With the Stanley Cup heading back to Boston, it's time for every NHL team to evaluate its roster and see how it can retool for next season. The analysts of Hockey Prospectus provide some help, identifying the biggest shortcoming on every NHL roster using their GVT valuation metric (explained here) and offering a unique suggestion on how to fix it for 2011-12. The series continues Monday with fixes for the five teams in the Southeast Division, where the talented Capitals are still missing a critical ingredient.
Washington Capitals
The hole: Offensive grit
The Capitals, once again, struck out in pursuit of playoff success. The team hasn't gotten past the second round since becoming a powerhouse a few years ago. With the likes of Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom, one would think the team is stacked up front. That is not entirely true; in fact, the team's biggest need is up front.