Washington Capitals

From the worst season in NHL history to a Stanley Cup

The Capitals entered the NHL as an expansion club in 1974 and produced one of the worst debut seasons the league has recorded: eight wins, 67 losses and five ties for 21 points, half the total managed by their fellow 1974 newcomers, the Kansas City Scouts. The team played at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland until 1997, when it moved into the Penn Quarter building now called Capital One Arena.

The first deep run came in 1998, when Washington reached the Stanley Cup Final and was swept in four games by the Detroit Red Wings. Six years later the franchise used the first pick of the 2004 draft on Alex Ovechkin, and the shape of the next two decades was set. Three Presidents' Trophies followed — 2009-10, 2015-16 and 2016-17 — each one a regular season that ended early.

The reckoning came in 2018, when the Capitals beat the Vegas Golden Knights in five games for the franchise's first Stanley Cup, and Washington's first championship in a major professional sport since the 1992 Super Bowl.

The record that had stood since Gretzky retired

On 6 April 2025, in the second period at UBS Arena on Long Island, Ovechkin took a pass from Tom Wilson on the power play and beat Ilya Sorokin with a one-timer for his 895th career goal, one more than Wayne Gretzky's mark of 894. It came in his 1,487th game; Gretzky had reached 894 in the same number. Washington lost the match 4-1, which nobody much minded.

Gretzky, at the ceremony on the ice, said records are made to be broken but that he was not sure who would get more goals than that. The rest of Ovechkin's ledger runs deep: nine Maurice Richard Trophies, and league records for power-play goals (331), game-winning goals (141) and empty-net goals (72). He now stands at 929 goals and 1,687 points in 1,573 regular-season games, with 77 goals and 147 points in 161 playoff appearances.

A season that finished three points short

The 2025-26 campaign was the first under head coach Spencer Carbery, hired in May 2023, that ended without a playoff berth, and the club's first miss since 2022-23. Washington was eliminated from the second Eastern Conference wild-card place in mid-April 2026 when Philadelphia beat Carolina in a shootout, finishing on 93 points — three short of the cut. T.J. Oshie had retired before the season began; John Carlson was traded away during it.

Ovechkin, then 40, led the team in both goals and points for the 21st consecutive season with 32 and 64, playing all 82 games. Wilson scored 30. Goaltender Logan Thompson won 31 games with a 2.44 goals-against average. General manager Chris Patrick, promoted in July 2024, said in late June that the club would pursue both forwards and defencemen once free agency opened.

The summer they spent like a contender

Patrick did what he said. The Capitals acquired Jordan Kyrou from the St Louis Blues for Connor McMichael, the 16th pick in the 2026 draft and forward prospect Milton Gastrin. A day later they landed Alex Tuch from the Buffalo Sabres and signed him to an eight-year contract worth $84 million, an annual cap hit of $10.5 million. When free agency opened on 1 July they added forward Boone Jenner on four years at a $5.75 million cap hit and defenceman Vincent Desharnais on four years at $4.2 million, retained right-shot defender Timothy Liljegren, and filled out the depth with Justin Holl, Jonny Brodzinski and Josh Dunne.

On 2 July the club re-signed its captain for a 22nd season: one year, a $1 million salary, a $3.25 million signing bonus and a $4.75 million bonus triggered at ten games played, for a $4.25 million cap hit. "I'm back! I'm healthy. I love playing hockey and competing to win," Ovechkin said. It will be his 18th year wearing the C, the third-longest captaincy in league history, and it makes him the longest-tenured athlete in Washington professional sport, passing Walter Johnson.

Four days later he framed the return around the roster rather than the milestones: on paper, he said, this is one of the best teams, and winning the Stanley Cup one more time was among the biggest reasons for coming back. Carbery spelled out the plan on 27 July — Kyrou to break defences down with skating and speed, Tuch for size, physicality and a role on both special-teams units, Jenner as the forward who can win a faceoff on the penalty kill and start a shift on any line. Carbery also brushed aside the question of stacking right wingers alongside Ovechkin, calling a switch to the off side a seamless one.

What the 2026-27 season looks like

This is the first 84-game NHL regular season since 1993-94: 42 home dates and 42 away. Washington opens on the road on 2 October against the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes, plays Tampa Bay the following night, and holds its home opener on Wednesday 7 October against the Pittsburgh Penguins at 7.30pm — the sixth time the Penguins have provided the opposition for a Capitals home opener.

The schedule includes two five-game homestands, from 14 to 28 October and from 14 to 23 February, a six-game road trip between 3 and 15 December, 14 sets of back-to-backs and a nine-day All-Star break from 4 to 12 February. Two Monday games start at 1pm for audiences outside North America. Connor McDavid visits on 28 December, Jack Hughes on 17 October and Connor Bedard on 30 March. If this is the captain's last year, his final home game falls on 4 April, again against Pittsburgh.

Rookie camp ran from 13 to 15 September 2026 at the McMullen Hockey Arena in Annapolis, Maryland, with Cole Hutson, Ilya Protas, Andrew Cristall and first-round picks Terik Parascak and Lynden Lakovic among the group. Veterans reported for physicals and off-ice testing on 16 September, with media day at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on 17 September. The pre-season runs from 20 September at Boston through a Hershey date against Philadelphia on 21 September, a home match with Boston on 25 September and a closer against the Flyers on 26 September.

A home rink being rebuilt around the team

Capital One Arena opened in 1997 and is in the middle of a transformation costing more than $1 billion, scheduled to be finished before the 2027-28 season. Phase two is the visible one: widened entrances on F Street and a 50,000 square-foot LED screen wrapped around the outside of the building. Monumental Sports compressed roughly six months of planned work into about 100 days so that this autumn and winter's hockey, basketball and concert dates could go ahead. "There's no other place to host events in the city, so this was our reality and we're making it work," said Jordan Silberman, Monumental's president of venues.

Renderings released in August 2026 show a "Visibowl" that opens sightlines from the concourses into the bowl, Center Stage bars and social areas, and a food hall on the terrace level, alongside new seats that are wider and have more legroom. Monumental and Capital One have extended the naming-rights agreement by 20 years. The street outside stays closed on event days.