There may not have been a better story in hockey this decade than the 2017-18 Washington Capitals. A team that had been branded as chokers for years by the greater sports community finally broke through the seemingly endless desert of second-round exits and made it to the oasis of Stanley Cup glory. It was a spectacular year for both the team and a city that desperately needed some semblance of sports success after arguably being the worst sports town in America for decades. This team inspired joy, creating memories and legends for years to come. 

After finally winning the cup that had eluded the franchise since its inception in 1974, Washington decided to keep its core around and chase further championship glory rather than retool the team. Despite nearly the entire core sticking around for the few seasons that followed, Washington could never repeat its success, bowing out in in the first round the next four seasons. 

Even with its lengthy stretch of playoff failure, Washington’s front office made one last gasp at contention in the offseason despite it being obvious now that the team had hit its peak back in 2018. In the summer of 2022, general manager Brian MacLellan inexplicably threw a 5-year, $26 million contract at Staney Cup-winning goalie Darcy Kuemper when all signs pointed to contention being more of a pipe dream than a conceivable reality. With this move, the Capitals had faced down their own grave only to dig another 6 feet.

You didn’t have to look much further than Washington’s forward core to see the regression. Vaunted center Nicklas Backstrom went from a 6-year iron man stretch in which he never missed more than 7 games in a season to a player who couldn’t be counted on to play more than 50. Perennial 20-goal scorer T.J. Oshie saw his point totals sliced in half over a three-year span. First-line center Evgeny Kuznetsov staved off the regression for a bit, but came crashing down in 2022-23, scoring just 12 goals despite playing 20+ minutes in 81 total games. Even John Carlson, who had been one of the NHL’s premier defensemen for years, found his game and point totals careening to just 40 and 29 this past season.

All of the players that I just mentioned are on the wrong side of 30, and half of them are over 35 years old. Nearly the entirety of the team’s core has either faced major injury in the past two seasons or has seen severe drop-off in performance. It’s not a winning formula. Unfortunately, MacLellan has done nothing but show cowardice in a time where he should be bold. He builds the Capitals to be competitive, but cannot create a true contender.  

It also doesn’t help matters that Washington has 45.4 million dollars invested in players over the age of thirty, and all are signed for at least the next two years, with some of their contracts stretching out to 2026 and 2027. Even if MacClellan wants to completely dismantle the team now, he won’t be able to because the high-value players on the team are either too old or too injured to garner any value on the trade market. The team also can’t simply sit back and tank because they spent a vast amount of draft picks trying to extend a championship window that had all but slammed shut in their faces. 

While it’s good that Washington finally chose its direction after years of standing pat, it’s too little, too late for a core that has rapidly diminished in ability over the past few seasons. Washington is now in a state of limbo, kept competitive by their aging stars but never good enough to make it out of the first round of the playoffs. The team will never be good enough to seriously contend, never be bad enough to receive high draft picks, and never be free enough to pursue its own path due to the massive contracts anchoring the franchise down for at least the next two seasons. 

If this story is a lesson in anything, it’s in not waiting until the last second to choose your path. MacLellan simply chose to lie to himself for the better part of five years and will now suffer the consequences of endless mediocrity with no end in sight. Meanwhile, fans of the Capitals will be forced to watch the stars that once achieved championship glory age and atrophy until they call it quits or their contracts expire. Either way, it’s a grim situation for a team that will spend the next few years paying for managerial cowardice. For Washington, the only things to look forward to are a few more Alex Ovechkin goals and some old 2017 highlight reels. Once again, the district of Columbia receives no happy endings in the world of sports.