Washington Capitals: 2 Players Who Will Bounce Back Next Season

With the off-season starting to slow down a bit, we now have a better idea of every team's roster going into next season. Of course there will be other moves, but the craziness from the Expansion Draft and first day of free agency is officially done.

In this segment, we will be taking a look at two players from each NHL team who are set to bounce back next season. Sometimes players will have down seasons, but end up completely turning it around in the following one. This will inevitably happen for this upcoming year, too.

In this final installment, we will be looking at the Washington Capitals. They will be an interesting team to pay attention to next season. As a whole, the team will be looking to rebound after losing in the first round of the postseason for the third-straight year. These two specific players will be worth paying attention to, as they surely are bounce back candidates heading into this upcoming season.

Evgeny Kuznetsov C: At the time of this article, Evgeny Kuznetsov is still a member of the Capitals. He was one of Frank Seravalli's trade targets this off-season, so he could very well be on the move. However, if Washington decides to keep the talented forward around, he should be able to have a stronger campaign. In 41 games this season, he only scored nine goals and had 29 points. Yet, during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, he was a point-per-game player on average. He also was held off the scoresheet in all three of the postseason games he played. He is too skillful of a forward to struggle like this. Expect a turnaround year for him, whether he's on the Capitals or not.

Ilya Samsonov G: Heading into this past season, Ilya Samsonov was expected to be the team's starter. His rookie season with the team went very well, as he sported a 16-6-2 record to go along with a .913 SV%. However, his statistics notably dropped off this past year. Even with a 13-4-1 record, he had a very low .902 SV%. Vitek Vanecek also took the number one spot on the depth chart from him. When Vanecek got injured during the playoffs, Samsonov did not do well replacing him. He went 0-3 and had a .899 SV%. He also had a costly turnover that led to the game-winning OT goal in Game 3. This killed the Caps' entire momentum in the series. However, with him being just 24-years-old and having a strong rookie season, one has to believe he will turn it around.