For the last 22 years (13 with The Hockey News) Dobber has reviewed each team from a fantasy-hockey standpoint and graded them.

The 23rd annual review will appear here on DobberHockey throughout the summer. This is not a review of the likely performance on the ice or in the standings, but in the realm of fantasy hockey both for the season ahead as well as the foreseeable future. Offensively, will the team perform? Are there plenty of depth options worthy of owning in keeper leagues? What about over the next two or three years? These questions are what I take into consideration when looking at the depth chart and the player potential on that depth chart.

Enjoy!

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For full team breakdowns, projections, category-specific options, and a whole lot more, pick up a copy of the 2025-26 Dobber Hockey Fantasy Guide today! It will be updated all through the offseason and training camps, and is available now in the Dobber Shop.

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Gone: Andrew Mangiapane, Taylor Raddysh, Lars Eller, Ethan Bear, Alexander Alexeyev

Incoming: Justin Sourdif,Graeme Clarke, Declan Chisholm

Impact of Changes: The swaps are a lot of depth roles as none of the departing forwards (Mangiapane, Raddysh, Eller) reached 30 points in 2024-25 while the defencemen (Bear and Alexeyev) combined for eight NHL games last season.

As for the forwards, Frozen Tools has Raddysh, Eller, and Mangiapane all driving the play well in third line and high-end fourth line minutes. That isn't nothing, especially when it comes to fantasy leagues that count plus/minus, or just to help their goaltenders. The Caps are going to be relying on younger options to replace those veterans, and if they can't drive the play to a similar level, that likely means a worse plus/minus for the fantasy-relevant defencemen on the ice with them, and more goals against for the net-minders.

Sourdif has only had a few games at the NHL level but signed a two-year deal with Washington. He is making under $900K, so he can be buried in the AHL, but he will require waivers if he does. Even if he doesn't play 80 games he should be an NHL regular, and can bring good levels of penalty minutes and hits in a lesser role. He can push 10 goals, 20 points, 80 PIMs, and 100 hits if he plays 70-plus games. Someone to consider for banger leagues.

Chisholm being added to the blue line is intriguing in a 'could be a very helpful depth option' way rather than a fantasy-relevant way. He drove the play well in Minnesota, but the team had a negative goal differential when he was on the ice. In fact, he had one of the largest gaps between his play-driving percentages and goal-share percentages among all defencemen over the last two seasons, so his underlying numbers far exceeded what actually happened with him on the ice (per Evolving Hockey). Maybe things turn around with a new team, and maybe not, but he's Washington's seventh defenceman anyway, so it's not a big gamble for the Caps.

Ready for Full Time: Ryan Leonard, Ivan Miroshnichenko

Washington let so many veterans go because they have forward prospects banging down the door.

Leonard played nine regular season games and eight playoff games for Washington after finishing his career at Boston College, registering two points along the way. That isn't much production, but he did have 29 shots and 29 hits across those 17 games, skating under 12:20 per game. He seems destined for a third line/second PP role, and that limits his upside, but the Fantasy Guide has him with 15 goals, 27 points, and over two shots and two hits per game. That is pretty good multi-cat production, and he could be one top-6 injury away from very meaningful fantasy minutes. If all goes well, think Matthew Knies' rookie season with more shots.

After scoring 32 goals across 100 AHL games, Miroshnichenko looks ready for full-time duties with the NHL club. Like Leonard, he is set for a third (or fourth) line role with secondary power-play time and a lot of hits (he has 78 hits in 39 career NHL games, skating under 11:00 per appearance). Unlike Leonard, Miroshnichenko isn't a genuine blue-chip prospect, and it's notable Leonard found his way to the playoff roster while Miroshnichenko did not. He will battle with the likes of Sourdif and Sonny Milano for a regular lineup spot, but he is poised to finally crack the 23-man roster on a full-time basis.

Fantasy Outlook: It is no secret that Washington rode sky-high percentages to a great regular season – per Evolving Hockey, they finished 18^th by shot rate at even strength but had the second-highest goal rate. As a team, they shot 10.7% at even strength, the highest mark for any team in a full 82-game season in the Analytics Era (since 2007). In recent seasons, the 2021-22 St. Louis Blues shot 10.5% and fell under 10% the next year, the 2022-23 Seattle Kraken shot 10.6% and followed that up with 9.8% the season after, and the Vancouver Canucks shot 10.6% in 2023-24 but just 9.4% in 2024-25. If the Caps endure a similar drop, it would take them from second in EV scoring to, at best, a fringe top-10 team, and maybe even towards the middle of the league. This would be a 20-goal drop, if not more, and that matters a lot.

That is a red flag. What makes things worse is the Caps are a team that spreads out its even-strength ice time: Frozen Tools has them with just one forward (Pierre-Luc Dubois) skating at least 29% of the team's even-strength ice time, and none skating 30%. They had zero forwards in the top-70 across the league by ice-time share at even strength, preferring to keep their veteran forwards fresh – that is how the second-highest scoring team in the league winds up with five 65-point forwards but none with more than 82. If the ice time is spread and the team's shooting percentage sees a sizeable decline (which it almost certainly will), it's a recipe for very underwhelming fantasy performances relative to expectations.

The Dobber Fantasy Guide has five forwards – Dylan Strome, Alex Ovechkin, Dubois, Connor McMichael, and Aliaksei Protas – all projected for at least 60 points. There is a slight pullback on most of their totals relative to last year, but not a big one. It is still a very talented and deep team, but we have seen teams like this underperform after a big year, and that should be a concern when considering their top options.

Jakob Chychrun and John Carlson are still anchoring the defence, and both are threats for 50 points. Carlson turns 36 years old in January and lost over two minutes per game last season with the arrivals of Chychrun and Matt Roy. At Carlson's age, performance decline is a real concern, and he may lose even more ice time. It is Chychrun who should be given preference in all fantasy formats.

Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren split starts last year, the former with 42 and the latter with 38. They straight-up alternated starts until January when Lindgren missed a couple weeks due to injury, and Thompson never started more than two in a row once Lindgren returned. Thompson may earn a few more starts this year, but barring a significant injury to, or massive underperformance by, Lindgren, Thompson cannot be relied upon for more than 50 starts. If the Caps score less than last year and Thompson makes around 45 starts, there should be concern about how high his fantasy upside is.

As with teams we've reviewed recently like St. Louis and Utah, Washington doesn't have a top-25 fantasy pick on its roster but will have several options between picks 25-150.

Fantasy Grade: B (last year was C+)

*For the rest of the Offseason Fantasy Grades series, just click here.