When you run through the numbers associated with the Washington Capitals, they’re quite staggering: goaltender Braden Holtby has 45 wins on the season and is on pace to eclipse Martin Brodeur’s single-season record of 48. The 23-year old Evgeny Kuznetsov is tied for fourth in the NHL in scoring in just his second full season. Alex Ovechkin leads the NHL in goals and will likely win his fourth Rocket Richard trophy in a row.  But perhaps the most compelling stat is the one compiled by the team as a whole: they are on pace for 125 points, the most by any team since the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings racked up 131. And when you consider the way they’ve manhandled the rest of the league, losing just 16 games in regulation, it’s not a stretch to call them one of the most dominant teams in North American professional sports in the last 20 years.  From a national perspective however, you wouldn’t know it.  The Capitals haven’t garnered the attention in the US that a team of its stature in another sport might. Hockey is still defined by regional pockets of hyper-interest across the United States (Canada, of course, is a different story) but with continued success from NHL teams in California, Florida and the likely first overall pick in the upcoming draft, Auston Matthews, hailing from Arizona, interest in the league will likely rise. Add in bona-fide star-power on the Capitals, including Holtby and the ever-marketable Ovechkin and you have a team that should be more celebrated than they are.  Related: Does the NHL have a tanking problem?  “It does feel like their season has escaped notice of a lot of people,” says Chris Stone, Sports Illustrated’s managing editor. Sports Illustrated followed the Capitals during a back-to-back road trip for a January issue. Even in the winter with the endless sunshine of baseball season months away, hockey does not gain the coverage that football and basketball do. Stone says that when publishing hockey stories for a national audience, Sports Illustrated has to select hockey stories that will provide “a good chance of roping in the more casual sports fan.”  The Capitals’ .750 winning percentage, now light years ahead of their closest competition, has largely gone unnoticed with the casual sports fans Stone describes. On 15 March they became the first team to clinch a playoff birth. That achievement may not have moved the needle nationally, and it also wasn’t cause for excitement for the Capitals themselves.  “Our focus is a little down the road,” the Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan told the Guardian. “We want to be successful in the playoffs: that’s our focus.”  Even within the NHL news cycle itself, the Capitals aren’t the talk of the league in the way that the upstart Florida Panthers, with their aging stars and celebrity fans, are. Perhaps the Capitals aren’t garnering more attention because we’ve seen this movie before: since 2007-08 they have won their division five times.  And the Capitals have not advanced past the second round of the NHL playoffs since then either. That’s why many are still hesitant to go all in on this team, despite their once-in-a-generation season.  “Part of it is the stigma hanging over us that we haven’t been successful in the playoffs,” says MacLellan. “For a certain segment of the media and fans they’re waiting for us to show them something in the playoffs and then we’ll give you credit for the season you’ve had. That’s part of the narrative that’s out there.”  Related: Brandon Saad: my family's struggle in Syria has been an eye-opener  Nevertheless, he still believes that they should be able to enjoy the success they’ve had this year. It’s success largely dependent on the immensely talented roster and allied with the leadership of head coach Barry Trotz, now in his second season with the Capitals. Trotz’s May 2014 hiring was announced on the same day that MacLellan was promoted from assistant GM.  The core of this roster, including Ovechkin, Holtby and playmaker Nicklas Backstrom, was in place when the pair were hired but the peripheral moves, including a trade for forward TJ Oshie and a move for former Conn Smythe Trophy winner and three-time Stanley Cup champion Justin Williams as a free agent have solidified their place as one of the few legitimate Stanley Cup threats. “I don’t know that you could’ve predicted it but it’s come together for us basically as we thought it would,” says MacLellan of the roster.  Since the start of the season, MacLellan has noticed changes in the way the Capitals are covered by the media. “They recognize what the coaching staff has done,” he says. “The maturity level of our players and how we play in close games.”  But both the Washington media and your average sports fan in the nation’s capital aren’t as convinced. I posed the question to Zac Boyer, sports editor at the Washington Times: is your average Washington-based sports fan convinced of the Capitals capabilities?  “No,” says Boyer. “They’ve been so successful with different coaches in different years that people accept the fact that after two playoff series, that’s going to be it for them. There’s a hesitancy to buy in because you don’t want to go too far and then have your heart broken.”  Boyer adds that there hasn’t been increased coverage of the team from the Times and he doesn’t think there’s any sizeable difference compared to past regular seasons. “If it happens, it’ll happen in a couple weeks,” says Boyer, referring to the beginning of the Stanley Cup playoffs.  One theory is that the Capitals’ season has been eclipsed on a national level by the outlandishly successful season the NBA’s Golden State Warriors are having as they chase the Chicago Bulls’ record for wins in a season. But the Warriors have succeeded where the Capitals have not, delivering on the regular season hype with an equally consistent and dominating NBA Championship title last year.  Make no mistake then: as both the Capitals and the Warriors tear their respective regular season opponents to shreds, there is no sense comparing the two. Where the Capitals have struggled to appeal to casual fans, the Warriors have not. They are a generational phenomenon and have moved beyond the bounds of basketball. The Warriors have gracefully entered the pop culture lexicon.  The Capitals, however, still have a lot to prove.  All the pieces for domination of the hockey world and possible mass media attention are in place for the Washington Capitals. All, except that NHL title. Then, with a Stanley Cup victory, and only then, will the Washington Capitals win over the hearts of many.  “We know,” says MacLellan, “we’re going to be judged by what we do in the playoffs.”
Washington are one of the most dominant NHL teams of recent times but they’ve been overshadowed by past failings ... and a certain NBA team in California