Ilya Samsonov (Caps Outsider)
While Year One of the post-Braden Holtby era could have been better, the Washington goaltenders did not deserve the disrespect served up by ESPN, which ranked them as the seventh-worst duo in the league, a placement that completely overlooks the talent of this unit.
In recent history, Washington has shown a knack for drafting and developing goalies — some notable names from the past two decades include Semyon Varlamov, Michal Neuvirth, Holtby, Philipp Grubauer, Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov. For the Caps to spend another year contending, the goalie corps will need to take a step in the right direction.