Capitals Open 2026-27 Season With Major Test Against Defending Champion Hurricanes
By Brian Hradsky
The Washington Capitals will not get an easy introduction to the 2026-27 NHL season.
Washington opens its season Friday night against the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET as the Capitals begin an important season with a Metropolitan Division matchup against one of the NHL’s premier teams.
The opener will provide an immediate measuring stick for a Washington roster that underwent significant changes during the offseason. The Capitals added considerable offensive talent and size around their returning core, and expectations are considerably different after Washington narrowly missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season.
Washington finished 43-30-9 in 2025-26 while going 17-7-2 against Metropolitan Division opponents. Carolina went 53-22-7 and 24-4-2 within the division before ultimately winning the Stanley Cup.
Now the Capitals get an opportunity to find out immediately how their revamped roster stacks up against the defending champions.
Ovechkin Expected to Play
The biggest news entering Friday concerns Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin.
Ovechkin missed Washington’s preseason games while dealing with a lower-body injury, but the 41-year-old returned to practice and said Thursday that he will be ready for the opener. Head coach Spencer Carbery had previously said he expected Ovechkin to be available unless he suffered a setback.
Having Ovechkin available is particularly important against Carolina.
Ovechkin enters his 22nd NHL season with 929 career goals and remains the centerpiece of Washington’s offense. He led the Capitals with 32 goals and 64 points last season, continuing his remarkable scoring production even at age 40.
Friday will also begin another historic season for the Capitals captain. Ovechkin will become one of only a handful of players in NHL history to spend 22 seasons with one franchise, joining a group that includes Gordie Howe, Alex Delvecchio, Stan Mikita and Steve Yzerman.
Capitals Have a Much Deeper Offense
Washington will look significantly different around Ovechkin.
General manager Chris Patrick aggressively upgraded the roster during the offseason, acquiring Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou while signing Boone Jenner. Washington also added defenseman Vincent Desharnais as it reshaped a roster that fell short of the postseason last spring.
Those moves have created impressive offensive depth.
Washington’s opening-night roster features 11 players who have produced at least one 20-goal NHL season. Six have reached 30 goals at least once. That group includes Ovechkin, Tuch, Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Kyrou, Jenner, Aliaksei Protas, Jakob Chychrun, Anthony Beauvillier and Ryan Leonard.
That depth could make Washington considerably more difficult to defend.
Opposing teams have long focused their attention on Ovechkin, particularly on the power play. Washington now has enough proven scoring talent throughout the lineup to punish teams that concentrate too heavily on stopping its captain.
Kyrou brings speed and another legitimate scoring threat. Tuch adds size, power and finishing ability. Jenner gives Washington another experienced forward capable of contributing in several situations.
Combine those additions with Strome, Wilson, Dubois, Protas and Leonard, and Carbery has considerably more options for constructing his forward lines.
Ryan Leonard Begins an Important Season
Ryan Leonard will also be one of the Capitals worth watching closely.
Leonard scored 20 goals during the 2025-26 season and now enters his age-21 campaign as an established part of Washington’s young core.
His combination of physicality, competitiveness and scoring ability fits the style Washington wants to play. The additions of veteran scorers around him should also prevent opponents from concentrating as much attention on Washington’s younger forwards.
Leonard does not have to carry the offense.
He simply needs to continue developing while becoming another dangerous option in what could be one of Washington’s deepest forward groups in years.
Young Capitals Get Major Opportunity
Washington will also enter the season with several young players assuming significant responsibilities.
Twenty-year-old defenseman Cole Hutson is expected to play an important role, particularly with Rasmus Sandin unavailable following the ACL injury he suffered in April. Sandin has resumed skating but is expected to miss a significant portion of the first half of the season.
Ilya Protas is another intriguing player.
The younger brother of Aliaksei Protas is expected to begin his rookie season at center, with the Capitals planning to use the brothers together to help Ilya adjust to the NHL. Carbery has emphasized how having Aliaksei alongside him could help the younger Protas become comfortable with the responsibilities of playing center at the NHL level.
Facing Carolina immediately will provide a difficult test for Washington’s younger players.
There may not be a better opponent for exposing mistakes.
Washington’s Size Could Matter
One characteristic jumps off the Capitals’ opening-night roster: size.
Washington has nine players listed at least 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds. That includes Protas, Ilya Protas, Wilson, Dubois, Tuch and Strome among the forwards, Desharnais and Dylan McIlrath on defense and Logan Thompson in goal.
The Capitals should be capable of making games physically exhausting.
Against Carolina, that could become particularly important along the boards and around both nets. The Hurricanes traditionally thrive when they can establish possession, create pressure and repeatedly send pucks toward the net.
Washington cannot allow Carolina to dictate the game territorially.
The Capitals need to use their size to win puck battles, protect possession and prevent Carolina from creating extended offensive-zone shifts.
Defending Champions Provide Immediate Challenge
Carolina represents about as difficult an opening-night opponent as Washington could face.
The Hurricanes won 53 games last season and dominated Metropolitan Division competition with a 24-4-2 divisional record. They scored 3.6 goals per game while allowing 2.9 before continuing their run through the postseason and winning the Stanley Cup.
Carolina will be without Seth Jarvis, who is sidelined with a shoulder injury. That removes an important offensive player from the Hurricanes’ lineup, but Carolina still possesses plenty of talent led by Sebastian Aho.
Washington cannot afford a slow opening period.
Carolina’s aggressive pressure can turn turnovers into scoring opportunities quickly. The Capitals will need clean exits from their defensive zone and smart decisions through the neutral zone.
Trying to force difficult passes through Carolina’s pressure could become costly.
Goaltending Will Be Critical
Washington’s goaltending could also become one of the biggest factors Friday.
Logan Thompson gives the Capitals an established option in net, and Washington’s increased offensive depth should reduce some of the pressure on its goaltenders compared with seasons in which the Capitals frequently needed low-scoring games to win.
Carolina has Pyotr Kochetkov available after an injury-shortened 2025-26 season. Kochetkov recently signed a two-year contract extension after appearing in only nine games last season, going 6-2-0 with a 2.33 goals-against average.
Regardless of who starts, Washington needs to generate traffic.
Carolina generally does an excellent job controlling shots and protecting dangerous areas. Washington cannot settle for harmless attempts from the perimeter.
Wilson, Tuch, Dubois, Jenner and the Protas brothers give the Capitals plenty of size to establish position around the crease.
They need to use it.
Three Keys for the Capitals
The first key will be surviving Carolina’s early pressure. The Hurricanes will have the energy of their home crowd behind them, and Washington cannot allow the defending champions to spend the opening 10 minutes controlling possession.
Second, Washington needs production beyond Ovechkin. The offseason was built around creating a deeper offense, and Friday provides the first opportunity for Tuch, Kyrou, Jenner and the rest of the revamped forward group to demonstrate what that depth can mean.
Finally, Washington must stay disciplined. Giving Carolina repeated power-play opportunities on the road is an easy way to lose control of the game. The Capitals can play physically without taking unnecessary penalties.
A Difficult Opening Weekend
Friday is only the beginning of a challenging start.
Washington will travel immediately to Florida after the game to face the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday night. The Capitals then return to Washington for their home opener against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins Wednesday, Oct. 7.
That makes the Carolina game particularly interesting.
Washington will have little time to correct mistakes before playing again. Carbery will need to manage his lineup and minutes while also trying to establish chemistry among several new players.
An opening back-to-back against Carolina and Tampa Bay should tell the Capitals plenty about where they stand.
MSB Take
This might be the perfect opening game for Washington.
Carolina is the defending Stanley Cup champion, the game is on the road and the Hurricanes have consistently been one of Washington’s toughest Metropolitan Division opponents. There will be no easing into the season.
The Capitals look much deeper than they did a year ago. Adding Tuch, Kyrou and Jenner to an offense that already includes Ovechkin, Strome, Wilson, Dubois, Protas and Leonard gives Washington legitimate scoring options throughout the lineup.
The biggest question is how quickly everything comes together.
Washington has the talent and size to make this a difficult game for Carolina, but the Hurricanes will punish turnovers and defensive mistakes. The Capitals need to withstand the opening pressure, get strong goaltending and make Carolina defend Washington’s new offensive depth.
Most importantly, Ovechkin appears ready to go.
The NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer beginning his 22nd season in Washington against the defending Stanley Cup champions gives the Capitals’ opener plenty of intrigue.
Game Information: Washington Capitals at Carolina Hurricanes, Friday, Oct. 2, 7 p.m. ET at Lenovo Center in Raleigh. The game will be televised locally on Monumental Sports Network.
