The Washington Capitals have been scuffling as of late, winning just three of nine games since the calendar flipped to 2022.
On Monday’s edition of The Daily Faceoff Show, Frank Seravalli and Ryan S. Clark welcomed Samatha Pell of the Washington Post to talk about where the Caps are at and how they might approach the trade deadline.
According to Pell, the Caps are in the mix for Marc-Andre Fleury, and she believes there’s more than a 50 percent chance they have a new goalie by the deadline.
Seravalli: I’m fascinated by the Caps and their season. They got off to such a strong start this year. I’m looking at their record since American Thanksgiving, and it’s 9-6-5. Give us an idea of where the Caps stand at this point.
Pell: They’ve kind of been in a little bit of a rut in January, just when you look in terms of the talent and the guys they have with Alex Ovechkin, Nick Backstrom and John Carlson.
They’ve just been missing a lot of guys in the lineup. I feel like that’s been the entire story for the entire season. All of these guys have been out except for Ovechkin. He’s the only Capital who has not missed a game this year.
Clark: When you look at where this team is, what’s the thought on what they could do heading into the trade deadline?
Pell: The first one is definitely a goalie. I think, as everyone kind of knows, the Capitals are in on Marc-Andre Fleury. I mean, every team probably should be at this point.
The Capitals definitely need a goalie. I’ve talked to some people who say, "Oh it looks like the Caps’ goalie situation is working, right?" You have two pretty solid records from each guy, but when you look deeper into the numbers they’ve given up a lot of goals in a lot of starts. The Capitals have had no consistency from that standpoint.
I would say at the trade deadline, it would definitely be a goaltender.
Seravalli: When you look at Washington’s goaltending, who would be the Caps’ Game 1 starter in the playoffs, in your mind, given where things stand and where Peter Laviolette goes with his goaltenders?
Pell: I would say if the playoff started tomorrow it would be Vitek Vanecek.
I think if we’re talking about trying to predict who the Capitals' starting goaltender will be when the playoffs actually come, there’s a 50 percent chance he’s not on this team right now.
The Capitals really have a pretty interesting goaltending situation. It’s just going to have to work itself out. I think the Caps made it very clear early on this season that they weren’t going to be naming a starter — it was going to be a hot-hand situation.
Seravalli: You mention there’s a 50 percent chance that Vanecek isn’t on the team come playoff time. Give us some insight on what you think that means. Did the expansion draft give you an indication of what the Caps think of his future with the team?
Pell: I think it’s more 50 percent that we could see a whole new goaltender in net for the Capitals come playoff time.
The Capitals exposing Vanecek in the expansion draft was because they have so much faith in Ilya Samsonov. He’s a first-rounder, and they really expect a lot from him. Heading into the season it seemed like Samsonov had the edge, but Vanecek won the starting job for the first couple of games even though the Caps gave him up in the expansion draft.
It’s just been really up in the air for Washington in net.
You can watch the full episode here…
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