Washington Capitals

For 15 years, Nicklas Backstrom has been among the Washington Capitals' leaders. The center broke into the NHL in 2007, and he immediately gave the Caps another top scorer alongside superstar Alex Ovechkin.

But several of Washington's core players are aging, including the 34-year-old Backstrom. And he's also been dealing with injuries. During the 2021-22 season, he was limited to 47 games because of a hip injury. The ailment still hasn't gone away, either, as Backstrom underwent surgery on his left hip last week.

Could the end of Backstrom's career be coming soon?

“I want to quit on my own terms and not be forced to quit because of injuries,” Backstrom told Gefle Dagblad's Daniel Sandstrom (h/t Magnus Cadelin of Russian Machine Never Breaks). “We’re looking for a solution at the moment, and I’m just looking ahead.”

But it seems highly possible that Backstrom's injury may impact when/if he'll play for the Capitals during the 2022-23 season. He still has three seasons remaining on his contract, though his health could dictate how much he plays over that stretch.

With the uncertainty now surrounding Backstrom, it's not surprising that there have been rumors of Washington potentially having interest in some top offensive players around the league. Even if the Caps get more out of Backstrom than they expect, it would help to have another top standout to lessen some of Backstrom's workload.

According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, there are already two players who could be on Washington's radar: Vancouver Canucks center J.T. Miller and Colorado Avalanche center Nazem Kadri (who will be a free agent this summer).

"I’ve heard Kadri’s name connected to the Capitals. I’ve heard Miller’s name connected to the Capitals," Friedman recently said on Donnie and Dhali – The Team (h/t Chris Cerullo and Ian Oland of Russian Machine Never Breaks). "I think Washington’s just starting to figure out, 'What are we going to do here?' I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the kind of guy that’s on their radar."

Kadri, a 13-year NHL veteran, is boosting his stock with a strong postseason for the Avalanche. He's tallied seven goals and eight assists in 15 playoff games, and the 31-year-old scored the game-winning goal in Colorado's victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night.

But Kadri was having a career season for the Avs even before their deep playoff run. In 71 regular-season games, he collected a career-high 87 points with 28 goals and 59 assists.

Miller is also coming off a big year, as he tallied a career-high 99 points on 32 goals and 67 assists (both career bests) in 80 games for the Canucks. The 10-year NHL veteran has spent the past three seasons with Vancouver, and he still has one more year remaining on his contract.

Although the Capitals would have to make a trade if they wanted to bring in Miller, it seems that may be something the Canucks would be willing to consider. TSN's Darren Dreger recently reported that Miller is one of the players Vancouver is "interested in listening" to offers for.

Miller is still only 29 (two years younger than Kadri) so he's a better potential target for Washington. So not only did Miller put up better numbers than Kadri this past season, but he could also be a stronger long-term fit.

However, Kadri would also be a great addition to the Caps' attack, especially with the valuable experience he's gained during the postseason. Washington has been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round each of the past four years, so it needs to bring in players who can help the team make deeper runs moving forward.

Either Miller or Kadri should be a strong fill-in for Backstrom, who could still play a role for the Capitals himself next season. But if the Canucks' asking price for Miller is too high, it may be better for the Caps to pursue Kadri in free agency.

Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin expressed frustration about his team's performance in its first-round playoff series against the Florida Panthers, which ended with the Caps' elimination after a Game 6 loss Friday night.

Ovechkin said the core group, which includes Nicklas Backstrom, T.J. Oshie and John Carlson, deserves blame for failing to advance.

"I think you see how we played against the best team in the regular season. We have it, but we just blow it away," he told reporters. "It is on us. It is on me, on Backy, on Osh, on Carly. It is on everybody. Kinda f--ked up situation."

Washington was the underdog in the series after Florida won the Presidents' Trophy as the top-performing team during the regular season with 122 points (58-18-6 record).

Yet, the Capitals gave themselves every opportunity to pull off the upset and just couldn't come up with enough key plays in clutch moments.

They won Games 1 and 3 to take an early advantage. Here's how the series played out for Ovechkin and Co. from that point forward:

• Game 4: allowed tying goal with 2:04 left in regulation, lost in overtime
• Game 5: led 3-0, lost 5-3
• Game 6: led twice, including early in the third period, lost in overtime

Backstrom agreed with Ovechkin's assessment of their first-round exit after Carter Verhaeghe sent the Panthers to Round 2 with an OT winner Friday.

"We basically gave the series to them," the veteran center said.

The Caps' disappointment is probably amplified because it's tough to know how much longer their championship window will remain open.

Ovechkin (age 36), Backstrom (34), Oshie (35), Carlson (32) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (29)—the team's top five scorers in the series—aren't getting any younger, and many of the club's depth players are also veterans. Martin Fehervary is the only member of the defense corps under 30.

In February, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic ranked Washington's farm system 26th out of the league's 32 teams, so it's unlikely a massive influx of young talent will be ready soon to provide a boost, either.

If the Capitals knocked off the Panthers, the door would have swung wide open for a deep run to hunt their second Stanley Cup title since 2018.

Instead, they're heading home with that future uncertainty lingering in the air.

Washington Capitals coach Peter Laviolette confirmed star forward Alex Ovechkin will be "good to go" for the team's Stanley Cup playoffs opener against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.

"Alex will play tonight," Laviolette told reporters. "To be honest, I haven't really noticed anything different. He was a full participant, he wasn't held out of anything and he competed at full-go."

Ovechkin missed Washington's final three games of the regular season because of an upper-body injury.

The 12-time All-Star's importance to the Capitals largely goes without saying. He led the team in goals (50) and points (90), and he has time and again risen to the occasion in the postseason. His 71 playoff goals rank second among active players.

#ALLCAPS Alex Ovechkin has scored 4+ goals in 11 of his 13 career postseasons. Only Wayne Gretzky has scored 4+ goals in more postseasons in #NHL history (12).

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) May 3, 2022

After finally lifting the Stanley Cup in 2018, Washington lost in the first round in three successive seasons.

This year could make it four in a row considering the Panthers' 122 points were the highest in the league. Florida is the odds-on favorite (+275; bet $100 to win $275) at DraftKings Sportsbook to win the Eastern Conference, with the Caps unsurprisingly listed as the biggest underdog (+1400).

Laviolette's squad has a tough road ahead in order to advance to the next round. Having Ovechkin back healthy will at least provide the Caps with a small source of hope that they can pull off the upset.  

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Washington Capitals superstar winger Alex Ovechkin is listed as day-to-day after suffering an upper-body injury during Sunday's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.  

Ovechkin suffered the injury when he took a hard fall in the third period:

Alex Ovechkin is out for the remainder of the game after taking this hard fall in the third period. pic.twitter.com/UbCpA6MfDg

— ESPN (@espn) April 25, 2022

The 36-year-old Ovechkin is one of the greatest goal scorers in NHL history, and he is in the midst of another spectacular season with 90 points on 50 goals and 40 assists.

Ovechkin is the most accomplished Russian player in NHL history, and few current players can come close to matching his resume.

In addition to receiving his 12th career All-Star selection this season, Ovechkin is a three-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner as NHL MVP, nine-time Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy winner as the league's leading goal scorer, one-time Art Ross Trophy winner as the NHL's leading point scorer and the winner of the 2006 Calder Trophy as NHL Rookie of the Year.

Ovechkin also led the Caps to a Stanley Cup win in 2018, and he won the Conn Smythe Trophy as postseason MVP that year as well.

Additionally, Ovechkin is third on the NHL's all-time goal-scoring list with 780, placing him behind only Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe.

Given Ovechkin's pure volume of shots on goal and goals, he is essentially an impossible player to replace when he is out.

It will take a group effort to make up for a potential Ovechkin absence with forwards Evgeny Kuznetsov, Tom Wilson, Conor Sheary and Lars Eller, as well as defensemen John Carlson and Dmitry Orlov all needing to step up offensively.

Even with Ovechkin in the lineup, the Capitals have had something of an up-and-down season.

They only have the eighth-most points in the Eastern Conference with 100, meaning they are a playoff team but haven't truly established themselves as Stanley Cup contenders.

Being without Ovechkin would make it all the more difficult to challenge for a title as well.

Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin scored twice in Wednesday night's 4-3 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights to become the oldest player in NHL history to reach 50 goals.

The 36-year-old winger passed Johnny Bucyk, who held the record at 35, and he also tied Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy for the most 50-goal seasons with nine.

"Obviously, it's pretty good company," Ovechkin told reporters. "Obviously, lots of great memories, locker room, everything, hotel. It's gonna stay here forever. Yeah, pretty fun moments."

Ovechkin scored early in the second period to give the Caps a 2-1 lead and found the net again with just over six minutes remaining in the third to tie the game and force overtime. Shea Theodore scored in OT to give Vegas a much-needed two points in the playoff race.

O-V
O-V
O-V pic.twitter.com/6HOoreOQZQ

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 21, 2022

Golden Knights head coach Peter DeBoer was in awe of how well the sniper continues to play.

"How good is Ovechkin? It's unbelievable," DeBoer said. "Two tonight, and he could've had another two. He looks like he's 25 years old out there. He's so dangerous."

The Russian, who tallied 52 goals as a rookie in 2005-06 and hasn't stopped scoring ever since, now has 780 career goals. That puts him within striking distance of Gretzky's all-time mark of 894.

Given how rapidly he's continued to light the lamp, tallying at least 48 goals in each of the last four full seasons, he's got a real shot not only to become the NHL's leading scorer but also to put some distance between himself and the rest of the field.

That would cap an already decorated career that will make him a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He's earned 12 All-Star Game appearances, won the "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the league's leading goal scorer nine times and captured the Hart Trophy as the NHL MVP on three occasions.

Ovechkin also helped lead the Capitals to the first Stanley Cup title in franchise history in 2018, earning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.

Washington has clinched another postseason appearance but faces plenty of competition in a deep, talented Eastern Conference field.

But first, Ovechkin gets a few more chances to add to his goal total with five games left in the regular season. Next up is a road game against the Arizona Coyotes on Friday.

The Florida Panthers came back to force overtime against the New York Islanders on Tuesday night at UBS Arena and needed only 20 seconds to win the game in the bonus period to record their 11th straight victory.

Captain Aleksander Barkov recorded a hat trick in the 3-2 win, and Jonathan Huberdeau moved one step closer to winning the Art Ross Trophy by taking over as the league’s points leader with 111.

The team talked about building up their overall game to what they want it to look like during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

"There have been some comebacks, some three- or four-goal comebacks, and that’s not the way we want to play," Barkov said. "But we’ve talked a lot about keeping games tight and not letting [opponents] score a lot. The last few games have been like that. The most we’ve given up is like three goals in the last few games, so I think we’re heading in the right direction.

"We just have to keep building, and there are still a few things we need to clean up. But we will."

There isn’t much for a team with a plus-100 goal differential to clean up. The Panthers and the Colorado Avalanche each have 116 points and are competing for the Presidents' Trophy.

Plus, Florida may be getting back defenseman Aaron Ekblad soon, as he skated with the team earlier in the day on Long Island. Meanwhile, Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog (knee) started skating with the team during its current road trip, as The Athletic's Peter Baugh showed.

The Avs and the Panthers are the favorites to hoist the Stanley Cup because they don’t have any glaring weaknesses. But what about the teams that do?

We’re nearing the finish line of the 2021-22 regular season. We have seen enough of the teams to be able to figure out their strengths and point out the red flags.

Let’s explore some of those red flags before the regular season concludes April 29.

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Tampa Bay Lightning: Failing to Play the Full 60 Minutes

Are the two-time defending champs slumping at the wrong time?

The lottery-bound Detroit Red Wings scored three goals against the Bolts in a span of 3:57 in the second period of their tilt Tuesday. This came after a dominant first period. Coach Jon Cooper later told reporters that he sees this as a recurring theme of sorts and wants it to end before the playoffs get underway.

"It's one of those games that we clearly beat ourselves, and it's becoming probably a little bit too much of our story in a game that I thought, after the first period, we had full control of, and we weren't satisfied and sticking with it," Cooper said. "Then you saw what happened."

In case you didn't see what happened, Cooper elaborated: "It was just odd-mans, breakaways, turnovers, and it's perplexing why some of these players that have been with us for a while—especially in Game 76—are continuing to do this. It's too bad."

It’s easy to take your foot off the gas when a playoff spot has already been locked up. This is also a team that can make up a big deficit quickly, but it will get tougher to do that in the postseason.

No one knows better than the Lightning the type of mental toughness it takes to win four seven-game series, but they haven’t shown a lot of that in a month wherein they have gone 4-4-2. Maybe some adversity is good for a team like this, but it’s far too late in the season to be trying to establish good habits and consistency.

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Boston Bruins: A Powerless Power Play

The Boston Bruins clinched a playoff spot Saturday with a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. But this is a team that's had its lapses as well.

There was a particularly bad loss to the Ottawa Senators earlier in April that exposed the dismal state of the Bruins' power play. Boston went 0-for-5 with the man advantage in that game and haven’t fared much better since, failing to score a power-play goal in their past two games. They're 0-for-27 on power play in their past eight games. 

The B's are ranked 15th in overall power-play conversion (21.4 percent), so you could say it's mostly been so-so throughout the season. And missing David Pastrnak doesn't help, either. He leads the team with 38 goals, 14 of which have come on the power play. Pastrnak’s signature one-timer from the left faceoff circle is a tough shot to save for a goalie who is trying to go from post-to-post.

However, the underlying metrics aren’t great: According to Natural Stat Trick Boston isn’t creating a ton of scoring chances on the power play.

A good power play isn’t crucial in the playoffs, but it's often the difference in close games. Facing a team like Florida, which averages more than four goals per game, will require all of the offense the Bruins can get. They need more from special teams.

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Carolina Hurricanes: Injuries

Much like the Avs, Panthers and maybe even the Calgary Flames, the Carolina Hurricanes don’t have any big weaknesses. They are known for their high-flying and high-volume offense, but they also limit chances on the other end effectively and have a potential Vezina Trophy candidate in net to bail them out.

However, the contender for that award, Frederik Andersen, has got hurt at the worst time. He went down with a lower-body injury against Colorado on Saturday in a game that was billed as a potential Stanley Cup Final preview.

It sounds like Andersen could be ready to return for the playoffs, with TSN and The Athletic insider Pierre LeBrun reporting that the goalie's MRI came back negative. But if Andersen is ruled out, then the team will have to go with backup Antti Raanta. No disrespect to Raanta, but there is a drop-off in quality between him and his teammate.

Captain Jordan Staal was also knocked out of that same game, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi is also out as well. It’s not uncommon for injuries to be aggravated at this time of year, but starting the postseason without a captain and a goalie would be a big blow for a favored contender.

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Minnesota Wild: 2-7-5 in Last 14 Games Against the St. Louis Blues

Looking at the standings, the likelihood that the Minnesota Wild face the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the playoffs is high. This isn’t a good matchup for Minnesota, which hasn’t shown that it can beat the Blues when it counts.

The best example of this might be the Winter Classic, when Jordan Kyrou spoiled a celebration of all things Minnesota with his four-point night. But the Wild were coming off of an extended COVID-19 pause, and an outdoor game is an easy one to look at as an outlier given the unusual elements teams have to deal with.

But this record of 12 losses in 14 tries dates back a few seasons. And the stakes are higher for Minnesota this year. This team has made it known that it is going for it. The Wild acquired reigning Vezina winner Marc-Andre Fleury at the trade deadline when they already had an All-Star goalie in Cam Talbot, partially because of Fleury’s postseason prowess. They also made moves to get tougher up and down the lineup, and they want to capitalize on high-scoring wing Kirill Kaprizov's prime.

Minnesota’s group is a little banged up as well, so health will be important, but the one thing it does have going for it is a favorable home schedule through the rest of the season.

The Wild play five of their last six regular-season games at home, and they have played well at Xcel Energy Center this season, going 27-7-2 in St. Paul.

If they continue their winning ways over the next week, they could secure home-ice advantage, which would be even more advantageous against a team they haven’t fared well against in recent years, especially when you look at Minnesota's record in St. Louis: 0-4-3 in the past seven trips to Missouri.

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Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins: Goaltending 

Each of these teams has a different situation in net, but they are grouped together since they all have red flags at the position.

Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry is "week-to-week" with a lower-body injury, but he was spotted wearing a boot in the team photo and riding a scooter around PPG Paints Arena by TribLIVE.com's Chris Adamski. If he's out for an extended period, Louis Domingue and Casey DeSmith will have a large net to fill considering how well Jarry has played this season (34-18-6, .919 save percentage).

Jarry’s playoff struggles have been well-documented, but he's considerably better than either DeSmith or Domingue.

Inconsistent goaltending has plagued the Washington Capitals all season, and their .903 save percentage is the worst among all teams that occupy a playoff spot. However, the Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings are barely above the .900 mark as well.

Jack Campbell has returned from his rib injury in Toronto, which is promising for the Leafs if he can recapture the form he showed during the first half of the season. In Edmonton, recently appointed head coach Jay Woodcroft hasn’t exactly fixed goalies Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen, but he does have the team playing much better in front of them.

All of these teams have had goaltending issues at some point throughout the season. The goaltending in Edmonton was one of the factors that led to the club dismissing coach Dave Tippett in February. It’s been the biggest problem in Washington, and it’s held back Toronto at times throughout the season.

Welcome to another edition of Dear Abbey. I don't give life advice like the real Dear Abby, but I do talk about hockey.

The trade deadline has passed, and we’re in the home stretch of the regular season with a month left to play. Things are getting interesting as the Western Conference teams battle for those two wild-card playoff spots and the Eastern Conference teams jockey for positioning. The teams on the outside of the playoff pictures can play spoilsport, which can be beneficial for the developing prospects to get some NHL experience. 

But this edition is about the playoffs. 

The way the Stanley Cup Playoffs are currently structured, regional and divisional rivalries are typically played in the first few rounds. This isn’t always ideal since it often leads to some of the best teams being knocked out early on, but it does make for some interesting storylines in the first and second rounds. 

This format has been around since 2014, and in that time the San Jose Sharks have faced the Los Angeles Kings twice in the first round and the Vegas Golden Knights once in the first round and once in the second. We’ve seen quite a few iterations of Washington Capitals-Pittsburgh Penguins and the memes on Twitter with pens next to pen caps that come along with it. 

So this week, we asked members of the B/R community what matchups they would most like to see in the postseason this year. The fans have spoken, and they want some new rivalry action, some tough-guy action and they really want to see the two Florida teams go at it. 

Here are five matchups readers would like to see. 

Boxing on Broadway

@jeff73883: Rangers-Caps. Let Reaves beat Wilson up. 

This was one of the more popular answers. To give some background, last year there was a debacle between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers that resulted in a three-day news story and a statement from the Rangers calling for the removal of George Parros, the head of the NHL’s department of player safety. 

Former New York general manager Jeff Gorton and team president John Davidson were also dismissed from their posts, and though the timing was suspect, it was never clear whether or not the two incidents were related. Either way, it was…a lot. 

During a post-whistle scrum in a late-season game, Wilson threw a helmetless Artemi Panarin to the ice and was only fined $500,000, which was an incredibly small amount for a repeat offender.

But the Rangers went out over the summer and got tougher. They're now better able to counter Wilson with Ryan Reaves, and it appears as though New Yorkers want to see some revenge. 

Wilson has always been an interesting case study because he doesn’t have to fight or play dirty. He’s a talented top-line winger and he’s extremely well liked in the Washington locker room. So well liked, in fact, that some people around the organization have said he could someday become a captain when Alex Ovechkin retires.

But Wilson seems to enjoy fighting. He’s an investor in a D.C.-area boxing gym called BASH Boxing because he enjoys their boxing/cardio interval workouts. 

Reaves, on the other hand, is very much what you’d expect from an enforcer: He’s a bottom-six grinder and an excellent fighter. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins have also been guilty of trying to get tough enough to counter Wilson and it came at the sacrifice of skill in the lineup. But the Rangers have a good balance of skill and toughness, especially since adding Andrew Copp, Tyler Motte, Frank Vatrano and Justin Braun at the trade deadline. 

Regardless of any fights, this would be an entertaining matchup between two Metropolitan Division teams in very different places: The Rangers are trying to end their rebuild, while the Capitals are trying to keep their window of contention open a little longer. 

For what it’s worth, Reaves also has an equally cool off-ice investment in a beer company, 7Five Brewing Co. Maybe they can all grab a stout after the playoffs. 

A Wild one in the Rockies

@jimjamflimflam: Wild-Avs. They legit hate each other. 

Hate is a very strong word for a matchup that has only been played in the postseason three times, especially since the two teams just did business with one another at the trade deadline, with Colorado sending Tyson Jost to Minnesota in exchange for Nico Sturm. 

Most professional athletes across all sports will tell you that rivalries are created in the postseason. Defenseman Drew Doughty once told me that the rivalry between the Kings and their Southern California rivals, the Anaheim Ducks, was entirely created by fans. 

However, the fans make a difference. The Kings and Ducks played one another for the first and only time in playoff history in 2014. It was an exciting seven-game series that featured an electric atmosphere. There was a solid mix of fans from both sides in both arenas, and Teemu Selanne ended his career to a standing ovation, drawing cheers from fans who had previously always rooted against him. 

The following season, Doughty was asked again how he felt about the rivalry. He said it had become an official rivalry because of that heated postseason series. 

So to make this Central Division rivalry official, we need it this spring. 

Both of these teams have been perennial also-rans in recent years, more or less. Minnesota has made 11 playoff appearances since the club’s first season in 2000-01 but has only advanced past the first round three times. 

Colorado was once a juggernaut and has recently been a favorite to hoist the Cup, but the Avs haven’t had great results in the playoffs. 

Both of these teams are going for it. Both of them are capable of going deep and will be good for the next few years. This could be the start of something contentious and something exciting. 

Getting After it in Alberta

@frankthetank95: BoA

@Zaphgod: Battle for Alberta

This used to be a fantastic postseason rivalry…back in the 1980s. The last time these two teams met after the regular season was in 1991. Connor McDavid, Johnny Gaudreau and, well, most of the two rosters had not yet been born. 

Maybe Mike Smith, Edmonton’s 40-year-old goalie, has some memories of that series. 

The Oilers have the best player in the world in McDavid but have not been able to build much around him. It’s been a roller coaster of a season in Edmonton, which, let’s be honest, is not uncharacteristic for the franchise. The club fired its coach, Dave Tippett, in February, and replaced him with their AHL coach Jay Woodcroft. The results have been positive, as the Oilers have gone 15-7-2 since the change behind the bench. 

The goaltending situation has been better as of late, but Smith and Mikko Koskinen haven’t exactly been the most reliable tandem in hockey, and general manager Ken Holland failed to land a goalie at the trade deadline. But the Anaheim Ducks slid from contention and traded away some top veterans to continue their rebuild and the Vegas Golden Knights are trying to stop their own skid, so the Oilers will (probably) secure a bid.

The Flames are on the upswing. They’re one of the top shot-volume teams at 5-on-5 and they create scoring chances at a high rate at even strength as well, they have a top-10 power play and goalie Jacob Markstrom has the fourth-best save percentage in the league. 

Darryl Sutter hockey is not the most exciting brand of hockey. It’s low-event with a lot of cycling, but it’s clearly still effective. The system is the star, and in this case, Sutter might be too. 

The story writes itself: He’s from Viking, Alberta, and still operates a cattle ranch there. It’s closer to Edmonton than Calgary, but this is his second stint with the Flames, so the fans love him. 

But while the mercurial Sutter can deliver some witty soundbites in the postseason ("Fly at 11" is still often repeated among Los Angeles media members), players can find him grating.

When things are going well, everyone gets on board. But even after the most dominant wins, he can be extremely critical, which is not great for morale and confidence and can cause players to tune him out. 

It’s the rising coaching star with the game’s biggest star against a grizzled, two-time Cup-winning veteran coach and a deep group trying to bring prominence to the prairie. This particular Battle of Alberta would not disappoint.

Sunshine Showdown

@joelguinand: Bolts and Panthers. It was a damn good series and I’m sure this year it would be even better. 

@hialeah1987: Bolts-Cats. It’s time to show Tampa that So Fla rules hockey in Florida now. 

This was the most popular matchup from the B/R community. And I agree with @joelguinand; it was a fantastic series last year. This is the Eastern Conference Final we deserve. 

The Panthers are averaging 4.06 goals per game. The forward group is exceptionally deep, but they’re also creating offense from the blueline. This team is loaded and playing in front of an elite goalie in Sergei Bobrovsky. 

The Lightning are still the champs until they aren’t. They are without some of the key role players who helped them win back-to-back Stanley Cups, but that hasn’t held them back because of the high-end talent on the roster, savvy coaching and strong player development. 

Tampa Bay and Florida haven’t exactly been neck-and-neck all season, but they’re close. The Lightning are eight points back of the Panthers and would almost certainly need to fall into the wild-card spots to play them in the first round. 

The Lightning already have a fervent fanbase in the Tampa Bay area, which happens when you win three Stanley Cups and establish a foothold in the market. But a series like this would help grow the game exponentially throughout the state. New fans, learn-to-play programs and other grassroots outreach are important in non-traditional hockey markets, and the exposure that a playoff series brings would help fuel those efforts on the eastern side of the state and in other parts as well. 

The Panthers have never exactly been a marquee franchise, but knocking off Tampa Bay in a conference final could change that. 

The Heavyweight Title Bout

@Ryst: Avs-Panthers. The ultimate “Did Giroux pick the right team” matchup

Former Flyers captain Claude Giroux used his no-trade clause to engineer a move to the team he felt he would fit with the best. The Panthers were the winners of the sweepstakes, despite interest from the Avs. So in this hypothetical scenario, after the Cats knock off the Lightning (in seven games, just to maximize the drama), they would take on the Avs. 

Things have worked out quite well for Giroux since the trade. He already has five assists in five games with the Panthers, four of them wins (3-1-0). For now, it seems as though he made the right decision. 

Colorado has somehow managed to stay dominant throughout the season despite injuries to several top players like Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog. But the good news is that MacKinnon returned to the lineup Thursday and talented young defenseman Bowen Byram is on an AHL conditioning stint, so there is hope that he can return after a series of head injuries. 

One could make the argument that these are the top two teams in the league right now, though you could certainly include the Carolina Hurricanes in the discussion. These are probably the two top contenders for the Cup Final, though, and the rosters are built to withstand several rounds of intense playoff hockey. 

As for Giroux, he’s a pending unrestricted free agent, so he'll have another decision to make following the season. The only decisions he’ll be worried about in a championship series are the ones on the ice, but it’s still a fun storyline.

The road to the Stanley Cup goes through Florida. That became even more apparent at the 2022 NHL trade deadline Monday. 

Whether or not the top team in the Eastern Conference comes from the gulf side of Alligator Alley or the East Coast side of the Sunshine State, the additions made by the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning have put the teams in prime position to play deep into the postseason and beat each other up in the Eastern Conference Final. 

The Eastern Conference playoff spots have been locked up for months. All that's left is to jockey for playoff positioning. All of the East teams got better, but they're all still chasing the two Florida clubs. 

The goal shouldn't be to get into the playoffs, it should be to win the Stanley Cup. Sometimes postseason experience can benefit young players, but oftentimes, if teams that aren't ready to contend for a Cup end up in the postseason, it only sets them back. Some clubs—such as the Anaheim Ducks—wisely understood that and decided not to buy to try to grab a wild-card spot. 

Instead, some of the Ducks' top players ended up on Eastern Conference teams. Will they be enough to make a difference? Did any franchise do enough to cross over into that contender territory?

Let's unpack some of the most impactful trades and see how the teams in the deeper of the two conferences stack up. 

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The Contenders: Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Carolina Hurricanes 

The Florida Panthers have pushed all of their chips to the center of the table.

Which, honestly, is what a team scoring more than 4.0 goals per game and leading the league in shot volume should do. Florida was marred by chaos in the front office and behind the bench for years, with the Panthers famously leaving coach Gerard Gallant at the curb after firing him in 2016.

Joel Quenneville resigned in October during the investigation of the Chicago Blackhawks' handling of sexual assault allegations from former player Kyle Beach, and Andrew Brunette has deftly guided the team to the top of the conference. 

The Panthers already have elite talent at nearly every position, but the rich got richer with the additions of defenseman Ben Chiarot and forward Claude Giroux, who is having an All-Star season. The former Flyers captain used his no-trade protection to engineer a deal to the Panthers.

"I’m here to win. I’m here to help the team win," he told reporters in his opening press conference. "I think this team has a great chance to go far in the playoffs."

For the second year in a row, the biggest nemesis for the two-time Stanley Cup champions in Tampa was the salary cap. But still, Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois found a way to maneuver around it and make additions.

Brandon Hagel cost first-round picks in 2023 and 2024 and rookie forwards Boris Katchouk and Taylor Raddysh, but he has two years on his contract before restricted free agency, which basically means four years of team control.

The club is hoping he's its 2022 version of Blake Coleman, the under-the-radar power forward it acquired from the New Jersey Devils at the 2020 deadline. They also brought in forward Nick Paul from the Ottawa Senators and fit him under the cap thanks to his previous club's willingness to retain 44.5 percent of his salary, per ESPN.

The Carolina Hurricanes only made one notable deal, acquiring Max Domi right at the deadline in a three-team trade with the Panthers and the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Columbus sent Domi and a 2022 sixth-round pick (which was previously acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs) to the Panthers for defenseman Tyler Inamoto, and then traded Inamoto to Carolina for defenseman Aidan Hreschuk, while Florida sent Domi to the 'Canes for Egor Korshkov.

Are you following yet?

Even if you're not, what you need to know is that the all-offense Domi will be moved to the wing, which is probably where he's most effective. The question is whether he can get along with coach Rod Brind'Amour, considering his issues with coaches Claude Julien and John Tortorella. 

These teams didn't need to make big moves, but they did because good clubs use the trade deadline to get better. 

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Could Make a Run: Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins 

Not only did the Toronto Maple Leafs fail to address their goaltending situation, but they also lost Harri Sateri on waivers. However, Petr Mrazek cleared waivers, so it's status quo for Toronto in net, though not for lack of effort.

Toronto GM Kyle Dubas had conversations with the Blackhawks about Marc-Andre Fleury, and they were leaked to the media, which he was clearly unhappy about. 

“I’m disappointed that that conversation is public,” Dubas said of Darren Dreger's report. “I’m not criticizing you, I’ve just never had that before where these specifics like that have been made public. I think, frankly, that’s probably a conversation to ask Kyle Davidson on his availability in Chicago.”

However, they did address a big need on the blue line by bringing in Mark Giordano and added to the forward depth with Colin Blackwell in a trade with the Seattle Kraken. 

A Toronto native, Giordano isn't exactly isn't in his prime at age 38, but he's still an effective, respected defenseman, and it reunites him with his former Calgary Flames defense partner, TJ Brodie. It was a necessary move with Rasmus Sandin (knee) and Jake Muzzin (concussion) injured.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins made big improvements thanks to Anaheim. Defenseman Hampus Lindholm was traded to Boston and subsequently signed to an eight-year deal. The Bruins gave up a lot to get Lindholm, and for good reason—the 28-year-old is a mobile puck-mover with two-way abilities and was the top defenseman on the market. 

They also kept Jake DeBrusk, who requested a trade earlier this season. Nothing materialized after they had discussions about moving him, and they extended his contract for two years at $8 million.

"I’ve been having discussions on Jake for months. Today wasn’t any different in terms of where teams thought he fit into their group and what they were trying to do," general manager Don Sweeney said. "Some teams were down the road on other things, and we’ll pivot back maybe. But it doesn’t really matter at this point. Like I said, sent a clear message to Jake and he sent one to us, that he just wants to play hockey. Bottom line is he knows he’s an important part if he plays to his capabilities, he’s going to help us and help himself."

The Penguins added Rickard Rakell, which gives the forward group a big weapon. He creates a lot of offense off the rush and is a responsible defender. He's scored 30 or more goals twice, though he's coming off a few down seasons. Some of that can be attributed to the Ducks' rebuild, and the 28-year-old should return to his old form with better linemates around him.

The biggest issue for the New York Rangers was depth. They boast a star-laden roster, but it had a steep drop-off in talent from the top two lines to the bottom two. First-year GM Chris Drury addressed that by adding Frank Vatrano, Andrew Copp and Tyler Motte.

Veteran defenseman Justin Braun takes the pressure off rookie Braden Schneider. With salary-cap issues looming in the next few years, Drury did what he could to bring in rentals without sacrificing too much talent from an exceptionally deep prospect pool.

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The Pretenders: Washington Capitals

The Washington Capitals brought back Marcus Johansson, who played seven seasons in Washington, in a trade with the Seattle Kraken. General manager Brian MacLellan likes his familiarity with the system and the personnel.

"He knows our power play really well, he can come in and he's comfortable right away, in my mind," MacLellan said. "He knows how guys play, he knows what he can do to play with them. That was attractive in our mind. We'll work it out. We'll see what works in the lines, the coaches will have him, try him with different guys and see what role he can play with us."

But the problem with the Capitals is their goaltending. It's shaky at best, as Ilya Samsonov has underachieved, Vitek Vanecek was out with an upper-body injury and the team has filled the gaps with Zachary Fucale and Pheonix Copley. The Caps aren't the only team with questions in net, and the best defense in the NHL is offense, which the Caps do have. 

You could say the Leafs or the Bruins belong in this category, and you could make the argument that the Caps don't belong here. It's such a deep conference. Any of these teams could be capable of making a run, or they could get eliminated in the first round, like Tampa Bay in 2019.

There is plenty of time for teams to integrate their new players and plenty of time for things to go wrong, so let's drop the puck on the rest of the season. 

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Advanced statistics via Natural Stat Trick. Salary-cap info via CapFriendly unless otherwise noted.

Only Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe have scored more career goals than Alex Ovechkin.

The Washington Capitals left-winger scored his 767th career goal during Tuesday's game against the New York Islanders. He passed the legendary Jaromir Jagr for third on the NHL's all-time list with a go-ahead goal against Washington's Metropolitan Division rivals.

Goal No. 767 🏒

Alex Ovechkin passes Jaromir Jagr for third on the NHL’s all-time career goals list. pic.twitter.com/t5xQs8hFWJ

— ESPN (@espn) March 16, 2022

Passing Jagr in anything is a notable accomplishment.

After all, his resume includes two Stanley Cup titles, five Art Ross Trophies, three Ted Lindsay Awards, one Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy and eight All-Star Game selections. He played for 10 teams in his 24 years in the NHL.

The star who also led the league in points five different times had a message for Ovechkin:   

A very special congratulations from Jaromir Jagr to Alex Ovechkin (plus a little surprise at the end). 😉 pic.twitter.com/HGgSlqRTaQ

— NHL (@NHL) March 16, 2022

Unlike Jagr, Ovechkin has been with the same team throughout his career. He has led the league in goals nine times in 17 years and entered Tuesday's game with 71 points on 36 goals and 35 assists in 58 contests.

Ovechkin is a Stanley Cup winner with three Hart Memorial Trophies, one Calder Memorial Trophy, three Ted Lindsay Awards and one Conn Smythe Trophy.

He has remained productive at 36 years old and has the Capitals poised to compete in the playoffs once again.

Washington entered Tuesday's game in the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot and a comfortable 11 points ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets. As long as Ovechkin continues scoring goals at a historic pace, his team is once again a threat to make a deep playoff run.