After missing the Stanley Cup playoffs last season, the Florida Panthers went out and acquired Brady Tkachuk from the Ottawa Senators in one of the offseason’s first big blockbuster trades. Meanwhile, the lineup got a significant boost when captain Aleksander Barkov led Finland to a World Championship in May, signaling a full recovery from a knee injury that kept him out of action all year.
Outside of either extending Sergei Bobrovsky or finding a replacement for the two-time Stanley Cup winner, with the club attached to some big names in the rumor mill, the Panthers appear to be ready to get back to the top of the mountain.
Considering the Stanley Cup stayed in the Eastern Conference for the third consecutive season, Florida will now need to wrestle the conference title from the Carolina Hurricanes if it hopes to return to the Final in 2027.
Interestingly, some new contenders emerged while the Panthers limped through the regular season, including the Atlantic Division champion, Buffalo Sabres, with the young Montreal Canadiens also collecting over 100 points. As expected, the other usual suspects stayed in contention, including the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins. But now there’s an old Southwest Division rival looking to rejoin the contender conversion: the Washington Capitals.
At 40 years old, the Capitals captain and the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer, Alex Ovechkin, has yet to commit to playing another season in 2026-27, so Washington has been busy reloading their lineup. At first glance, outsiders may think the Capitals are looking for opportunities to replace Ovechkin's production in the lineup. In contrast, others see the club's recent moves as a plea to one of the greatest to play one more year and try for another Stanley Cup.
Jordan Kyrou is on the move!
— NHL Public Relations (@NHLPR) June 24, 2026
The three-time 30-goal scorer heads to the @Capitals and is reunited with his former Sarnia Sting teammate, Jakob Chychrun.#NHLStats: https://t.co/14VT9CCWRj pic.twitter.com/YHxbGD1Yag
On Tuesday, the organization made a deal with the St. Louis Blues to bring in three-time 30-goal scorer Jordan Kyrou, in exchange for Milton Gästrin and Connor McMichael. However, the Capitals continued to make headlines on Wednesday.
A mere 24 hours later, the Sabres announced that three-time 30-goal scorer Alex Tuch would not be re-signing with the team. And a few hours later, in a sign-and-trade deal, Tuch became a member of the Capitals, while David Kämpf went to Buffalo. As the ink dried on the trade papers, Tuch agreed to an eight-year deal with an annual salary of $10.5 million.
Breaking: The Washington Capitals are finalizing a sign-and-trade for Alex Tuch from the Buffalo Sabres, sources tell @emilymkaplan.
— ESPN (@espn) June 24, 2026
Tuch will sign an eight-year extension with an averaging $10.5 million a year, sources said. The Sabres are getting a draft pick in return. pic.twitter.com/jSPiHckvwy
Last season, Washington scored 261 goals, good enough for 15th overall in the league. They averaged 3.18 goals a game, which also ranked 15th. Combined, Kyrou and Tuch combined for 51 goals in 2025-26, and if they each light the lamp for 30 apiece next season, they will either help offset Ovechkin’s absence or add to it, since The Great 8 scored 32 on his own last year to lead the team in scoring.
Meanwhile, other teams have made moves, like the Chicago Blackhawks and the aforementioned Senators. Still, neither is a legit Stanley Cup contender right now and poses no threat to the Panthers, who want to win their third title in four seasons.
However, the Capitals just came out of nowhere and reloaded their lineup on the fly, hoping to either capture lightning in a bottle for one last run with Ovechkin, or are laying the groundwork to find a new sniper for their power play.
Either way, the Capitals, who didn’t even qualify for the playoffs last season, just put the Metropolitan Division on notice, while letting other Eastern Conference teams know they won’t be a pushover in 2027.
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