Thoughts After 3 Games

Pretty much agree with all your points there. I really have liked Chara so far, but I'm interested to see if he slows down as the season goes on just because of his age. If he can play like this all year, he might be tough to take out of the lineup.

I think the low shots on goal totals are a hold-over from the Trotz/Reirden eras' thinking of quality over quantity. That, to me, is a big reason why the Capitals consistently outperform their expected goals rate, but I think quantity can lead to more quality scoring chances. Lavy has preached quantity, so we'll see how the team adjusts. Main thing is trying not to make the extra pass (that we're essentially known for at this point) and putting pucks on net instead.

To me, the biggest difference I've seen on the ice so far this year is the quality of zone entries. It hasn't paid dividends on the possession metrics quite yet, but I think that'll lead to more success.