kirill Kaprizov/Scott Conway/Sam Reinhart
Albert Sjoberg/Dylan Strome/Tomas Hyka
Dominik Kubalik/Kirby Dach/Jesse Puljujarvi
Joel Farabee/Nolan Patrick/Filip Zadina
Jamie Drysdale/John Klingberg
Anthony DeAngelo/Shea Theodore
Cody Ceci/Mattias Samuelsson
Jakub Kovar/Jeremy Swayman
A Question
What will it take to get the Capitals into Cup contention? Being in the tough Northern Conference has made Edinburgh feel like wee lads for a while now. But the wee Capitals have been lifting weights and working hard enough to post point improvements in each of the last four seasons. And they should continue to improve because more than a dozen starters aren’t that close to 30 years of age yet. They might contend for the Cup this season, but eventually, the Belfasts, Minsks, etc. have to run out of assets to trade, right? Don’t they? In the meantime, Edinburgh fans get to watch some of their longtime favorites like goalie Jakub Kovar who enters his 13th season in Scotland and his 12th as the main starter. His 3.38 goals against average last year was the fourth-best he has posted in his career and his best since Season 8. That was fun for him. At some point, Jeremy Swayman will take over the top job but the thousands of fans who own Number 1 Kovar jerseys can keep wearing them for another year or more. They can also don their Number 10 Conway jerseys because Englishman Scott Conway re-upped with the team for three more years. He has been the team’s leading scorer three of the last four seasons while centering the top line with Sam Reinhart and Kirill Kaprizov on his wings. But that line has taken a beating over that time, compiling an average plus/minus of -60.75 per season. The second line of Dylan Strome, Albert Sjoberg and Tomas Hyka put up much better plus/minus numbers last season (-7).
Rose’s Focus
“Things went fairly well for the Caps last year. They improved from the year before, moved up in the standings for the third straight season, and management was happy about that. How happy? They are going with virtually the same group of guys. The only subtraction is defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, who is 37 now. Thanks for the three years, Dmitry, but you are old and Russian. In your place, Edinburgh is going with 24-year-old Mattias Samuelsson, son of Kjell, nephew of Jan, brother of Lukas. I don’t think I’ve seen that many Viking-looking guys in Scotland since the monastery raids of around 800 AD. So why exactly is GM John Charles not making any moves at all? Why does he seem content? Like I said, they improved and the players are being rewarded for that. Edinburgh has no need to panic. Making wild trades and free agent signings doesn’t seem prudent to me because they have so much ground to make up in the impossible Northern Conference. Apparently Charles sees it the same way. One step at a time. Still, I marvel at the way this whole team acts relaxed about the upcoming season. They just smile, kid each other and go about their business regardless of the daunting uphill task ahead of them. But I guess if you are used to sitting outside in kilts, you get used to whatever comes your way. “
