Plagued by injuries, Capitals finish season hoping for better results in 2023-24
Plagued by injuries, Caps hope for better results in 2023-24 originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
WASHINGTON — The Capitals’ season is over.
Scoreboards showing a final score of 5-4 in favor of the New Jersey Devils bade fans at Capital One Arena farewell Thursday night, marking the end of an eight-year run of consecutive seasons in which the local hockey team reached the playoffs. Washington finished the campaign 35-37-10, a far cry from the heights the franchise has climbed over the last two decades.
Much like they had all season, the Capitals suited up for their season finale down several key players. They showed some fight against a team hoping to leapfrog the Carolina Hurricanes into first place atop the Metropolitan Division, jumping out to a 3-0 lead before the Devils mounted a comeback and pulled out the win in overtime.
“We had a nice lead,” center Dylan Strome said, who finished the season with career highs in goals (23) and assists (42). “They kind of just had a good push and we couldn’t really fight back. So, it’s kind of the way the year has gone. We had some good moments and some not-so-good moments and that’s why we’re here.”
Injuries plagued the Capitals all season. They played just four games with the six remaining players from their 2018 Stanley Cup-winning roster all in the lineup. Tom Wilson missed 49 games. Nicklas Backstrom was out for 43. John Carlson landed on Injured Reserve twice and missed 42. T.J. Oshie finished the year on the shelf with 24 absences. Even Alex Ovechkin, who has enjoyed historic durability throughout his career, was out of the lineup for nine games.
“Our job on a daily basis is to coach what we have, [for] players to play with what we have and not the what ifs or what we don’t haves and there was still opportunity, I feel like, regardless of who’s in the lineup in certain games,” head coach Peter Laviolette said.
“We were there, we were close and it got away from us and so it’s nice if you get that chance to be healthy year-round. Obviously, it was a grind and a tough year but I still felt like we had players on the ice that could be successful and win and we weren’t able to get that done.”
As the Capitals shift their sights to next season, they have the opportunity for a longer offseason than usual for players to rest up and recover from their ongoing ailments. Backstrom and Wilson, both of whom spent all last summer rehabbing from major surgeries, will be able to go through their normal offseason routines. Carlson will put further distance between him and the frightening skull fracture that sent him to the hospital in December.
The Capitals’ season didn’t go the way they hoped. With some better luck on the injury front, they’ll look to bounce back in 2023-24 and finish the campaign with one of their own crooked numbers staring down from the scoreboard.
“Well, be healthy first of all,” Ovechkin said of what he hopes for out of the Capitals next season. “You know, we gonna have lots of time to think about yourself personally. Get some rest, get some recover because lots of guys hurt. Some guys play through injury and we just have to recover to get better till next year.”
