Since we're on the topic, here are some strengths/weaknesses/question marks of the team that might fly under the radar...
Strengths:
1. Balanced, versatile blueline. The lowest TOI on the blueline is Trevor van Riemsdyk at 17:23. All the others are at 19 minutes and above, with Carlson at 23:34, one of the lowest averages in his career. They're rolling through their pairings without sheltering or favouring anyone, which is also reflected in how fluid they are: Carlson's spent 41% of his ES time with Sandin, 32% with Chychrun, 22% with Fehervary. So, they can mix and match however they need. Typically, it's been Sandin-Carlson, Fehervary-Roy, Chychryun-TVR with Chychrun moving up to pair with Carlson when pressing for offense.
2. Pierre-Luc Dubois and Nic Dowd's matchup capabilities. Dowd has been probably the best 4th liner in hockey for a few years running now, and his shutdown role has only continued to grow under Spencer Carbery, as his line is more of a pseudo 3rd line than anything.
Here's a cool video about Dowd. Dubois has done extremely well matched against the elite Cs of the league, night after night, and should really get some Selke votes. I tabulated these a few days ago, it's PLD's numbers this year against McDavid/MacKinnon/Matthews/Barkov/Eichel/Hughes/Crosby:
Them: 16gp, 3g, 7a, 10p, -20
Him: 16gp, 3g, 12a, 15p, +14
Weaknesses:
1. Powerplay. They haven't scored a PPG in like three weeks. I guess the good news is that they're below-average in powerplay opportunities, and they aren't having any trouble scoring without it, so they aren't PP reliant at all like they were in the glory days of choking away Presidents' Trophy seasons, but it's still an issue. It really feels like they're trying to force feed Ovechkin the puck right now to get those goals up.
2. Dylan Strome. He's leading the team in scoring this year, but you can see it when you watch him, the impact doesn't match the totals. His skating just doesn't allow him to take control of a shift in the way Dubois can, and since Strome is almost always lined up next to Ovechkin, who at 39 years old relies heavily on his linemates to do the dirty work for him, it could be a real problem in a seven game series against a top team.
Question Marks:
1. Goalie tandem. It feels like Washington is ahead of the curve in going with a tandem rather than relying a workhorse starter, as starter GP numbers are on a downward trend over the past ten years. Thompson is 25th in games started this year, while Lindgren is 33rd. That's going to change in the postseason, when Logan Thompson is given full rein over the goal. How's he going to handle that after seven months of sharing the net? I dunno.
2. Third line. Their third line has been a revolving door of mid for the entire season. Right now they've settled on Mangiapane-Eller-Raddysh, and they're actually doing a bit better with that combo lately than most of the season, but for the most part they've had to overplay the Dowd line to compensate. Mangiapane's been scoring, and Eller is the best they've got left at C, so those two guys are probably locked in, but we can already squint and see Ryan Leonard taking Raddysh's spot at 3RW when Boston College's season wraps up just before the end of the regular season. How will he do there if he signs? I dunno.
