14 games into the 2018 -2019 season the Washington Capitals are exceeding all expectations. They currently sit at 3 wins, 7 losses and 4 overtime losses which is good enough for 25th overall. While parts of this article will be comparing this article to expansion twin brother that is not the purpose of th article. At his start of the season power rankings Anaheim Ducks GM Devon Cordell ranked the Caps 32nd while giving his Ducks a very favorable and head scratching 24th overall. Linke even challenged him to a bet who would end up with more points which Cordell quickly declined. His Ducks currently sit at a very favorable 28th going into tonights action. Los Angeles GM Tyler Rumpel was another "expert" who was very critical of Linke's expansion draft. Linke questioned Rumpel what season did he feel the Seattle Stoners would have more points than the Caps and Rumpel's reply was "all of them".  Linke tried to defend his teams against Seattle's with a position by position analysis and asked if anyone thought he could have more points than Seattle this season. Not one GM agreed with Linke's analysis. 

As what was to be expected the Caps have trouble putting the puck in the net scoring 32 goals which is 28th overall. Defensively they have allowed 45 goals which is 24th overall. The Caps are led by 22 year old Alex Tuch who has 5 goals and 5 assists. Nic Cousins, Zegmus Girgensons and Remi Elie each have potted three goals. The top d pairing of Radko Gudas and Scott Mayfield have nine and seven helpers each.

During the expansion draft Linke drew criticism for passing on established d men to select Devon Toews. Toews currently has 4 goals and 10 assists in 15 games in the AHL.