Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington , D . C . They are members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) . Since their founding in 1974 , " The Caps " have won one conference championship to reach the 1998 Stanley Cup Finals , and captured six division titles . In 1997 , the team moved their home hockey rink from the suburban Capital Centre to the new Verizon Center in Washington ' s Chinatown neighborhood . Former AOL executive Ted Leonsis has owned the team since 1999 , and has revitalized the franchise by drafting star players such as Alexander Ovechkin , Nicklas Backstrom , Mike Green , and Alexander Semin , and head coach Barry Trotz . The Capitals won Presidents ' Trophy 2 times for the league ' s best record during the regular season . History . The bleeding era . The Capitals joined the National Hockey League as an expansion team for the 1974 - 75 NHL season , along with the Kansas City Scouts . Originally , they were owned by Abe Pollin who also owned the Washington Bullets of the NBA . He had a new arena built in Landover , Maryland , a suburb of Washington , in order to house both the Caps and the Bullets . With Milt Schmidt as the franchise ' s first general manager and Jim Anderson as its first head coach , the Caps made their debuts in 1974 . With the NHL hastily planting new teams in new cities in order to counter the World Hockey Association , who were acting similarly , a shortage of highly skilled players had to be expected . The Atlanta Flames and New York Islanders had previously had to deal with such a shortage two years before ; by the time the Caps and Scouts arrived , the situation was even worse . As a result , both teams were filled with players who , for the most part , lacked professional experience ; this situation was obviously a disadvantage against the sixteen other teams in the league . As a result , the Capitals ' inaugural season was a real nightmare . Dreadful even by expansion standards , the Caps finished the season with a dismal 8 - 67 - 5 record , good for 21 points , far and away the worst record in the league . Even their fellow Scouts , who were all but stellar themselves , could still manage twice as many points during that time . The . 131 winning percentage still holds as the all - time NHL ' s worst winning percentage in history . Among the other sad records they established , were the record for the most road losses ( 39 out of 40 ) , most consecutive road losses ( 37 ) and most consecutive losses . If the first two records still last as of today , the latter was tied by the 1992 - 93 San Jose Sharks . Coach Anderson said : " I ' d rather find out my wife was cheating on me than keep losing like this . At least I could tell my wife to cut it out . " Anderson stepped out before the end of the season ; Milt Schmidt found himself replacing him behind the bench late in the season . 1975 - 76 was barely better than the previous . With 25 straight games without a win and a 394 goals against record , the Capitals were en route to a 11 - 59 - 10 record , good for 32 points . Max McNab was hired as GM during the season , and Tom McVie took the coaching job . Greg Joly , the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft ' s first pick overall , who was expected to become a franchise player , failed to live up to the expectations and was dealt to the Detroit Red Wings after the season . Washington fared little better during the next few seasons ; they would alternate between dreadful seasons and promising ones where they ' d finish just a few points out of the playoffs . But this era , no matter how futile on the ice , had one bright spot . With all the bad seasons and the early draft picks , McNab selected several excellent players ( Rick Green , Ryan Walter , Mike Gartner , Bengt - Ake Gustafsson , Gaetan Duchesne and Bobby Carpenter , to name a few ) who would change the face of the team in the 1980 ' s , whether by their performance on the ice or by their involvement in major trades . However , the team ' s overall horrendous performances made talks of a move away from the US capital very serious by the end of 1982 ; something had to be done to keep the team home . A " Save the Caps " campaign was underway , and two significant events changed the franchise ' s destiny . Playoffs time . The first such event was the hiring of David Poile as general manager . The second was the first move he did . Poile managed to pull off one of the biggest trade in the history of the Capitals on September 9th 1982 by trading Rick Green and Ryan Walter , who were both long time regulars in Washington , to the Montreal Canadiens for Rod Langway , Brian Engblom , Doug Jarvis and Craig Laughlin . This move literally turned the Caps into another team . Langway ' s reliability on the blue line solved one of the problems of the team : its enormous number of goals against . The arrival of Scott Stevens , drafted in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft , also was a key factor . At the other end of the ice , Dennis Maruk , Mike Gartner and Bobby Carpenter went into a goal - scoring frenzy , solving another of the Caps problems . The result was no less than a 29 points jump , which propelled the Caps to a third place in the powerful Patrick Division - this strong result ensured them a first time playoffs participation in almost a decade of existence . They fell to the three - time - defending Stanley Cup champions , the New York Islanders , but still , that was one giant step in the right direction , a step that was enough to shut all the moving talks . Following this era of mediocrity came a new era of regular season abundance , which had them participate in the playoffs for the next fourteen seasons . If the team usually started the season prety slowly , the Capitals usually ignited in January or February . But regular season success is not warrant of playoffs success ; the Caps illustrated it well by failing to advance very far in the playoffs . The Capitals did not lack star players , with the likes of Gartner , Carpenter , Langway , Gustafsson , Mike Ridley , Dave Christian , Dino Ciccarelli , Larry Murphy or Kevin Hatcher , but they still were knocked out of the playoffs in the first or second round of the playoffs for eight years in a row . This resulted in some heartbreaking moments , such as 1985 - 86 , where the team , after finishing the season with 50 wins and 107 points , both franchise records , were kicked out of the playoffs by the New York Rangers in the second round . The next season , another such moment happened , perhaps even a worse one than the previous season , when Washington faced the Islanders in the Patrick Division Semifinal . This series was capped off by a classic , the Easter Epic game , which ended at 1 : 56 am on Easter Sunday 1987 . After a thorough domination by the Capitals , who outshoot New York 75 - 52 , they still lost in overtime after goaltender Bob Mason let a blue line shot by Pat Lafontaine in . With Gartner and Murphy traded to the Minnesota North Stars for Ciccarelli and Bob Rouse , the Caps underwent the 1989 NHL playoffs with confidence , but again faltered due to poor goaltending , which led to a first round ousting by the Philadelphia Flyers . They finally reached the Wales Conference in 1990 , only to be swept in four games by the Boston Bruins . The 1990 ' s : a continuing story . New stars were on the rise in Washington in the 1990 ' s . Forwards Peter Bondra and Joé Juneau and defenceman Sergei Gonchar joined an aging core of players , hoping to bring the Caps to the ultimate goal . In 1993 , Washington was favourite for a win over the Islanders in the first round , yet were upset in six games . The Isles ' win was darkened by a gesture from Dale Hunter , who out of frustration checked by behind New York ' s Pierre Turgeon after he had scored the series - clinching goal . Turgeon awkwardly fell on the ice and suffered a separated shoulder ; he had to miss the second round against the Pittsburgh Penguins . This move earned Hunter a 21 games suspension , to be served from the first game of next season . At the time , no suspension for an on - ice incident had ever lasted that long in NHL history . A first championship : the Eastern Conference ' s . In 1998 , after 24 years of existence , the Capitals , led by a strong 52 goals season by Peter Bondra , by Hunter , Juneau and Adam Oates who retrieved their youth ' s form and Olaf Kölzig who maintained a solid . 920 save percentage , finally managed to achieve an appearance in the Stanley Cup finals . The Capitals defeated the Bruins , the Ottawa Senators and the Buffalo Sabres en route to their first ( and to date only ) Stanley Cup finals appearance . In order to achieve this , they had to win six overtime goals ( three against both Boston and Buffalo ) . But this proved not enough , and the Detroit Red Wings swept them in four games . That same season , Oates , Phil Housley , and Dale Hunter all scored their 1 , 000th career point , the only time in NHL history that one team had 3 different players reach that same milestone in a single season . A rebuilding . In 1999 , the very year after participating to the Stanley Cup finals , Washington missed the playoffs . Injuries had plagued the team throughout the season . They bounced back the next season , though ; they went to win back - to - back Southeast Division titles in 2000 and 2001 . Still , both times they fell in the first round to the Penguins . Following the second such occurence , Adam Oates demanded to be traded . The management refused , however ; they went even further and stripped him from his captain cy . Hoping to put an end to their playoffs problems , the Capitals traded three young prospects ( Kris Beech , Michal Sivek , and Ross Lupaschuk ) to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Jaromír Jágr . The five - time Art Ross Trophy winner signed the most lucrative contract in NHL history : $ 77 millions over seven years ( 11 millions per season , or approximately $ 134 , 000 per game ) , with an option on an eighth year . However , Jágr failed to live up to the expectations and the Capitals failed not only to defend their division title but also to make the playoffs , and that , despite a winning record . The presence of the superstar however drew record crowds ; an average of 17 , 341 fans showed up every game , and at the end of the season , it ' s 710 , 990 fans who attended to the Caps games . In the summer of 2002 , more roster changes were made in order to make it to the Stanley Cup . They signed highly regarded Czech Robert Lang as a free agent , reuniting him with his Pittsburgh teammante Jágr . At first , it seemed to have worked . Washington was back to the playoffs in 2003 . They met the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round and gave themselves a 2 - 0 lead in the series after two matches . Still , they managed to lose the series in six games ; game six went into triple overtime at the MCI Center ; Washington lost on a power play goal , a power play caused by a blunder by Jason Doig who skated on the ice too early , resulting in a too - many - men - on - the - ice penalty against the Caps . Return to the abysses . In 2003 - 04 , the Caps unloaded a lot of their very costly talent . That was a cost - cutting spree , but also an acknowledgement that they had failed at building a Stanley Cup contender team by signing high - priced veterans . Jágr was a disappointment in Washington , failing to figure among the top scorers of the league or be included in the All - Star Team during his Captials tenure . The Caps did try to trade him , but due to his salary , no team was willing to pay so much for an underperformer , especially since there was only a year left to the current CBA ( Collective Bargain Agreement ) . In 2004 , the Capitals could finally get rid of him , sending him to the New York Rangers for Anson Carter and an agreement that Washington would pay approximately four million dollars per year of Jagr ' s salary , with Jagr himself agreeing to defer ( with interest ) $ 1 million per year for the remainder of his contract to allow the trade to go ahead . Soon afterwards , Bondra was dealt to the Senators , Lang left for Detroit and Gonchar to Boston . Lang ' s trade marked the first time in the history of the National Hockey League that the league ' s leading scorer was traded in the middle of the season . The Capitals ended the year 23 – 46 – 10 – 6 , tied for the second worst record , along with the Chicago Blackhawks . Luck smiled upon the Capitals in 2004 . They won the Draft Lottery allowing them to select first overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft . They selected Alexander Ovechkin with this pick . With the 2004 - 05 NHL season completely lost due to the labor dispute between the league and the players , Ovechkin stayed in Russia with Dynamo Moscow . Several other Caps capitalized on the lost season to go play part or all of the season in Europe ; these players include Olaf Kölzig ( Eisbären Berlin ) , Brendan Witt ( Bracknell Bees ) and Jeff Halpern ( EHC Kloten and HC Ajoie ) . In the 2005 summer , they signed Andrew Cassels , Ben Clymer , Mathieu Biron and Jamie Heward and acquired Chris Clark and Jeff Friesen via trade . The 2005 - 06 season was filled with promise . They once again were bottom dwellers as they finished the season dead last in the Southeastern Division once again , finishing the season with an unimpressive 29 - 41 - 12 record ( a 12 points improvement from 2003 - 04 ) . The Caps still finished 27th overall in the league . However , there were many bright sides that led to think that Washington ' s pain was something that would end in the near future . Even though they lost more than half of their games , they always fought bitterly to win and were very rarely outclassed - in fact , 42 of the Caps ' games were one - goal games . But the brightest spot on the Caps ' roster was Alexander Ovechkin . In his rookie season , he finished third overall in scoring ( and in goals scored ) in the league , scoring 52 goals and collecting 106 points , the kind of performance that had gotten extremely rare for rookies in the modern NHL . He established an NHL rookie record with 425 shots ( he was league leader in that chapter ) and finished in the books as having given the Caps ' second best ever performance by a rookie and his goal total was tied for third best in the team ' s history . Such dominance was rightly so crowned by the Calder Memorial Trophy , beating another much - hyped player , Sidney Crosby , and defenceman Dion Phaneuf . His teammates also enjoyed good moments . Lithuanian Dainius Zubrus earned a career - high 57 points , while Jeff Halpern established a personnal mark for assists ( 33 ) , Matt Pettinger for goals and points ( 20 and 38 , respectively ) , while several of the younger players on the roster reached the 20 points mark for the first time in their careers . Veteran Olaf Kölzig earned a 250th win in the Caps ' nets , while Andrew Cassels became the 204th player to suit play 1 , 000 NHL games . To make things better , Jeff Halpern , a native of the Washington area , was named captain during the season , a nice first for the team . A notable departure occured on March 8th , on the trade deadline , when Brendan Witt was traded to the Nashville Predators . 2008 : Start of a Dynasty . After a disappointing 6 - 14 - 1 start in 2007 - 08 , in which the Capitals saw then - head coach Glen Hanlon be fired , the Capitals made a historic turnaround . Winning 11 of their last 12 games , the Bruce Boudreau - lead Caps came back to win the Southeast Division thanks in part to Alex Ovechkin ' s 65 goal season , the most ever by a left winger in a single campaign . The year ended with a 4 - 3 series loss to the Philadelphia Flyers , losing on an OT goal in Game 7 . The following two years saw the Capitals produce franchise records in points . In 2008 - 09 , Washington went 50 - 24 - 8 for 108 points and back - to - back Southeast titles . It ended in the semifinals at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins , losing the series four games to three . The next season , the Capitals light up the scoreboard game after game , scoring a gaudy 313 goals , the most in the NHL , and accumulate 121 points at 54 - 15 - 13 . Despite Stanley Cup hopes , the Caps were stunned in the quarterfinals , falling to the Montreal Canadiens four games to three . Jaroslav Halák shined in net the final three games for the Canadiens , holding the Caps to one goal each game . In 2010 - 11 , Washington claimed their fourth consecutive division title with 107 points at 48 - 23 - 11 . After rolling over the New York Rangers four games to one in Round 1 , they were swept by the Tampa Bay Lightning , still unable to reach the conference finals despite all the Southeast titles . The following year , the Capitals had a promising 7 - 0 - 0 start , but they won only 5 of the next 15 games , leading to the firing of Bruce Boudreau , and the hiring of former Cap Dale Hunter . With a new defensive system in mind , the inconsistent Caps could not keep pace with Florida for the Southeast crown and settled for seventh in the east with 92 points . Joel Ward scored an OT goal in Game 7 of the first round against the Boston Bruins , yet Washington was stymied again , falling to the hands of the New York Rangers 4 - 3 . Following the conclusion of the Stanley Cup , Hunter announced his resignation from the team , prompting George McPhee to hire another former Capital great , Adam Oates , as the next head coach . Logos and Jerseys . The Capitals took to the ice in red , white and blue jerseys featuring contrast - colored shoulders and stars on the chest and sleeves . The team originally had red , white , and blue pants options , but quickly retired white pants . The blue pants would eventually become the only option used . The Capitals unveiled new uniforms on June 22 , 2007 , which coincided with the NHL Entry Draft and the new League - wide adaptation of the Reebok - designed uniform system for 2007 – 08 . The change marked a return to the red , white and blue color scheme originally used from 1974 to 1995 . The new primary logo is reminiscent of the original Capitals ' logo , complete with a hockey stick formed by the letter " t " ; it also includes a new feature not present in the original logo in the form of three stars representing D . C . , Maryland and Virginia . More simply , the stars are a reference to the flag of Washington , D . C . , which is in turn based on the shield of George Washington ' s family coat of arms . The new alternate logo uses an eagle in the shape of a " W " with the silhouette of the United States Capitol building in the negative space below . For the 2011 NHL Winter Classic , the Capitals wore a white jersey honoring the franchise ' s past with the original logo . The jersey resembled the one the franchise wore from 1974 to 1995 . Instead of wearing the combination of blue pants and white helmets the team used when it played at the Capital Centre , the Capitals chose red pants and helmets for the New Year ' s Day game . The Capitals wore the same jersey , minus the NHL Winter Classic patch , on February 1 , 2011 , to honor Hockey Hall of Fame winger Dino Ciccarelli . The Capitals announced on September 16 , 2011 , that they would wear a third jersey modeled after the Winter Classic jersey for 16 road games during the 2011 – 12 season . For the 2015 Winter Classic , which took place on New Years Day at Nationals Park in Washington , D . C . , the Capitals wore a newly designed jersey intended to pay homage to hockey ' s outdoor roots . The primary color of the jersey was a vintage deep red . The addition of stripes on the shoulders , waist and legs brought in elements of Washington ' s professional hockey jerseys from the 1930s , predating the Capitals franchise ' s formation in the 1970s . A large " W " on the front of the jersey , topped with the common three stars , offset in blue to contrast the white " Capitals " word - mark . From 2014 – 16 season , the Capitals will wear their throwback red third jerseys , replacing the white Winter Classic thirds . Capitals ' red third will be home jersey for 2016 – 17 .