The Washington Capitals are still one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. They were looking to improve the roster, potentially acquiring Quinn Hughes. Hughes ended up being traded to the Minnesota Wild. While the Caps could not land the star blueliner, they still have options to improve the roster and continue to improve for the future.
The Capitals are 18-10-4 on the season, which places them third in the Metropolitan Division. They started the season slowly, opening up 8-8-2. They would then win nine of their next ten games to move back near the top of the division. Since then, the Caps have lost three of the last four, with two losses in a shootout. While the club is just two points behind the Carolina Hurricanes, adding a player like Hughes could have changed the look of the team.
The Capitals have struggled in two key areas this season. They are 16th in the NHL in powerplay conversion this season. Hughes has 12 powerplay points so far this year. While the defense for Washington has been great, second in the league in goals-against per game, the penalty kill has been bad. They are 27th in penalty kill this season. Adding Hughes would have made a major impact in both of those areas. This leads to the question, what should the Caps do next?
The Capitals need to add a forward
The Capitals are scoring well this year, sitting third in the NHL with 3.31 goals per game. That rate is also the best in the Eastern Conference this year. Regardless, the offense does not have a ton of depth. Tom Wilson leads the team in both goals and points so far this year. He has found the back of the net 17 times while adding 15 assists, good for 32 points. Meanwhile, Alex Ovechkin is second on the team in points. He has lit the lamp 14 times while adding 17 helpers, giving him 31 total points. Ovi's contract ends this year, and there is speculation that it could be his last season in the NHL, making the need for another forward even greater.
The next two highest scoring players are both from the blue line, with Jakob Chychrun and John Carlson. Dylan Strome and Aliaksei Protas are the next highest scoring players and the only other players over 20 points. Beyond not getting enough production from forwards, they have aging players doing much of the production. Ovi is 40, while Wilson is 31. Carlson will be turning 36 this year and is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.
The team is also dealing with a rash of injuries at the forward position. Nic Dowd just returned from injury at the start of the month. Pierre-Luc Dubois was injured early this year, and it is not clear if he will be returning this season. Meanwhile, Ryan Leonard is on IR and will likely be out of the lineup into the new calendar year. With a lack of depth, plus some of the talent aging, the Capitals need to focus on bringing in a forward.
Focus on young talent
The Capitals put together a solid package in an attempt to get Hughes. They were not willing to trade Leonard, who has been seen as a major part of the forward group for the future of the franchise. Still, they were willing to give up two first-round picks, Connor McMichael, Cole Hutson, and another prospect. McMichael has turned into a solid forward for the team and potentially a top-six forward. In 2023-24, he found the back of the net 18 times while adding 15 assists. Then, in 2024-25, he broke out with 26 goals and 31 helpers. This campaign, he has scored five times and added 12 assists.
That places the 24-year-old on pace for just 13 goals but 31 assists, bringing his point total to 44 points. He could be a major part of the forward group in the future and should continue to be developed. Regardless, the major part of the package would have been Hutson. The blueliner is the brother of former Calder Trophy winner Lane Hutson. The younger brother was the number 43 overall pick of the Capitaks in the 2024 NHL Draft. He is currently playing at Boston University and showing much of the two-way ability that makes a player like Hughes attractive. In 2024-25, he played in 39 games with 14 goals and 34 assists. He has played in 18 games so far this campaign, amassing 20 points. Huston also racked up 11 points in seven games at the 2025 World Juniors.
Another major part of the future will be Ryan Chesley. Chesley was the number 27 overall pick of the Caps in the 2022 NHL Draft. He was great in his time at the University of Minnesota, and also shared a defensive pairing with Lane Huston, winning the Gold Medal in the World Juniors in 2024 with the United States. Chesley has scored twice and added two assists so far in the AHL with the Hershey Bears. The team has a lot of talent in the pipeline, and developing that talent instead of moving the talent for a rental player is the right move for the future.
Maintain flexibility
Retaining a player like Hughes was going to be expensive. Not only was it going to cost draft capital and young prospects, but also likely be over $10 million AAV for a new contract. The Capitals have a lot of pending free agents and players who will need to be replaced. Currently, the Capitals are projected to have $36.5 million in cap space this summer. Ovechkin and Carlson could both come back, but that will likely cost $16 million. Meanwhile, Connor McMichael, Hendric Lapiette, and Bogdan Trineyev are all restricted free agents.
Beyond that, Sonny Milano, Brandon Duhamine, Ethen Frank, and Rasmus Sandin are all unrestricted free agents. Leonard will also be eligible for a contract extension next summer. Retaining everyone would take out the entirety of the free cap space. Unless they can find the right player at the right cost, the team is solid enough to add small pieces and focus on the future without players like Carlson and Ovechkin. That will require some patience from the front office, but it is something that needs to be done. While bringing in a player like Hughes would have been great, the cost to keep him in the division against his two brothers could have been too much. Missing out on the star player may have been a blessing in disguise.
