# 2014–15 Washington Capitals season

The 2014–15 Washington Capitals season was the 41st season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 11, 1974.

## Off-season

Less than two weeks after the end of the Capitals' 2013–14 season, where the team missed the playoffs for the first time since 2007, the Washington Capitals announced that Head Coach Adam Oates was fired and general manager George McPhee would not have his contract with the team renewed. On May 26, 2014, the Capitals promoted Brian MacLellan to be senior vice president and general manager and named Barry Trotz their new head coach.
In July 2014, the Capitals signed several free agents, including former Pittsburgh Penguins defensemen Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik.

## Playoffs

The Washington Capitals entered the playoffs as the Metropolitan Division's second seed. They defeated the New York Islanders in the first round, and were defeated by the New York Rangers in the second round.

## Standings

Metropolitan Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | ROW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | p – New York Rangers | 82 | 53 | 22 | 7 | 49 | 252 | 192 | +60 | 113 |
| 2 | x – Washington Capitals | 82 | 45 | 26 | 11 | 40 | 242 | 203 | +39 | 101 |
| 3 | x – New York Islanders | 82 | 47 | 28 | 7 | 40 | 252 | 230 | +22 | 101 |
| 4 | x – Pittsburgh Penguins | 82 | 43 | 27 | 12 | 39 | 221 | 210 | +11 | 98 |
| 5 | Columbus Blue Jackets | 82 | 42 | 35 | 5 | 33 | 236 | 250 | −14 | 89 |
| 6 | Philadelphia Flyers | 82 | 33 | 31 | 18 | 30 | 215 | 234 | −19 | 84 |
| 7 | New Jersey Devils | 82 | 32 | 36 | 14 | 27 | 181 | 216 | −35 | 78 |
| 8 | Carolina Hurricanes | 82 | 30 | 41 | 11 | 25 | 188 | 226 | −38 | 71 |

## Schedule and results
### Regular season

2014–15 Game Log :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

### Playoffs

2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs :

## Player statistics

Final stats

### Skaters

Regular Season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Alexander Ovechkin | 81 | 53 | 28 | 81 | 10 | 58 |
| Nicklas Backstrom | 82 | 18 | 60 | 78 | 5 | 40 |
| John Carlson | 82 | 12 | 43 | 55 | 11 | 28 |
| Marcus Johansson | 82 | 20 | 27 | 47 | 6 | 10 |
| Mike Green | 72 | 10 | 35 | 45 | 15 | 34 |
| Troy Brouwer | 82 | 21 | 22 | 43 | 11 | 53 |
| Evgeny Kuznetsov | 80 | 11 | 26 | 37 | 10 | 24 |
| Joel Ward | 82 | 19 | 15 | 34 | −4 | 30 |
| Eric Fehr | 75 | 19 | 14 | 33 | 8 | 20 |
| Matt Niskanen | 82 | 4 | 27 | 31 | 7 | 47 |
| Andre Burakovsky | 53 | 9 | 13 | 22 | 12 | 10 |
| Karl Alzner | 82 | 5 | 16 | 21 | 14 | 20 |
| Jay Beagle | 62 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 6 | 20 |
| Brooks Laich | 66 | 7 | 13 | 20 | −2 | 24 |
| Jason Chimera | 77 | 7 | 12 | 19 | −1 | 51 |
| Brooks Orpik | 78 | 0 | 19 | 19 | 5 | 66 |
| Tom Wilson | 67 | 4 | 13 | 17 | −1 | 172 |
| Curtis Glencross$^†$ | 18 | 4 | 3 | 7 | −1 | 6 |
| Michael Latta | 53 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 68 |
| Jack Hillen$^‡$ | 35 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 10 |
| Nate Schmidt | 39 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −2 | 10 |
| Liam O'Brien | 13 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 23 |
| Tim Gleason$^†$ | 17 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 11 |
| Chris Brown | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Stanislav Galiev | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Chris Conner | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Aaron Volpatti | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Steven Oleksy | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 0 |
| Cameron Schilling | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Alexander Ovechkin | 14 | 5 | 4 | 9 | −3 | 6 |
| Joel Ward | 14 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 2 |
| Nicklas Backstrom | 14 | 3 | 5 | 8 | −3 | 2 |
| Evgeny Kuznetsov | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 8 |
| Jason Chimera | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 4 |
| John Carlson | 14 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 4 |
| Jay Beagle | 14 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Karl Alzner | 14 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 6 |
| Marcus Johansson | 14 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Matt Niskanen | 14 | 0 | 4 | 4 | −2 | 0 |
| Andre Burakovsky | 11 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Troy Brouwer | 14 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −3 | 10 |
| Brooks Laich | 14 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Brooks Orpik | 14 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| Mike Green | 14 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −1 | 14 |
| Curtis Glencross | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −5 | 2 |
| Tim Gleason | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −3 | 5 |
| Tom Wilson | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −2 | 25 |
| Eric Fehr | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 |
| Michael Latta | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −1 | 2 |

### Goaltenders

Regular Season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Braden Holtby | 73 | 72 | 4247 | 41 | 20 | 10 | 157 | 2.22 | 2044 | .923 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Justin Peters | 12 | 9 | 647 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 35 | 3.25 | 294 | .881 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Philipp Grubauer | 1 | 1 | 65 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1.85 | 25 | .920 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Braden Holtby | 13 | 13 | 806 | 6 | 7 | 23 | 1.71 | 412 | .944 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Philipp Grubauer | 1 | 1 | 60 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3.00 | 21 | .857 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Capitals. Stats reflect time with the Capitals only. $^‡$Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Capitals only. Bold/italics denotes franchise record.

## Notable achievements
### Awards

Regular Season :
| Player | Award | Awarded |
| A. Ovechkin | NHL Second Star of the Week | January 5, 2015 |
| A. Ovechkin | NHL All-Star game selection | January 10, 2015 |
| A. Ovechkin | NHL First Star of the Month | February 2, 2015 |
| A. Ovechkin | NHL Third Star of the Month | March 1, 2015 |

### Milestones

Regular Season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| L. O'Brien | 1st Career NHL Game | October 9, 2014 |
| A. Burakovsky | 1st Career NHL Game 1st Career NHL Goal 1st Career NHL Point | October 9, 2014 |
| A. Burakovsky | 1st Career NHL Assist | October 14, 2014 |
| L. O'Brien | 1st Career NHL Goal | October 26, 2014 |
| J. Chimera | 800th Career NHL Game | October 29, 2014 |
| M. Niskanen | 500th Career NHL Game | October 29, 2014 |
| M. Johansson | 100th Career NHL Assist | November 2, 2014 |
| A. Ovechkin | Capitals All-Time Franchise Points Record | November 4, 2014 |
| J. Beagle | 200th Career NHL Game | November 7, 2014 |
| A. Ovechkin | 400th Career NHL Assist | November 8, 2014 |
| A. Ovechkin | 700th Career NHL Game | November 26, 2014 |
| E. Fehr | 400th Career NHL Game | December 2, 2014 |
| J. Ward | 200th Career NHL Point | December 6, 2014 |
| B. Laich | 300th Career NHL Point | December 6, 2014 |
| T. Wilson | 100th Career NHL Game | December 11, 2014 |
| M. Johansson | 300th Career NHL Game | January 1, 2015 |
| N. Backstrom | 400th Career NHL Assist | January 27, 2015 |
| T. Brouwer | 500th Career NHL Game | February 3, 2015 |
| K. Alzner | 400th Career NHL Game | February 11, 2015 |
| J. Ward | 500th Career NHL Game | March 3, 2015 |
| N. Backstrom | Capitals All-Time Franchise Assists Record | March 15, 2015 |
| S. Galiev | 1st Career NHL Game | April 8, 2015 |
| B. Holtby | 20th Career NHL Shutout | April 8, 2015 |
| S. Galiev | 1st Career NHL Goal 1st Career NHL Point | April 11, 2015 |

## Transactions

The Capitals have been involved in the following transactions during the 2014–15 season.

### Trades

| June 28, 2014 | To Buffalo Sabres 2nd-round pick in 2014 3rd-round pick in 2014 | To Washington Capitals 2nd-round pick in 2014 |
| June 28, 2014 | To Winnipeg Jets 6th-round pick in 2014 NSH's 7th-round pick in 2014 7th-round pick in 2015 | To Washington Capitals Edward Pasquale 6th-round pick in 2014 |
| June 28, 2014 | To New York Rangers 4th-round pick in 2014 CHI's 4th-round pick in 2014 | To Washington Capitals 3rd-round pick in 2014 |
| February 28, 2015 | To Carolina Hurricanes Jack Hillen ARZ's 4th-round pick in 2015 | To Washington Capitals Tim Gleason |
| March 1, 2015 | To Calgary Flames 2nd-round pick in 2015 3rd-round pick in 2015 | To Washington Capitals Curtis Glencross |

### Player signings

| Date | Player | Contract terms (in U.S. dollars) |
| July 1, 2014 | Michael Latta | 2-years, $1.15 million |
| July 9, 2014 | Edward Pasquale | 1-year, $550,000 |
| July 13, 2014 | Nate Schmidt | 1-year, $625,000 |
| July 15, 2014 | Vitek Vanecek | 3-year, $2.3275 million entry-level contract |
| July 15, 2014 | Jakub Vrana | 3-year, $2.775 million entry-level contract |
| July 25, 2014 | Nathan Walker | 3-year, entry-level contract |
| September 9, 2014 | Cameron Schilling | 1 year |
| March 4, 2015 | Tyler Lewington | 3-year, entry-level contract |
| March 31, 2015 | Travis Boyd | 2-year, entry-level contract |
| April 17, 2015 | Riley Barber | 2-year, entry-level contract |
| June 2, 2015 | Garrett Mitchell | 2-years |
| June 15, 2015 | Philipp Grubauer | 2-years, $1.5 million |
| June 17, 2015 | Nate Schmidt | 2-years, $1.625 million |

### Suspensions/fines

| Player | Explanation | Length | Salary | Date issued |
| Tom Wilson | Diving/Embellishment during NHL Game No. 1057 in Minnesota on Thursday, March 19, 2015, at 14:45 of the second period. | – | $2,000.00 | March 27, 2015 |

## Draft picks

The 2014 NHL Entry Draft will be held on June 27–28, 2014, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
| Round | # | Player | Pos | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 13 | Jakub Vrana | L/RW | Czech Republic | Linkopings HC (Sweden) |
| 2 | 39 | Vitek Vanecek | G | Czech Republic | Bili Tygri Liberec (Czech Republic) |
| 3 | 89 | Nathan Walker | LW | Australia | Hershey Bears (AHL) |
| 5 | 134 | Shane Gersich | C/LW | United States | USA U-18 (USHL) |
| 6 | 159 | Steven Spinner | RW | United States | Eden Prairie High School (USHS–MN) |
| 7 | 194 | Kevin Elgestal | RW | Sweden | Frolunda HC (J20 SuperElit) |

### Notes

* $^a$ The Buffalo Sabres' second-round pick (from the Minnesota Wild originally from the Winnipeg Jets) went to the Washington Capitals as a result of a June 28, 2014 trade that sent a 2014 second-round pick and 2014 third-round pick to the Sabres in exchange for this pick.
* The Washington Capitals' second-round pick went to the Buffalo Sabres as a result of a June 28, 2014 trade that sent a 2014 second-round pick (from the Minnesota Wild originally from the Winnipeg Jets) to the Capitals exchange for a 2014 third-round pick and this pick.
* The Washington Capitals' third-round pick went to the Buffalo Sabres as a result of a June 28, 2014 trade that sent a 2014 second-round pick (from the Minnesota Wild originally from the Winnipeg Jets) to the Capitals exchange for a 2014 second-round pick and this pick.
* $^b$ The New York Rangers' third-round pick went to the Washington Capitals as a result of a June 28, 2014 trade that sent two 2014 fourth-round picks to the Rangers in exchange for this pick.
* The Washington Capitals' fourth-round pick went to the New York Rangers as a result of a June 28, 2014 trade that sent a 2014 third-round pick to the Capitals exchange for a 2014 fourth-round pick (from the New York Islanders originally from the Chicago Blackhawks) and this pick.
* $^c$ The Winnipeg Jets' sixth-round pick went to the Washington Capitals as a result of a June 28, 2014 trade that sent a 2014 sixth-round pick, a 2014 seventh-round pick (from the Nashville Predators) and a 2015 seventh-round pick to the Jets in exchange for Edward Pasquale and this pick.
* The Washington Capitals' sixth-round pick went to the Winnipeg Jets as a result of a June 28, 2014 trade that sent Edward Pasquale and a 2014 sixth-round pick to the Capitals exchange for a 2014 seventh-round pick (from the Nashville Predators) and a 2015 seventh-round pick and this pick.