Washington Capitals

The Washington Capitals are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C., and compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference. The Capitals were founded in 1974 as an expansion franchise, alongside fellow NHL teams Kansas City Scouts and Colorado Rockies; all three franchises began play that year. The franchise is owned by Monumental Sports & Entertainment, headed by Ted Leonsis.

In their 44 years of existence, the Capitals have won six division titles, four conference championships and one Stanley Cup championship (2018). They reached the playoffs 22 times since entering into league play—including every season from 2007 to 2018 with nine straight 100+ point seasons from 2008-09 through 2016–17 making them one of seven teams to have such streak during that time period —and qualified for five consecutive Stanley Cup Finals appearances between 1998–99 and 2002–03 where they made two trips to Game 7s but lost both series’. Since becoming competitive again towards end 2000s decade after missing playoffs 8 out 10 previous campaigns due lack or quality players & management issues among other factors: From 2007 until 2019 they had captured 16 playoff berths while notching 4 Presidents’ Trophy honors which led NHL most wins 5 different occasions over last 12 seasons along another 3 2nd place finishes overall standings prior 2020 campaign when COVID19 pandemic forced shortened regular season schedule resulting them finishing 6th spot on East only first round exit past 13 yrs – extending longest active postseason drought 15yrs running at present date 2021

The current head coach is Peter Laviolette who was hired on September 14th 2020 replacing Todd Reirden following loss 1st round 2019/2020 outing against Carolina Hurricanes . He leads squad captained veteran center Nicklas Backstrom featuring core roster talents including Alex Ovechkin RW , John Carlson D & Braden Holtby G . With addition up incoming young talent around those veterans like Ilya Samsonov , Evgeny Kuznetsov C , Jakub Vrana LW amongst others plus key free agent signings throughout recent offseasons; Caps hope continue sustaining success going forward aiming reclaim top spot Metro Divison title chase become legitimate contenders once more long run upcoming months ahead