LANG

Last season, the injury-plagued Caps finished six points behind the division-champ Canes and out of the playoffs. Ron Wilson was axed, and AHL coach of the year Bruce Cassidy was hired. To please high-maintenance superstar Jaromir Jagr (and fill a gaping hole at center), Robert Lang was plucked out of Pittsburgh and plopped down in D.C. next to his buddy. That shake-up alone should be worth six points.

	The Big Question
	Q: Now that Jaromir Jagr has got Robert Lang, is that enough? Washington gave up a lot of goals in the preseason. They're all adjusting to a new system -- which can be both good and bad. For the time being, they're not finding much success with this new system under first-year coach Bruce Cassidy. I'm assuming Jagr will have some latitude to play a more open style than in the past. Lang is very good player, he's underrated, he produced points consistently in Pittsburgh. I can't believe that Washington had the season they had last year, and I think they will be much better this year. -- Ray Ferraro
	Good: OK, so you were expecting Jaromir Jagr to score 50 goals in his first season in D.C. Well, we were too. Look for Jagr to be a bit more motivated this time around and for him to challenge for the scoring title. He's just too good to be scoring only 31 goals. Bad: Did any Capital benefit more from having Adam Oates by his side than Chris Simon? Simon is now three years removed from his 29-goal season, and he's been quite average since then. His main strength is fighting, and he hasn't done a ton of that lately either. -- Eric Karabell
	Top Prospect
	Maxime Ouellet, G The Flyers' first-round pick in 1999, Ouellet didn't join the Portland Pirates until late in the season as part of the Adam Oates trade. Washington would love to see him get 55-60 games in net this year, plus playoffs.
	Minors Outlook
	Portland Pirates Coach Glen Hanlon has been replaced by Tim Army, and Army will have a nucleus of last year's players back, including twins Chris and Peter Ferraro. The Pirates finished a point under .500 and missed the playoffs, but a full season of the Ferraros -- Chris was out almost all year dealing with his wife's illness -- will be a major plus. -- Bill Ballou

Forwards Much like the Rangers, the Capitals make a splash with their top-end players Jaromir Jagr, Peter Bondra and Robert Lang. But they sink after that. Dainius Zubrus and Andrei Nikolishin, both still unsigned, lean more toward the depth than the quality side, although Zubrus has plenty of potential and Nikolishin is a physical faceoff specialist. Chris Simon, who struggled with consistency and injuries after holding out two years ago, has yet to show any more than flashes of his 29-goal self, but still will see time on the first or second lines. The Caps have upper-middle class depth with defensive specialists Jeff Halpern and Steve Konowalchuk , and the versatile Kip Miller, who has centered the top line in camp. Eastern Conference Position Ranking: 7th Defensemen Sergei Gonchar is the league's best goal-scoring defenseman. Unfortunately, his defense doesn't rank nearly as high. Calle Johansson, who customarily faced opponent's top units, missed a majority of last season with a shoulder injury and it's not known if he can return to top form. Brendan Witt is solid and gives the Capitals a physical presence. Outside of Ken Klee and Sylvain Cote, Washington's depth is two young defensemen -- J.F. Fortin and Nolan Yonkman -- who have 47 games of NHL experience between them. Eastern Conference Position Ranking: 7th Goalie Olie Kolzig missed two Caps games before the Olympics with a knee injury, was too hurt to play for Germany in the Games, then finished the season with a 12-4-1 stretch. Go figure. Maxime Oulette, whom the Caps got from Philadelphia in return for Adam Oates, and Sebastien Charpentier will likely share duties in Portland. There is the chance that Charpentier could supplant Craig Billington as Kolzig's backup. Billington posted his worst season since 1995-96, posting a 3.04 GAA. Eastern Conference Position Ranking: 7th

Rankings: 6th Overall
Forwards | Defensemen | Goalies

RECORD: 36-33-11-2, 85 points Rank: 19th overall 9th East 2nd Southeast Playoffs: None Home: 21-12-6-2 Road: 15-21-5-0 2001-02 results 2001-02 statistics 2002-03 schedule 2002-03 roster OFFENSE DEFENSE GOALS FOR/AVG. Overall: 228/2.78 (9th) Home: 124/3.02 (9th) Road: 104/2.54 (14th) POWER PLAY Overall: 19.4/58-299 (3rd) Home: 18.8/29-154 (5th) Road: 20.0/29-145 (3rd) GOALS AGAINST/AVG. Overall: 240/2.93 (25th) Home: 110/2.68 (23rd) Road: 130/3.17 (28th) PENALTY KILL Overall: 82.2/58-325 (24th) Home: 86.8/20-151 (10th) Road: 78.2/38-174 (30th) STATS LEADERS GOALS Peter Bondra (39) Jaromir Jagr (31) Sergei Gonchar (26) ASSISTS Adam Oates (57)* Jagr (48) Gonchar (33) POINTS Jagr (79) Bondra (70) Oates (68)* PENALTY MINUTES Chris Simon (137) Stephen Peat (85) Bondra (80) PLUS/MINUS Frantisek Kucera (+7) Dainius Zubrus (+5) Ken Klee (+4) GAA (MIN. 20 GP) Olaf Kolzig (2.79) SAVE PERCENTAGE Kolzig (.903) * - no longer with team