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Presently sitting at 11-10-4, the Washington Capitals are on the outskirts of the Eastern Conference’s playoff race. Thus far, new coach Barry Trotz hasn’t done very much to differentiate this season’s Capitals team from the mediocre iterations of years past.
Washington appears just about average in every way. The team’s offense is hovering right around the middle of the pack, perhaps a bit disappointing given dynamic talent like Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom being on the roster. Trotz hasn’t yet managed to instill the defensive focus of his Nashville teams; the Capitals are just outside the league’s bottom third in terms of goals against per game.
Expensive free agent signings back in July haven’t gotten Washington anywhere; Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen have not been difference-makers, and Orpik especially has looked like an egregiously bad investment. Braden Holtby has been just okay between the pipes, but the Capitals will need to rely on him heavily going forward since they lack an NHL-quality backup.
It is a bit disturbing to see so little tangible improvement in the nation’s capital. The Capitals are not short on high-end talent, but perhaps years of blaming coaching for the roster’s failures were misplaced. As time goes by and new supporting players cycle in and out of Washington, it seems more and more like this core of players simply isn’t good enough to get it done.
After hiring Trotz — a supposedly top-1o coach — the Capitals were expected to be better. That they are evidently the same unremarkable team as ever earns them a D for their performance so far in 2014-15.
Sean Sarcu is a Chicago Blackhawks writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter or add him to your network on Google.
