Mailbag: Capitals potential upgrades, Avalanche peaking too soon

Here is the Feb. 16 edition of the mailbag, where we answer your questions asked on Twitter using #OvertheBoards. Tweet your questions to @drosennhl.

Have the Washington Capitals just run out of gas along with subpar goaltending? -- @TrishTheMiddle
What can the Capitals do to turn things around? -- @Moarpls2
Should the Capitals consider a trade? Or what do you think would be a good response to their ongoing challenges? -- @gdohlke79
Is Victor Olofsson a trade target for the Capitals? His left shot would help on their middling power play. They also need a goalie and another defenseman. Who all goes the other way? Carl Hagelin? Michal Kempny? -- @GLaSnoST9
With four interconnecting questions on the Capitals, why not lay them all out and examine the fourth-place team in the Metropolitan Division.
The first question covers the big picture for the Capitals, who had lost three of four and were 6-9-2 since Jan. 2 before defeating the Nashville Predators 4-1 on Tuesday. It would have been more surprising had the Capitals kept up their torrid pace through the first two and a half months of the season. They were 20-6-7 through Dec. 31 and their .712 points percentage was tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning for second in the NHL, behind the Carolina Hurricanes (.750). Washington was scoring 3.45 goals per game, fifth in the NHL, which was propping up average goaltending from Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek, who combined for a .909 save percentage in 32 games.
Washington's power play was 28th at 15.2 percent, and it was going to be hard to sustain 3.45 goals per game without help from the power play, which was net 11.1 percent because of four shorthanded goals against.
Alex Ovechkin was carrying the offensive burden; the forward was tied for the NHL lead with 24 goals and was third with 50 points. Center Evgeny Kuznetsov was second on the Capitals with 11 goals and 33 points. Ovechkin may be one of the greatest goal-scorers in NHL history, but to ask him at 36 years old and in his 17th season to continue scoring at close to a 60-goal pace was too much. He has scored 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in 16 games since Jan. 2.
Kuznetsov has scored 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in 18 games since Jan. 2. Center Nicklas Backstrom, who missed 33 of the first 36 games because of an injury and COVID-19, has scored 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in 15 games since Jan. 10. One of the reasons the numbers are low is because the power play was struggling. It is 17.0 percent with a net of 11.3 percent because of three shorthanded goals against in the past 18 games.

We can talk about goaltending, which is an issue the Capitals need to resolve if they want to be considered a Stanley Cup contender, but the prolonged sputtering offense, especially the power play, is their biggest problem.
The Capitals need to be jolted by some changes. They should attempt to improve their goaltending by acquiring someone who could play ahead of Samsonov or Vanecek. Maybe one of them has to be included in a trade with another asset or two. It's a price worth paying. They hope to have injured forwards
Anthony Mantha
(shoulder) and T.J. Oshie (upper body) back during the regular season, but getting additional depth scoring would be helpful in the short term and could be even more beneficial in the postseason, when Mantha and Oshie could be back.
It's fair to say Olofsson, a Buffalo Sabres forward, could be a target. He scored twice Tuesday against the New York Islanders, his first goals in 31 games since Nov. 21, and might be jolted by a change of scenery. Olofsson scored 20 goals in 54 games as a rookie in 2019-20, when he played a lot with center Jack Eichel, now with the Vegas Golden Knights. Olofsson scored 13 goals in 56 games last season, a 19-goal pace for an 82-game season. Olofsson could find his scoring touch again if he's traded, but I don't think the Sabres are going to actively shop him. He's a pending restricted free agent who is one year away from becoming old enough to be an unrestricted free agent. The Sabres likely will trade him if they get an offer that goes above his current value, but to trade him now, when his value is low, doesn't make sense.
I think the Colorado Avalanche are peaking too early and it scares me as a fan. -- @Kevin_McIntyre
It shouldn't scare you. The Avalanche have not been cheating for offense since they started their torrid streak Dec. 2, 23-2-3 after a 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.
It's easy to focus on their offense because it's been scorching, averaging 4.04 goals in 28 games, up from 3.95 goals per game in their first 19 games. But that takes the focus off the fact they have cut their goals against significantly. They allowed 3.37 per game in their first 19 games; that was down to 2.50 since Dec. 2. Goalie Darcy Kuemper has improved across the board, going from a .903 save percentage and 2.84 goals-against average in his first 15 games to a .930 save percentage and 2.13 GAA in his past 18.
It would be alarming if the Avalanche were scoring as much as they are at the expense of their defense. That's not happening, and that's why you should not be concerned. It's unlikely that they'll continue to score more than four goals per game in the playoffs, but they'll win a lot if they keep giving up fewer than three.

Is Moritz Seider a top 10 defenseman in the NHL? He's 13th in scoring among all defensemen and is rock solid in his own end. If he's not, how close is he? -- @RC_Tendy
I can't put him in the top 10 yet, but a strong case can be made that Seider, the Detroit Red Wings' 20-year-old rookie, is already among the top 20 defensemen in the NHL. He is tied for 10th among defensemen with 34 points (five goals, 29 assists) in 50 games. He defends well, sacrifices his body (Red Wings-high 95 blocked shots) and eats minutes (Detroit-best 22:48 of ice time per game). He's the Red Wings' best defenseman at generating puck possession with a 48.4 percent shot attempts percentage; it's more impressive by him starting 45.7 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone, fewest among Red Wings defensemen to play at least 10 games. He's as big a reason as any why the Red Wings could be playing meaningful games in the last quarter of the season. He's the best defensemen to play for the Red Wings since Nicklas Lidstrom, who retired after the 2011-12 season and is in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Just to create debate, my top 10 defensemen, in no particular order:
Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche), Victor Hedman (Tampa Bay Lightning), Roman Josi (Nashville Predators), Adam Fox (New York Rangers),
Quinn Hughes
(Vancouver Canucks), Aaron Ekblad (Florida Panthers), Miro Heiskanen (Dallas Stars), Charlie McAvoy (Boston Bruins), Kris Letang (Pittsburgh Penguins) and Jaccob Slavin (Carolina Hurricanes).
What are the Anaheim Ducks going to do at the trade deadline when it comes Josh Manson, Rickard Rakell and Hampus Lindholm? -- @punmasterrifkin
Pat Verbeek has been Ducks general manager for 13 days, not enough time to get a read on what he might be thinking when it comes to defensemen Manson and Lindholm, and forward Rakell, each in the last year of his contract and able to become an unrestricted free agent after the season.
When Verbeek was hired Feb. 4, he talked about using the time he has before the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline on March 21 to evaluate all the different options he has with them. I think the ultimate decision will come down to where or if they fit the Ducks' plans for the future.
As much as the Ducks want to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season, they are building toward the future and becoming a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. If they don't feel the cost of re-signing any or all of the three will be worth it two, three or four years down the line, my guess is they'll look to find the best trade possible, even if it hurts their chances of making the playoffs this season.
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