34 Facts About Washington Capitals

The Capitals initially played their home games at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, before moving to the arena now known as Capital One Arena in Washington, D C in 1997.

Washington Capitals were founded in 1974 as an expansion franchise, alongside the Kansas City Scouts, and struggled throughout its first eight years of existence.

Washington Capitals have retired the use of four numbers in honor of four players.

The Washington Capitals are presently affiliated with two minor league teams: the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League and the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL.

Washington Capitals's first act as owner was to hire Hall of Famer Milt Schmidt as general manager.

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The Washington Capitals had few players with professional experience and were at a disadvantage against the long-standing teams that were stocked with veteran players.

The Washington Capitals finally made the Wales Conference Finals in 1990, but went down in a four-game sweep at the hands of the first-place Boston Bruins.

The Washington Capitals won six overtime games, three in each of their series against the Bruins and Sabres.

The Washington Capitals went on to win back-to-back Southeast Division titles in 2000 and 2001, yet both years lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Penguins.

However, after Adam Oates was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Washington Capitals failed to defend their division title and missed the playoffs in 2002 despite a winning record.

Washington Capitals returned to the playoffs in 2003, but disappointed fans again by losing in six games to the Tampa Bay Lightning after starting off with a two-game lead in the best-of-seven first-round series.

Jagr had never lived up to expectations during his time with the Washington Capitals, failing to finish among the league's top scorers or make the postseason All-Star team.

Several other Washington Capitals played part or all of the lost season in Europe, including Olaf Kolzig, Brendan Witt, Jeff Halpern, and Alexander Semin.

Washington Capitals finished third overall in the NHL in scoring and tied for third in goals, and his 425 shots not only led the league, but set an NHL rookie record and was the fourth-highest total in NHL history.

Many longtime Washington Capitals had career years, with Dainius Zubrus netting 57 points, Halpern having a career-best 33 assists, Matt Pettinger putting in a career-best 20-goal, 38-point effort and seven others on the relatively young team topping 20 points for the first time.

Washington Capitals signed Swedish phenom Nicklas Backstrom, the fourth overall pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft, to a three-year entry-level contract.

The Washington Capitals became the first team in NHL history to make the playoffs after being ranked 14th or lower in their conference standings at the season's midpoint.

Washington Capitals was the first player to win an MVP award in any major sport in the Washington, D C, area since Joe Theismann won the National Football League MVP award in 1983.

The Washington Capitals were then defeated by the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in seven games.

The Washington Capitals dominated the plus-minus category, finishing with five players in the top six in the league.

The Washington Capitals made a strong push and finished with the seventh overall seed in East, drawing the defending champion Boston Bruins in the first round.

The Washington Capitals shocked the NHL by defeating the heavily favored Bruins in seven games on an overtime goal by Joel Ward.

The Washington Capitals won the first three games of the series and were looking for their first sweep in the playoffs of a best-of-seven series in franchise history.

However, the Flyers would win the next two games to send the series to a sixth game in Philadelphia; the Washington Capitals nevertheless won that series in six games to advance to the second round of the playoffs.

The Washington Capitals won their second Presidents' Trophy in a row, becoming just the seventh team in NHL history to win back-to-back Presidents' Trophies.

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The next season the Washington Capitals finished second in the division, ultimately losing to the Boston Bruins in five games of the first round of the 2021 playoffs.

NBC Sports Washington has carried Capitals games locally since its founding as Home Team Sports in 1984.

NBC Sports Washington Capitals was known as Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic from 2001 through 2017.

The Washington Wizards took priority over the Capitals on WFED in case of a conflict, leading to some games in which the only home broadcast was available via Internet streaming.

Washington Capitals took to the ice in red, white and blue jerseys featuring contrast-colored shoulders and stars on the chest and sleeves.

Since 1995, the Washington Capitals' mascot has been Slapshot, a bald eagle that wears the number 00.

Washington Capitals is a common fixture of the community and attends Capitals functions and community activities, such as the annual Pride Parade.

Washington Capitals hold an affiliation with a number of inductees to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

In 2007, Dave Fay, a sports journalist for the Washington Capitals Times was a recipient of the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award.