Screenshot: Washington Capitals
Saturday was “Holiday” for the Washington Capitals. Today symbolically marks the final day of the 2022-23 season for the team, as the players hold final meetings with management and keep their final media available with the local press.
The Washington Capitals’ 2018 Stanley Cup may seem like a distant memory to some, with a number of key players leaving, back-to-back first-round playoff appearances and no postseason appearance entirely this season happening since. However, the drive to get back into the NHL’s winner’s circle is as fresh as ever on the minds of those who’ve tried it before.
“It’s very difficult to stand here after a year and be excited about the year,” said defender John Carlsson, one of the remaining members of the 2018 squad. So it doesn’t lose sight of how hard it is to be that one team, so from that point of view I think there’s always enough motivation whether I win or not, to either do it again or keep chasing it.”
With the Capitals losing the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in nine seasons, the team and head coach Peter Laviolette, whose contract was due to expire June 30, mutually agreed to part ways yesterday.
“I think we all hold each other accountable,” said Carlson, who played under six coaches during his time in Washington. [like you said] business side of it. And I learned a lot from him, and I have a huge amount of respect for him as a coach and as an individual. But when you sit here after this year, that’s what it is.”
Carlson, who missed three months after taking a pinch to the head in a December 23, 2022 game against the Winnipeg Jets, also cited inconsistent play as the primary reason for the team’s poor finish.
“I think we could have gotten off to a better start. It forced us into November and December to go racing, if you will. And that’s cool and all, but the way things work in this league, from what I’ve seen, is you can’t keep a series going.” Big losses and we had a lot of them this year… This is the first thing.”
“We’ve, at least, had a really good run of those kind of floats and it gives you a chance if we don’t have so many big losing streaks, so I think consistency was probably the name of the game in terms of that.”
To hear Carlson’s full comments, see below: