The Washington Capitals, one of the National Hockey League’s (NHL’s) greatest anomalies over the past several seasons, a team with hockey’s most lethal sniper in Alexander Ovechkin, one of the NHL’s top pivots/playmakers in Nicklas Backstrom,  a dynamic, scoring blueline pair in John Carlson and Mike Green, a history of solid goaltending and goaltenders, several (former) Southeastern Division titles and runs at the NHL’s President’s Trophy for the most team points scored – victories, overtime and shootout loss points – only to be disappointed, year in, year out, with early exits in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

There have also been many differing personnel, style and coaching changes but, no matter the change, the results remained the same: promising regular season success, followed by usually-immediate failure.

And while the season is near the two-thirds point of the regular season and the jury is still out, the Washington Capitals have seemed to have found a direction, one that appears to be working and one that could finally lead to Stanley Cup playoff success.

Were the Stanley Cup Playoffs to start right now, the Capitals would find themselves in the 3^rd position in the NHL’s Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference’s perennial points leader, the Pittsburgh Penguins, would the Metropolitan’s Wild Card representative, evidence as to how dramatically the Metro Division’s dynamics have changed with the ascent of the New York Islanders, the ability of the New York Rangers to avoid the ‘Stanley Cup Hangover’ and particularly, the Capitals hitting their stride, particularly during the second half of the regular season.

So what has caused the improved the fortunes of the Capitals?  Perhaps it’s the stability that acquiring Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik to anchor their blueline, perhaps it’s the return of Ovechkin as the NHL’s premier sniper as well as Backstrom resuming his proclivity as one of the NHL’s top pivot-men, or maybe it’s the lethal defensive pairing of John Carlson and Mike Green to bolster their power play.

Or maybe it’s that the Capitals have taken told of Barry Trotz and his proven, defense-first philosophy and system, not to mention the impact of Trotz bringing along goaltending guru Mitch Korn to guide Capitals netminder Braden Holtby as its emerging workhorse.

Holtby has flourished under the tutelage of Korn and you need no better evidence than the massive improvements in his goaltending statistics, so far this season.  Currently, through 50 regular season games, Holtby sports an impressive 2.15 Goals Against Average (GAA) and an equally stout Save Percentage (Save %) of .925 with six shutouts which ranks him 4^th in the NHL in both categories.  When you compare this to last season’s statistics of a 2.85 GAA and a Save % of .915 and four shutouts, it’s quite easy to see that bringing in Korn has reaped immediate dividends for the young goalie.

Also worth noting as to the impact of Trotz for the Capitals is their commitment to playing team defensive hockey.  The Capitals rank 5^th in the NHL is fewest goals per game allowed at 2.42 goals allowed per game.  When compared to last season’s goals allowed per game when the Capitals ranked 21^st in this statistic, an improvement of allowing over a 1/3^rd less goal per game, combined with a jump from 2.74 goals scored for the Capitals per game to 2.95 goals per game, it results in a goal differential improvement of nearly 2/3^rds per game.

To demonstrate the Trotz impact, you need to look no further than the massive improvement in Ovechkin’s +/- figures from last season.  During the 2013-14 season, although Ovechkin also led the NHL in goals scored for the 4^th time, his +/- figures were abysmal, sporting an awful -35 +/- rating which was the worst rating in the NHL.  However, for the current season, Ovechkin has completely turned his fortunes around with a +12 +/- rating.  And while the +/- rating has taken a bit of a backseat to more modern statistics like Corsi and Fenwick possession stats, such a seismic improvement speaks volumes as to the impact on the Capitals marquee player.

While their loyal faithful have enjoyed the return to prominence of their beloved Capitals, the proof is in the pudding, even more so than with the recent playoff failings of the rival Penguins the past five Stanley Cup playoff seasons, when the playoffs begin.  However, much unlike with other past seasons, the Capitals seem to have a proven, playoff-ready system in place, a committed sniper in Ovechkin, the return of confidence of both Carlson and Green and an emerging, confident young goaltender in Holtby and one of the premier bench bosses in Trotz.

So, for perhaps for the first time since their Eastern Conference Championship season of 1997-98, the Capitals and their fans have a reason to be optimistic, assuming they qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs, that they have a legitimate chance to raise Lord Stanley’s Cup, if not this season, sometime very soon.