Washington Capitals Odds

For the first time in franchise history, the Washington Capitals finally overcame years of playoff failures and won the Stanley Cup. The Capitals, who were founded in 1974 as an expansion team alongside the Kansas City Scouts, have also won two conference championships and three President Trophies for most points in the regular season. Since purchasing the team in 1999, Ted Leonsis revitalized the club by drafting star players such as Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green and Braden Holtby.

The Washington Capitals are currently coached by Spencer Carbery, who took over in 2023 after Peter Laviolette and the team mutually agreed to part ways. The Capitals have one Stanley Cup championship in their history, won in 2018 under coach Barry Trotz.

Star player Alexander Ovechkin remains the team’s captain and still leads them in goals, though at age 38 his production has declined. The Capitals’ roster has seen some turnover in recent years but still features key core players like Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and John Carlson.

In 2022-23, the Capitals missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014, finishing sixth in the Metropolitan Division. They will look to return to the postseason in 2023-24 with a mix of aging veterans and young players like Hendrix Lapierre and Aliaksei Protas. The team plays its home games at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.

There’s always a little more pressure on the Capitals when they play one of their seven Metropolitan Division rivals — especially those they have some playoff history with like the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers.

The NHL regular season generally runs from October to April, with each team playing 82 games. Each team plays either four or five games against the other teams in its division as well as playing all non-divisional teams in their own conference three times. The remaining games of the season are inter-conference play, allowing every team in the league to play every other team twice.