In the Keeping Karlsson Fantasy Hockey Podcast’s 31 Beats series, Elan and Brian are on a league-wide odyssey to explore the fantasy present and future landscapes of each of the NHL’s 31 teams, gathering info by interviewing the people who know them best: beat writers!

In this episode Elan is joined by Samantha Pell to talk all about the Washington Capitals. Topics discussed include:

• What caused the slow down at the end of the season?
• Will Ovechkin ever slow down?
• Which of Backstrom/Kuznetsov will center each of the top 2 lines?
• Can Vrana do even better?
• Will Wilson remain in the top 6?
• How ready is McMichael?
• Was Carlson’s season for real?
• Who of Holtby or Samsonov will be the playoff starter?
• Will Holtby re-sign?
• and more!

Follow Samantha on Twitter @SamanthaJPell and read all of her work at The Washington Post.

Players discussed on this episode include Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Jakub Vrana, Tom Wilson, Connor McMichael, Ilya Kovalchuk, T.J. Oshie, John Carlson, Dmitry Orlov, Alexander Alexeyev, Braden Holtby, Ilya Samsonov and more.

It’s time once again for our annual Keeping Karlsson Playoff Pool! Read all about our innovative elimination re-draft format and sign up here.

We always invite and appreciate your feedback. Let us know what you think @keepingkarlsson.

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