The Capitals also traded for forward Andrew Mangiapane (Calgary Flames), defenseman Jakob Chychrun (Ottawa Senators) and goalie Logan Thompson (Vegas Golden Knights), and added defenseman Matt Roy (six years, $34.5 million; AAV of $5.75 million AAV) and forwards Brandon Duhaime (two years, $3.7 million; AAV of $1.85 million) and Taylor Raddysh (one year, $1 million) in free agency.
Where everyone fits will be determined during training camp along with whether forward T.J. Oshie will play after being hampered by a back injury the past two seasons.
Regardless, Washington expects to have a deeper lineup than last season, when it finished 40-31-11 and surprised many by qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs as the second wild card from the Eastern Conference. If the Capitals exceeded expectations in Carbery’s first season, he warned it will be more difficult this season.
“Whatever the outside world has us pegged at percentage-wise of making the playoffs -- and I’m not shy to say we don’t have many believers again this year -- it’s important that we know two things,” Carbery said. “One is we are not going to catch anybody off guard. Teams are going to know, ‘OK, this is a team that caught some teams maybe off guard last year. They were a playoff team. We need to be ready to go tonight.’
“And two is we need to get better in a bunch of areas, especially offensively.”
Washington was 28th in the NHL in scoring 2.63 goals per game last season. Acquiring Dubois, Mangiapane and Chychrun could help. Mangiapane scored 14 goals in 75 games last season, but the 28-year-old had an NHL career-high 35 goals in 82 games with the Flames in 2021-22.
Chychrun will add another element to the Capitals defensemen, who were 31st in the NHL with 20 goals scored at the position last season, ahead of only the Chicago Blackhawks (19). The 26-year-old had 14 goals in 82 games with the Senators last season.