Coming Into Los Angeles – The Caps are in California, continuing a four-game road trip with a condensed span of time in the Golden State, and a bit of a different travel wrinkle. Starting with tonight’s game, the Caps play three games in four nights in California, a tough task anytime you’re out this way. Typically though, the back-to-backs would be here in Southern California, with a bus ride to either Anaheim or Los Angeles after the first game, depending on location.
This trip, the Caps will play the Kings tonight, fly up to San Jose after the game for a Wednesday date with the Sharks, and then finish the trip on Friday night in Anaheim after taking Thursday off.
Early in Alex Ovechkin’s NHL career, Eastern and Western Conference clubs didn’t visit every city every season as they do now, but starting in 2013-14, the Capitals have faced all three California teams on the same trip, as they also did during the 1990s.
Previous instances of three games in four nights out this way have produced mixed results; in 2016-17, the Caps – a Presidents’ Trophy winning team that season – started in San Jose and had back-to-backs in Southern California while playing three games in four nights, and they went home empty-handed, without a point.
In 2019-20, they opened the trip with back-to-backs in San Jose and Los Angeles, respectively, then faced Anaheim in the finale after an off day, and they swept the California trip, coming home with all six points.
Most recently, in Spencer Carbery’s first season behind the bench in 2023-24, the Caps started in San Jose and had a day off before finishing with back-to-backs in LA and Anaheim, respectively. The Caps dropped a one-goal decision in San Jose to start that trip, then swept the Southern California back-to-backs – both of which were also one-goal decisions – to come home with four points.
“This would be the uniqueness of us going north and then back [to Southern California],” says Carbery of the challenges of this particular California trip. “That's the obvious one, of not playing Anaheim while you're down in LA and then going up to San Jose. So with us going up to San Jose then back for Anaheim, it’s not the end of the world. It adds a little bit extra travel, it's no different than going to New Jersey and then back home or to [Pittsburgh] and then back; you’re just adding a little bit travel wise.”
Number Nine – Twenty-six games into his age 21 rookie season, Caps right wing Ryan Leonard has shown an arc of gradual but steady improvement over that span. A third of the way through the season, he is trending toward a top 10 season among all forwards in franchise history who held rookie status in a season at age 21 or younger. And if you shrink the field to just age 21 rookie forwards in franchise history, he’s trending toward a top three season.
Over their half century history, the Caps have had some phenom forwards aged 21 or younger, led by Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Bobby Carpenter, Ryan Walter and yes, Chris Valentine.
Those five players were all aged 20 or younger in their rookie NHL seasons, and all were high end producers of offense in their first full NHL seasons.
In addition to that group, Leonard has three other current teammates – Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas and Hendrix Lapierre – who logged at least a third of a season’s worth of games at age 21, and Leonard is on pace to exceed them all, strictly in terms of offensive production.
Lapierre produced .43 points per game in 51 games in his age 21 season of 2023-24, and McMichael had .26 points per game in 68 games at age 21 in 2021-22. Protas saw action in 33 games at age 21, producing .27 points per game.
With precisely .50 points per game through the season’s first 26 contests, Leonard trails only Bengt Gustafsson (.75), Michal Pivonka (.59) and Tony White (.53) among Caps rookie forwards who finished the season with at least 50 games in their age 21 rookie season.
With 13 points (five goals, eight assists), Leonard is tied for third among all rookie forwards in the NHL. He has drawn 14 penalties, tied for the most among NHL rookies and his 1.54 net penalties/60 rate is tops among all rookie forwards with at least 10 games played.
“I wouldn't necessarily put it on his skill set,” says Carbery, “because all young players when they get to this league, have a skill set – whether it's a Ryan Leonard skill set, whether it's a little bit different. And whatever their skill set is, what I think is helping him is his work ethic and his commitment to his craft.
“Because what I recognize is behind the scenes, what he's doing is as he's developing and growing and being becoming more comfortable each and every game in the National Hockey League, why that keeps happening is because he's working his butt off to get better. And he's learning, and he's taking information, and he's not just saying, ‘Okay, yeah, I got it. I'm just going to accumulate games, and I'll get better just by playing in games.’
“He's going, ‘I'm going to play in games, and then I'm going to learn from these mistakes, and I'm going to learn how to make a better read there, I'm going to learn how to make a better puck play there, I'm going to learn how to be stronger on the puck in that situation there, I'm going to learn how to protect or be reliable in a 2-1 game when there's five minutes to go. I now understand the plays that you guys are talking about; that makes sense.’ And he does something about it.
“When you talk about learning curves for young players, the skill set will continue to develop and get better in the league, but it's their recognition and commitment to improve in the areas that they're pointed out, ‘Hey, you need to do this, this and this,’ and then they take it to heart and they get to work on it, and that's exactly what Leno's done.”
Leonard shakes off checks, shoots the puck with authority and a quick release, plays with swagger and physicality, and seems to rub every opponent the wrong way. He seems to relish puck battles and physicality, and his ice time and responsibility have gradually grown alongside his game.
It’s tantalizing to think of where he could be by season’s end, let alone a year or five from now.
“Like I said at the start of the year, you want to have a positive impact every single shift and every opportunity that you get,” says Leonard, “whether it’s scoring goals, making plays, or providing good energy for this team. I’m just trying to be more responsible with every single puck decision I get and see where the game takes me.”
Lately, it has taken him to the right side of a line with Brandon Duhaime and McMIchael, a line that has performed well in a small sample size of just under 50 minutes at 5-on-5 and has taken only 30 percent of its draws in the offensive end of the ice.
“You just want to be reliable and have that impact,” says Leonard. “So, if we have to start in the [defensive] zone, then so be it, and we’ll play against whatever line we’re out there against, but try to just give them nothing and just play the way that all three of us are capable of playing.”
In The Nets – Coming off a stellar start that resulted in his 11th win of the season in the trip opener on Sunday against the Islanders in New York, Logan Thompson gets the net for Washington tonight. He made 30 saves on 31 shots in Sunday’s 4-1 win over the Islanders.
Per Sportlogiq, Thompson saved 3.54 goals above expected on Sunday, his second highest goals saved above expected figure this season; he was at 3.77 GSAE in a 5-1 win over the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Oct. 24, a game Carbery said Thompson “stole” for the Capitals after that contest.
Lifetime against Los Angeles, Thompson is 5-2-0 in seven appearances (all starts) with a 2.38 GAA and a .924 save pct.
Ex-Caps goaltender Darcy Kuemper is the expected starter for the Kings tonight. During his days in DC, Kuemper was often plagued by a lack of offensive support, and with Los Angeles, he still tends toward the bottom half of the League in that regard. Among the 57 goaltenders who have made at least 10 appearances this season, Kuemper ranks tied for 47th – with his Kings goaltending partner Anton Forsberg – at 2.44 goals for per game.
Although he has eight wins in 17 starts, Kuemper has helped the Kings to a point in 13 of his 17 starts (8-4-5).
In six career starts and appearances against his former team, Kuemper is 2-4-0 with a shutout, a 2.38 GAA and a .921 save pct.
All Down The Line – Here’s how the Capitals and the Kings might look on Tuesday night in Los Angeles:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
72-Beauvillier, 17-Strome, 8-Ovechkin
21-Protas, 34-Sourdif, 43-Wilson
22-Duhaime, 24-McMichael, 9-Leonard
15-Milano, 29-Lapierre, 53-Frank
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
6-Chychrun, 3-Roy
38-Sandin, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
79-Lindgren
Healthy Extras
47-Chisholm
52-McIlrath
87-Trineyev
Injured/Out
26-Dowd (upper body)
80-Dubois (lower body)
LOS ANGELES
Forwards
22-Fiala, 55-Byfield, 9-Kempe
96-Kuzmenko, 11-Kopitar, 12-Moore
40-Armia, 24-Danault, 14-Laferriere
39-Malott, 15-Turcotte, 10-Perry
Defensemen
44-Anderson, 6-Edmundson
2-Dumoulin, 92-Clarke
43-Moverare, 5-Ceci
Goalies
35-Kuemper
31-Forsberg
Healthy Extras
79-Helenius
Injured/Out
8-Doughty (lower body)
37-Foegele (upper body)
