Will the Caps finally be spared from injuries?

Squad's Strong Points

Nick Bailen, Jakob Lilja, Konstantin Komarek and Shane Gersich are expected to drastically increase the squad's offensive potential (which was manageable at 5-on-5 recently).

Some defensive lapses are factored in with Bailen, but there is no equivalent player in the ICE, both as a PP point man and as an offensive catalyst. Lilja probably won't generate a huge "wow" factor but should be able to win many pucks in close quarters as a strong and intelligent player.

On paper, three interesting pairs are ready: super-playmaker Linden Vey/Lilja, Komarek/Gersich (offensively talented, can move to center as a winger but can also go unnoticed), and Wallner/Peeters.

Bailen and the underrated Simon Bourque should be the two more offensive defenders; overall, eight league-capable defenders are available.

Nelson Nogier, team defenders Ramon Schnetzer and Dominic Hackl (finally injury-free last season) are already locks, plus Devin Steffler, Lorenz Lindner, and Raphael Wolf. This even creates an excess when fully staffed.

In addition to the offensive pairings mentioned above, Scott Kosmachuk (saved by his ongoing contract) and Jeremy Gregoire (if consistently fit) offer further options with scoring potential.

Add to that Benjamin Lanzinger, Marco Richter, Christoph Kromp, Sam Antonitsch, and Felix Koschek, who is likely to secure a spot in the lineup. This already makes 13 forwards who can play in this league. The Caps should not fail due to a lack of depth this year.

Injuries have paved the Caps' path for years, and Mike Stewart immediately saw this firsthand during his first preparation – at times, six players were out simultaneously. Komarek (completely absent so far), Schnetzer (injured during a show practice!), and the goalies missed almost the entire pre-season.

Despite all the depth – key players should ideally stay healthy, otherwise some players will once again have to punch above their weight class.

Discussions in the industry regarding the goalie duo Sebastian Wraneschitz/Max Zimmermann (returned after years) never revolved around their upside – the question was always "How long will they stay healthy?" The answer: Not even until the preseason.

Both continued their injury and health problems (which for Wraneschitz have spanned years), soon reporting out. Then came Swedish player Adam Reideborn as a replacement, who is also supposed to be a top-class player (legs & stick work!).

Whether he stays beyond October or not: It's hard to imagine that the originally touted duo has built up enough trust after this summer to forgo an import goalie.

Even if things should improve this year – the gap to the Top 6 last season was a considerable 17 points, and none of those teams seem to have become significantly weaker over the summer.

After three dismal seasons, will the big reset succeed in the standings as well?

Even before Reideborn's arrival, two foreign player spots were open, and something could still happen here. However, according to their own statements, the budget was already exhausted, but such statements usually don't last long. 

It's rather unlikely that a 'net' solution will be used again for the goalie position...

Outlook

"The Caps should be significantly stronger this year, but I've been saying that for three years" - so says a league manager.

A certain skepticism is warranted, but a new coach, new quality, and squad depth should finally bring playoffs back to Kagran...