The Washington Capitals are ready to get their 2025-26 season underway tomorrow night at Capital One Arena when the Boston Bruins roll into town. Washington finished as the best team in the Eastern Conference with a 51-22-9 during the 2024-25 regular season. They enter the new campaign with some new additions at the bottom of the lineup, but the roster is essentially the same as last season.
Forwards (13)
| Aliaksei Protas | Dylan Strome | Alex Ovechkin |
| Connor McMichael | Pierre-Luc Dubois | Tom Wilson |
| Anthony Beauvillier | Hendrix Lapierre | Ryan Leonard |
| Brandon Duhaime | Nic Dowd | Justin Sourdif |
| *Sonny Milano (injured) |
Washington’s offense starts at the top with Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time regular-season goals leader who needs just three to become the NHL’s first 900-goal scorer. Washington’s captain will be skating alongside Strome and Protas, a trio that combined for 221 points in 2024-25.
The Capitals’ second line unit of McMichael, Dubois, and Wilson exceeded expectations last season with each member clearing the 50-point plateau. If Washington can continue to get prime-time production from their top six, it will be primed to chase down 50 wins for a second consecutive campaign.
Lapierre and Sourdiff are the newest additions to the Capitals’ bottom-six group. Meanwhile, Leonard readies for his rookie season after a 16-game test run with eight regular-season and eight playoff games in 2024-25.
Milano played in the Capitals’ first two preseason games, but he is dealing with an upper-body injury that could keep him out of the opening night lineup. This new injury is unrelated to the upper-body ailment that cost him much of his 2024-25 NHL season. He is entering the final season of a 3-year, $5.70 million extension that he signed with the Capitals in 2023.
Defensemen (8)
| Martin Fehervary | John Carlson |
| Jakob Chychrun | Trevor van Riemsdyk |
| Rasmus Sandin | Matt Roy |
| Declan Chisholm | Vincent Iorio |
| *Dylan McIlrath (injured) |
Fehervary returns to the top of the Capitals’ lineup alongside Carlson for the 2025-26 season. The Slovakian defender suffered a season-ending torn meniscus in his right knee after colliding with a New York Islanders player in Game 81 of Washington’s schedule. The injury was a significant blow to the Capitals’ defensive crew heading into the postseason.
Chychrun, van Riemsdyk, Sandin, and Roy return to the roles that enabled them to excel in Washington during the 2024-25 season. After spending several seasons with the Arizona Coyotes and the Ottawa Senators, Chychrun exploded for career highs in goals (20), assists (27), and points (47) during his first season in Washington. Roy also established a new career-high in assists (21) during his first campaign in Capitals colors after starting his career with the Los Angeles Kings.
The Capitals have elected to carry an extra defenseman on the roster after McIlrath suffered a lower-body injury in the Capitals’ final preseason game and was placed on injured reserve. Therefore, Chisholm and Iorio stick around for Washington’s season opener on Wednesday night.
Goalies (2)
| Logan Thompson | Charlie Lindgren |
There was little doubt about the Capitals’ goaltending situation entering the 2025-26 campaign. Thompson leads the way after backstopping Washington to 31 wins, while Lindgren secured an additional 20 victories in the backup role. Those performances earned in-season extensions for both goaltenders as Washington locked up its crease situation for the foreseeable future last winter.
Capitals Season Opener Is Part of TNT Doubleheader
The Capitals’ season opener against the Bruins will be part of a TNT doubleheader on Wednesday night, with the Los Angeles Kings and Vegas Golden Knights game as the second contest of the twin-billing on TNT/HBO Max. The NHL season gets underway on Oct. 7 with a triple-header on ESPN starting at 5 p.m. ET.
Related: Capitals Featured in League Leading 18 National TV Broadcasts in 2025-26
Despite Ovechkin completing his quest for the NHL’s regular-season scoring title during the 2024-25 season, Washington will still be heavily featured by NHL TV partners in 2025-26. While it is still unknown if this will be the final season for “The Great 8”, the NHL is preparing for that by featuring most of the Capitals’ schedule in April on national TV, including a home-and-home series against the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 11 and 12. Overall, Washington will have 18 games broadcast on national television in the 2025-26 season, which represents 22% of their regular-season slate, starting on Wednesday night.
