2017–18 Washington Capitals season

The 2017–18 Washington Capitals season was the 44th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 11, 1974. They played their home games at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. They were led by head coach Barry Trotz in his fourth season as coach of the Capitals. The Capitals won their first Stanley Cup in organization history, defeating the inaugural-season Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Finals.
The team finished the regular season with 105 points, winning the Metropolitan Division for the third year in a row. In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, they lost the first two games of their first round series against the Columbus Blue Jackets before winning the next four games to advance to the Conference Semifinals against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins, who ended the Capitals' playoffs each of the previous two years. The Capitals defeated the Penguins in six games to advance the Eastern Conference Finals, their first trip to a conference championship series since 1998. The Capitals defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Finals in seven games, after overcoming a 3-2 series deficit following a Game 5 loss for the first time in franchise history, to earn their first trip to the Stanley Cup Finals since 1998, when they were swept by the Detroit Red Wings. The Capitals faced the first-year Vegas Golden Knights and defeated them in five games to earn the organization's first ever Stanley Cup, while becoming the 100th Stanley Cup champions since 1914. Alexander Ovechkin was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs.
==Standings==
===Divisional standings===
===Conference standings===
==Schedule and results==
===Preseason===
The Capitals' preseason schedule was released on June 7, 2017.
2017 preseason game log: 2–5–0 (Home: 0–3–0; Road: 2–2–0)
{| class="wikitable"	 	 	 	
Game	Date 	Opponent 	Score	Record
1 	September 18	@ New Jersey Devils 	1–4 	0–1–0
2 	September 20	@ Montreal Canadiens 	4–2 	1–1–0
3 	September 22	St. Louis Blues 	0–4 	1–2–0
4 	September 23	Carolina Hurricanes 	1–4 	1–3–0
5 	September 27	New Jersey Devils 	1–4 	1–4–0
6 	September 29	@ Carolina Hurricanes	1–3 	1–5–0
7 	October 1 	@ St. Louis Blues 	4–3 	2–5–0
===Regular season===
The team released its regular season schedule on June 22, 2017.
2017–18 game log	2017–18 game log	2017–18 game log	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
October: 5–6–1, 11 points (Home: 1–3–0; Road: 4–3–1)
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Game 	Date 	Opponent 	Score	OT	Decision	Location 	Attendance	Record	Points	Recap
1 	October 5 	@ Ottawa 	5–4 	SO	Holtby 	Canadian Tire Centre 	17,009 	1–0–0 	2 	Recap
2 	October 7 	Montreal 	6–1 	 	Holtby 	Capital One Arena 	18,506 	2–0–0 	4 	Recap
3 	October 9 	@ Tampa Bay 	3–4 	OT	Grubauer	Amalie Arena 	19,092 	2–0–1 	5 	Recap
4 	October 11 	Pittsburgh 	2–3 	 	Holtby 	Capital One Arena 	18,506 	2–1–1 	5 	Recap
5 	October 13 	@ New Jersey 	5–2 	 	Holtby 	Prudential Center 	13,458 	3–1–1 	7 	Recap
6 	October 14 	@ Philadelphia 	2–8 	 	Grubauer	Wells Fargo Center 	19,817 	3–2–1 	7 	Recap
7 	October 17 	Toronto 	0–2 	 	Holtby 	Capital One Arena 	18,506 	3–3–1 	7 	Recap
8 	October 20 	@ Detroit 	4–3 	OT	Holtby 	Little Caesars Arena 	19,515 	4–3–1 	9 	Recap
9 	October 21 	Florida 	1–4 	 	Grubauer	Capital One Arena 	18,506 	4–4–1 	9 	Recap
10 	October 26 	@ Vancouver 	2–6 	 	Holtby 	Rogers Arena 	18,293 	4–5–1 	9 	Recap
11 	October 28 	@ Edmonton 	5–2 	 	Holtby 	Rogers Place 	18,347 	5–5–1 	11 	Recap
12 	October 29 	@ Calgary 	1–2 	 	Grubauer	Scotiabank Saddledome	18,327 	5–6–1 	11 	Recap
===Playoffs===
The Capitals endured hardships during their first successful Stanley Cup run through 24 games, and simultaneously became the second Stanley Cup champion to trail at least once in all four playoff rounds (1990–91 Pittsburgh Penguins) and drop the first two games of the first series at home (2010–11 Boston Bruins). This also makes such run the third-longest Stanley Cup run, tied with four other runs.
2018 Stanley Cup playoffs	2018 Stanley Cup playoffs	2018 Stanley Cup playoffs	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Eastern Conference First Round vs. (WC1) Columbus Blue Jackets: Washington won 4–2
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" class="wikitable"	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Game 	Date 	Opponent 	Score	OT 	Decision	Location 	Attendance	Series	Recap
1 	April 12 	Columbus 	3–4 	OT 	Grubauer	Capital One Arena	18,506 	0–1 	Recap
2 	April 15 	Columbus 	4–5 	OT 	Holtby 	Capital One Arena	18,506 	0–2 	Recap
3 	April 17 	@ Columbus 	3–2 	2OT	Holtby 	Nationwide Arena 	19,337 	1–2 	Recap
4 	April 19 	@ Columbus 	4–1 	 	Holtby 	Nationwide Arena 	19,395 	2–2 	Recap
5 	April 21 	Columbus 	4–3 	OT 	Holtby 	Capital One Arena	18,506 	3–2 	Recap
6 	April 23 	@ Columbus 	6–3 	 	Holtby 	Nationwide Arena 	18,667 	4–2 	Recap
==Player statistics==
Final Stats
;Skaters
 Regular season
Player	 	 	 	 	 	
 	82	49	38	87	3 	32
 	79	27	56	83	3 	48
 	81	21	50	71	5 	46
 	82	15	53	68	0 	32
 	74	18	29	47	2 	31
 	81	18	20	38	–6	38
 	78	14	21	35	10	187
 	82	10	21	31	10	22
 	68	7 	22	29	24	36
 	70	15	12	27	−6	30
 	73	13	14	27	2 	12
 	56	12	13	25	3 	27
 	79	7 	15	22	3 	16
 	61	9 	9 	18	1 	26
 	67	6 	12	18	13	8
 	75	7 	9 	16	−6	38
 	63	3 	11	14	13	10
 	51	0 	12	12	–3	24
 	81	0 	10	10	−9	68
‡ 	24	1 	3 	4 	8 	8
† 	11	1 	3 	4 	−1	0
† 	22	2 	1 	3 	1 	14
† 	7 	1 	0 	1 	1 	4
 	3 	0 	1 	1 	–1	0
 	8 	0 	1 	1 	2 	2
 	8 	0 	1 	1 	2 	8
 	3 	0 	0 	0 	0 	5
 	2 	0 	0 	0 	0 	4
 	5 	0 	0 	0 	–3	2
 Playoffs
Player	 	 	 	 	 	
 	24	12	20	32	12	16
 	24	15	12	27	8 	8
 	20	5 	18	23	–1	6
 	24	8 	13	21	5 	31
 	24	5 	15	20	11	8
 	24	7 	11	18	6 	18
 	21	5 	10	15	11	31
 	24	6 	3 	9 	4 	6
 	24	1 	8 	9 	6 	8
 	24	7 	1 	8 	–2	12
 	23	3 	5 	8 	5 	2
 	24	2 	6 	8 	5 	4
 	23	2 	6 	8 	7 	8
 	24	2 	5 	7 	3 	8
 	13	2 	4 	6 	2 	4
 	24	2 	3 	5 	1 	10
 	24	1 	4 	5 	17	15
 	16	1 	1 	2 	0 	4
 	22	0 	1 	1 	5 	4
 	2 	0 	1 	1 	–1	2
 	1 	0 	1 	1 	1 	0
 	2 	0 	0 	0 	–1	0
 	1 	0 	0 	0 	0 	0
;Goaltenders
 Regular season
Player	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	54	54	3,067:48	34	16	4	153	2.99	1,648	.907	0	0	0	2
 	35	28	1,864:48	15	10	3	73 	2.35	953 	.923	3	0	1	0
 Playoffs
Player	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	23	22	1385:45	16	7	50	2.16	639	.922	2	0	1	2
 	2 	2 	105:23 	0 	1	8 	4.55	49 	.837	0	0	0	0
†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Capitals. Statistics reflect time with the Capitals only.
‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Statistics reflect time with the Capitals only.
==Transactions==
The Capitals have been involved in the following transactions during the 2017–18 season.
===Trades===
Date	Details 	Details 	Ref
 	To New Jersey DevilsMarcus Johansson 	To Washington CapitalsFLA's 2nd-round pick in 2018TOR's 3rd-round pick in 2018	
 	To New York RangersJohn AlbertHubert Labrie 	To Washington CapitalsAdam ChapieJoe Whitney 	
 	To Chicago BlackhawksConditional 3rd-round pick in 2018	To Washington CapitalsMichal Kempny 	
 	To Montreal Canadiens5th-round draft pick in 2019 	To Washington CapitalsJakub Jerabek 	
===Free agents acquired===
Date	Player 	Former team 	Contract terms(in U.S. dollars) 	Ref
 	John Albert 	Kärpät 	1-year, $650,000 	
 	Anthony Peluso 	Winnipeg Jets 	1-year, $650,000 	
 	Devante Smith-Pelly	New Jersey Devils	1-year, $650,000 	
 	Wayne Simpson 	Providence Bruins	1-year, $650,000 	
 	Alex Chiasson 	Calgary Flames 	1-year, $660,000 	
 	Juuso Ikonen 	Brynäs IF 	2-year, $1.85 million entry-level contract 	
 	Mathias Bau 	Hershey Bears 	1-year, $700,000 entry-level contract 	
 	Maximilian Kammerer	Düsseldorfer EG 	3-year, $2.775 million entry-level contract	
===Free agents lost===
Date	Player 	New team 	Contract terms(in U.S. dollars)	Ref
 	Chris Bourque 	Hershey Bears 	1-year 	
 	Karl Alzner 	Montreal Canadiens 	5-year, $23.125 million 	
 	Joe Cannata 	Colorado Avalanche 	1-year, $650,000 	
 	Paul Carey 	New York Rangers 	1-year, $650,000 	
 	Kevin Shattenkirk	New York Rangers 	4-year, $26.6 million 	
 	Justin Williams 	Carolina Hurricanes 	2-year, $9 million 	
 	Garrett Mitchell 	Hershey Bears 	1-year 	
 	Stanislav Galiev 	Ak Bars Kazan 	2-year 	
 	Tom Gilbert 	Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers 	1-year 	
 	Cody Corbett 	Idaho Steelheads 	1-year 	
 	Christian Thomas 	Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins	1-year 	
===Claimed via waivers===
Player 	Previous team 	Date	Ref
Nathan Walker	Edmonton Oilers	 	
===Lost via waivers===
Player 	New team 	Date	Ref
Nathan Walker 	Edmonton Oilers 	 	
Taylor Chorney	Columbus Blue Jackets	 	
===Players released===
Date	Player	Via	Ref
===Lost via retirement===
Date	Player	Ref
===Player signings===
Date	Player 	Contract terms(in U.S. dollars) 	Ref
 	Christian Djoos 	2-year, $1.3 million 	
 	T. J. Oshie 	8-year, $46 million 	
 	Brett Connolly 	2-year, $3 million 	
 	Pheonix Copley 	2-year, $1.3 million 	
 	Chandler Stephenson 	2-year, $1.3 million 	
 	Evgeny Kuznetsov 	8-year, $62.4 million 	
 	Andre Burakovsky 	2-year, $6 million 	
 	Travis Boyd 	1-year, $650,000 	
 	Philipp Grubauer 	1-year, $1.5 million 	
 	Liam O'Brien 	1-year, $650,000 	
 	Lars Eller 	5-year, $17.5 million contract extension 	
 	Tobias Geisser 	3-year, $2.6 million entry-level contract 	
 	Shane Gersich 	2-year, $1.85 million entry-level contract 	
 	Brian Pinho 	2-year, $1.85 million entry-level contract 	
 	Axel Jonsson Fjallby	3-year, $2.58 million entry-level contract 	
 	Ilya Samsonov 	3-year, $4.425 million entry-level contract	
 	Aaron Ness 	1-year, $650,000 contract extension 	
 	Tyler Lewington 	2-year, $1.35 million contract extension 	
==Draft picks==
Below are the Washington Capitals' selections at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, which was held on June 23 and 24, 2017 at the United Center in Chicago.
Round	# 	Player 	Pos	Nationality 	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
4 	120	Tobias Geisser 	D 	Switzerland 	EVZ Academy (NLB)
5 	151	Sebastian Walfridsson 	D 	Sweden 	Modo Hockey (J20 SuperElit)
6 	182	Benton Maass 	D 	United States	Elk River High School (USHS)
7 	213	Kristian Roykas Marthinsen	LW 	Norway 	Almtuna IS (J20 SuperElit)
==References==
Category:Washington Capitals seasons
Washington Capitals
Category:Eastern Conference (NHL) championship seasons
Washington
Category:Stanley Cup championship seasons