2020–21 Washington Capitals season

The 2020–21 Washington Capitals season is the 47th season for the National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 11, 1974.[2] This will be the first season for Peter Laviolette as head coach of the Capitals[3] after their former head coach Todd Reirden was fired from the team on August 23, 2020.[4] On December 20, 2020, the league temporarily realigned into four divisions with no conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing closure of the Canada-United States border. As a result of this realignment, the Capitals will play this season in the East Division and will play games against only the other teams in their new division during the regular season and potentially the first two rounds of the playoffs.

2020–21 Washington Capitals
2020–21 record	6–2–3
Home record	4–1–1
Road record	2–1–2
Goals for	40
Goals against	38
Team information
General manager	Brian MacLellan
Coach	Peter Laviolette[1]
Captain	Alexander Ovechkin
Alternate captains	Nicklas Backstrom John Carlson
Arena	Capital One Arena
Minor league affiliate(s)	Hershey Bears (AHL) South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL)
Team leaders
Goals	Nicklas Backstrom (5)
Assists	Nicklas Backstrom (9)
Points	Nicklas Backstrom (14)
Penalty minutes	Brenden Dillon (16)
Plus/minus	Justin Schultz (+9)
Wins	Vitek Vanecek (5)
Goals against average	Vitek Vanecek (2.95)

Standings

Divisional standings

East Division

Pos	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	RW	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Boston Bruins	11	8	1	2	4	36	24	+12	18
2	Philadelphia Flyers	12	7	3	2	5	39	37	+2	16
3	Washington Capitals	11	6	2	3	4	40	38	+2	15
4	Pittsburgh Penguins	10	5	4	1	1	30	37	−7	11
5	New Jersey Devils	9	4	3	2	3	23	26	−3	10
6	New York Rangers	10	4	4	2	3	29	28	+1	10
7	Buffalo Sabres	10	4	4	2	2	30	32	−2	10
8	New York Islanders	9	3	4	2	3	19	24	−5	8

Updated to game(s) played on February 5, 2021. Source: National Hockey League[5]
Rules for classification: 1) Fewer number of games played (GP, only during regular season); 2) Greater number of regulation wins (RW); 3) Greater amount of wins in regulation and overtime, excluding shootout wins (ROW); 4) Greater amount of total wins, including shootouts (W); 5) Greater number of points earned in head-to-head play; if teams played an uneven number of head-to-head games, the result of the first game on the home ice of the team with the extra home game is discarded; 6) Greater goal differential (GD); 7) Greater amount of goals scored (GF)

Schedule and results

Regular season

The regular season schedule was published on December 23, 2020.[6]

2020–21 game log
January: 6–0–3 (Home: 4–0–1; Road: 2–0–2) Game Date Opponent Score OT Decision Attendance Record Points Recap 1 January 14 @ Buffalo 6–4 Samsonov 0 1–0–0 2 Recap 2 January 15 @ Buffalo 2–1 Vanecek 0 2–0–0 4 Recap 3 January 17 @ Pittsburgh 3–4 SO Samsonov 0 2–0–1 5 Recap 4 January 19 @ Pittsburgh 4–5 OT Vanecek 0 2–0–2 6 Recap 5 January 22 Buffalo 4–3 SO Vanecek 0 3–0–2 8 Recap 6 January 24 Buffalo 3–4 SO Vanecek 0 3–0–3 9 Recap 7 January 26 NY Islanders 3–2 Vanecek 0 4–0–3 11 Recap 8 January 28 NY Islanders 6–3 Vanecek 0 5–0–3 13 Recap 9 January 30 Boston 4–3 OT Vanecek 0 6–0–3 15 Recap
February: 0–2–0 (Home: 0–1–0; Road: 0–1–0) Game Date Opponent Score OT Decision Attendance Record Points Recap 10 February 1 Boston 3–5 Vanecek 0 6–1–3 15 Recap 11 February 4 @ NY Rangers 2–4 Vanecek 0 6–2–3 15 Recap 12 February 7 Philadelphia – 13 February 9 Philadelphia – 14 February 11 @ Buffalo – 15 February 13 @ Buffalo – 16 February 14 @ Pittsburgh – 17 February 16 @ Pittsburgh – 18 February 20 NY Rangers – 19 February 21 NY Rangers – 20 February 23 Pittsburgh – 21 February 25 Pittsburgh – 22 February 27 @ New Jersey –
March: 0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0; Road: 0–0–0) Game Date Opponent Score OT Decision Attendance Record Points Recap 23 March 1 @ New Jersey – 24 March 3 @ Boston – 25 March 5 @ Boston – 26 March 7 New Jersey – 27 March 9 New Jersey – 28 March 11 @ Philadelphia – 29 March 13 @ Philadelphia – 30 March 15 NY Islanders – 31 March 16 NY Islanders – 32 March 19 NY Rangers – 33 March 25 New Jersey – 34 March 26 New Jersey – 35 March 28 NY Rangers – 36 March 30 NY Rangers –
April: 0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0; Road: 0–0–0) Game Date Opponent Score OT Decision Attendance Record Points Recap 37 April 1 @ NY Islanders – 38 April 2 @ New Jersey – 39 April 4 @ New Jersey – 40 April 6 @ NY Islanders – 41 April 8 Boston – 42 April 10 Boston – 43 April 13 Buffalo – 44 April 15 Buffalo – 45 April 17 @ Philadelphia – 46 April 18 @ Boston – 47 April 20 @ Boston – 48 April 22 @ NY Islanders – 49 April 24 @ NY Islanders – 50 April 27 @ Philadelphia – 51 April 29 Pittsburgh –
May: 0–0–0 (Home: 0–0–0; Road: 0–0–0) Game Date Opponent Score OT Decision Attendance Record Points Recap 52 May 1 Pittsburgh – 53 May 3 @ NY Rangers – 54 May 5 @ NY Rangers – 55 May 7 Philadelphia – 56 May 8 Philadelphia –
Win (2 Points)   Loss (0 points)   Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)

Player statistics

As of January 28, 2021

Skaters

Regular season[7]

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	+/−	PIM
Nicklas Backstrom	8	4	6	10	−1	2
John Carlson	8	3	6	9	−2	2
Tom Wilson	6	4	3	7	+2	4
T. J. Oshie	8	2	5	7	+1	8
Jakub Vrana	8	3	3	6	+4	2
Justin Schultz	8	2	4	6	+9	0
Alexander Ovechkin	4	1	4	5	+1	0
Brenden Dillon	8	1	3	4	+6	9
Nic Dowd	8	2	1	3	+5	8
Conor Sheary	6	2	1	3	−1	4
Garnet Hathaway	8	2	1	3	+5	2
Zdeno Chara	8	1	2	3	+7	4
Evgeny Kuznetsov	4	1	2	3	+1	4
Daniel Sprong	6	1	1	2	−1	0
Lars Eller	7	1	1	2	−1	4
Richard Panik	8	0	2	2	0	2
Carl Hagelin	8	0	1	1	+3	2
Daniel Carr	2	0	1	1	+1	0
Nick Jensen	5	0	1	1	+1	2
Michael Sgarbossa	2	0	1	1	+1	0
Dmitry Orlov	4	0	0	0	−4	2
Jonas Siegenthaler	4	0	0	0	−2	2
Trevor van Riemsdyk	3	0	0	0	−1	0
Brian Pinho	2	0	0	0	−2	0
Connor McMichael	1	0	0	0	0	2

Goaltenders

Regular season[8]

Player	GP	GS	TOI	W	L	OT	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO	G	A	PIM
Vitek Vanecek	6	6	371:08	4	0	2	17	2.75	200	.915	0	0	0	0
Ilya Samsonov	2	2	125:00	1	0	1	7	3.36	53	.868	0	0	0	0

Draft picks

Below are the Washington Capitals' selections at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, which was originally scheduled for June 26-27, 2020 at the Bell Center in Montreal, Quebec, but was postponed on March 25, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On October 6-7, 2020 the draft was held virtually via Video conference call from the NHL Network studio in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Round	#	Player	Pos	Nationality	College/Junior/Club Team (League)
1	22	Hendrix Lapierre	C	Canada	Chicoutimi Sagueneens (QMJHL)
4	117	Bogdan Trineyev	RW	Russia	Dynamo Moscow 2 (MHL)
5	148	Bear Hughes	D	United States	Spokane Chiefs (WHL)
6	179	Garin Bjorklund	G	Canada	Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL)
7	211	Oskar Magunsson	LW	Sweden	Malmo Redhawks (SHL)

Roster

Updated February 4, 2021[9][10]

#	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
31		Craig Anderson	G	L	39	2021	Park Ridge, Illinois
19		Nicklas Backstrom (A)	C	L	33	2006	Gävle, Sweden
74		John Carlson (A)	D	R	31	2008	Natick, Massachusetts
28		Daniel Carr	LW	L	29	2020	Sherwood Park, Alberta
33		Zdeno Chara	D	L	43	2020	Trenčín, Czechoslovakia
4		Brenden Dillon	D	L	30	2020	New Westminster, British Columbia
26		Nic Dowd	C	R	30	2018	Huntsville, Alabama
20		Lars Eller	C	L	31	2016	Rødovre, Denmark
42		Martin Fehervary	D	L	21	2018	Bratislava, Slovakia
39		Zachary Fucale	G	L	25	2020	Laval, Quebec
62		Carl Hagelin	LW	L	32	2019	Nykvarn, Sweden
21		Garnet Hathaway	RW	R	29	2019	Naples, Florida
3		Nick Jensen	D	R	30	2019	Rogers, Minnesota
6		Michal Kempny	D	L	30	2018	Hodonín, Czechoslovakia
92		Evgeny Kuznetsov	C	L	28	2010	Chelyabinsk, Russia
35		Henrik Lundqvist	G	L	38	2020	Åre, Sweden
16		Philippe Maillet	C	L	28	2019	Lachenaie, Quebec
47		Beck Malenstyn	RW	L	23	2016	Delta, British Columbia
9		Dmitry Orlov	D	L	29	2009	Novokuznetsk, Soviet Union
77		T. J. Oshie	RW	R	34	2015	Mount Vernon, Washington
8		Alexander Ovechkin (C)	LW	R	35	2004	Moscow, Soviet Union
14		Richard Panik	RW	L	29	2019	Martin, Czechoslovakia
64		Brian Pinho	C	R	25	2013	North Andover, Massachusetts
30		Ilya Samsonov	G	L	23	2015	Magnitogorsk, Russia
2		Justin Schultz	D	R	30	2020	Kelowna, British Columbia
23		Mike Sgarbossa	C	L	28	2018	Campbellville, Ontario
73		Conor Sheary	LW	L	28	2020	Winchester, Massachusetts
34		Jonas Siegenthaler	D	L	23	2015	Zürich, Switzerland
10		Daniel Sprong	RW	R	23	2020	Amsterdam, Netherlands
57		Trevor van Riemsdyk	D	R	29	2020	Middletown, New Jersey
41		Vitek Vanecek	G	L	25	2014	Havlíčkův Brod, Czech Republic
13		Jakub Vrana	LW	L	24	2014	Prague, Czech Republic
43		Tom Wilson	RW	R	26	2012	Toronto, Ontario

References

1. "Capitals Name Peter Laviolette Head Coach". NHL.com. September 15, 2020. Retrieved September 19, 2020.
2. National Hockey League (2012). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book/2013. Triumph Books. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-60078-785-0.
3. Kaplan, Emily (September 15, 2020). "Peter Laviolette named head coach of Washington Capitals". ESPN.com. ESPN Enterprises. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
4. Gulitti, Tom (August 23, 2020). "Reirden fired as Capitals coach after another loss in Eastern First Round". NHL.com. NHL Enterprises, L. P. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
5. "NHL Hockey Standings". www.nhl.com. National Hockey League.
6. "2020-21 NHL schedule announced". NHL.com. December 23, 2020. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
7. "2020–21 Regular season – Washington Capitals Stats – Skaters". NHL.com. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
8. "2020–21 Regular season – Washington Capitals Stats – Goalies". NHL.com. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
9. "Washington Capitals Roster". National Hockey League. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
10. "Washington Capitals Hockey Transactions". The Sports Network. Retrieved July 12, 2020.