Strength of schedule
Washington Capitals Strength of Schedule 2026-27
Washington Capitals faces the 19th-easiest remaining schedule in the NHL: −0.13 standings points against an average slate over 75 games (opponents' points % .561). Over the next 10 days: 3 games, the 12th-easiest slate (+0.06), 1 on off-nights and 1 back-to-back.
| Window | GP | H/R | Edge | Rank | Opp P% | Opp xGF% | B2B | Rest +/− | Off-night | Travel km |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| So far | 9 | 6/3 | −0.17 | 21 | .584 | 52.0 | 2 | 2/2 | 5 | 3,388 |
| Next 10 days | 3 | 2/1 | +0.06 | 12 | .560 | 48.2 | 1 | 2/1 | 1 | 912 |
| Rest of season | 75 | 36/39 | −0.13 | 19 | .561 | 50.0 | 12 | 19/18 | 42 | 55,577 |
| Full season | 84 | 42/42 | −0.29 | 18 | .563 | 50.2 | 14 | 21/20 | 47 | 58,965 |
| Week 4 | 2 | 2/0 | +0.13 | 7 | .563 | 50.9 | 0 | 1/0 | 0 | 0 |
Rank: 1 = easiest of 32. Edge: standings points against an average slate of the same length.
Washington Capitals team page · week 4 (Oct 19-25) for every team
Game-by-game calendar
Coloured by opponent strength (points % rank, blended with last season). The percentage is how often an average team wins that game at that venue. Played games are faded with the result.
- Top 6
- 7th–13th
- 14th–19th
- 20th–26th
- Bottom 6
October 2026 · 12 games
- Fri, Oct 2@ CAR 36%W 5-2 · off-night
- Sat, Oct 3@ TBL 39%L 1-3 · B2B
- Wed, Oct 7vs PIT 56%W 5-3 · off-night · 1,318 km
- Fri, Oct 9vs NYR 55%W 3-1 · off-night
- Sun, Oct 11vs SEA 56%L 3-5 · off-night
- Tue, Oct 13@ CAR 36%L 2-4
- Wed, Oct 14vs MTL 49%W 5-4 · B2B · off-night
- Sat, Oct 17vs NJD 55%W 4-2
- Tue, Oct 20vs LAK 58%L 2-5
- Sat, Oct 24vs BUF 48%
- Wed, Oct 28vs PHI 57%off-night
- Thu, Oct 29@ NSH 48%B2B
November 2026 · 12 games
- Sun, Nov 1vs MIN 47%off-night
- Tue, Nov 3vs DAL 46%
- Sat, Nov 7vs FLA 54%
- Tue, Nov 10@ OTT 42%off-night
- Thu, Nov 12@ NJD 48%
- Sat, Nov 14vs NJD 55%
- Tue, Nov 17@ TBL 39%1,318 km
- Thu, Nov 19vs BUF 48%1,318 km
- Sat, Nov 21@ BOS 40%
- Wed, Nov 25vs PHI 57%
- Fri, Nov 27vs FLA 54%
- Sat, Nov 28@ STL 49%B2B · 1,142 km
December 2026 · 14 games
- Tue, Dec 1vs VAN 70%off-night · 1,142 km
- Thu, Dec 3@ EDM 41%3,195 km
- Sat, Dec 5@ CGY 56%
- Mon, Dec 7@ VAN 63%off-night
- Thu, Dec 10@ SEA 49%
- Sat, Dec 12@ COL 38%1,641 km
- Tue, Dec 15@ DAL 39%1,066 km
- Thu, Dec 17vs DET 55%off-night · 1,904 km
- Sat, Dec 19vs STL 56%off-night
- Mon, Dec 21@ TOR 51%off-night
- Sat, Dec 26vs CBJ 57%
- Mon, Dec 28vs EDM 48%off-night
- Wed, Dec 30@ NYI 46%off-night
- Thu, Dec 31@ CBJ 50%B2B · off-night
January 2027 · 14 games
- Sat, Jan 2vs OTT 49%
- Mon, Jan 4vs TOR 58%off-night
- Wed, Jan 6@ LAK 51%off-night · 3,696 km
- Fri, Jan 8@ SJS 49%off-night
- Sun, Jan 10@ ANA 49%off-night
- Tue, Jan 12vs VGK 48%3,671 km
- Thu, Jan 14vs CAR 42%
- Sat, Jan 16vs COL 45%
- Mon, Jan 18@ PIT 49%
- Tue, Jan 19vs MTL 49%B2B · off-night
- Fri, Jan 22vs NYI 53%off-night
- Sun, Jan 24@ NJD 48%off-night
- Fri, Jan 29@ UTA 44%off-night · 3,153 km
- Sat, Jan 30@ VGK 41%B2B
February 2027 · 10 games
- Tue, Feb 2vs WPG 57%off-night · 3,356 km
- Wed, Feb 3@ FLA 47%B2B · off-night · 1,450 km
- Sat, Feb 13@ MTL 42%2,233 km
- Sun, Feb 14vs UTA 51%B2B · off-night
- Tue, Feb 16vs ANA 56%off-night
- Fri, Feb 19vs SJS 56%off-night
- Sun, Feb 21vs NSH 55%off-night
- Tue, Feb 23vs NYR 55%off-night
- Thu, Feb 25@ BOS 40%off-night
- Fri, Feb 26@ NYR 48%B2B · off-night
March 2027 · 16 games
- Mon, Mar 1@ NYI 46%off-night
- Wed, Mar 3vs CAR 42%off-night
- Fri, Mar 5@ WPG 50%off-night · 2,002 km
- Sun, Mar 7@ MIN 40%off-night
- Tue, Mar 9vs CGY 63%1,487 km
- Wed, Mar 10@ CHI 57%B2B · off-night
- Sat, Mar 13@ PIT 49%
- Mon, Mar 15vs TBL 46%off-night
- Wed, Mar 17vs NYI 53%off-night
- Thu, Mar 18@ BUF 41%B2B
- Sun, Mar 21@ NYR 48%off-night
- Tue, Mar 23vs DET 55%
- Wed, Mar 24@ DET 48%B2B · off-night
- Fri, Mar 26vs BOS 47%off-night
- Sun, Mar 28@ TOR 51%off-night
- Tue, Mar 30vs CHI 64%
April 2027 · 6 games
- Thu, Apr 1@ PHI 50%off-night
- Sat, Apr 3vs CBJ 57%
- Sun, Apr 4vs PIT 56%B2B · off-night
- Tue, Apr 6@ CBJ 50%
- Thu, Apr 8@ OTT 42%off-night
- Sat, Apr 10@ PHI 50%
How opponents see Washington Capitals
The rating other teams' schedules use for Washington Capitals after 9 games (13th of 32 by blended points %). Prior: last season pulled 40% toward the league average.
| Stat | This season | Prior | Weight | Used |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points % | .556 | .572 | 18% | .569 |
| 5v5 xGF% | 51.0 | 50.0 | 31% | 50.3 |
| Goals for / GP | 3.33 | 3.14 | 23% | 3.19 |
| Goals against / GP | 3.22 | 2.97 | 23% | 3.03 |
| Shots against / GP | 29.2 | 28.0 | 47% | 28.6 |
| Pts allowed to C / GP | 2.89 | 2.89 | 18% | 2.89 |
| Pts allowed to W / GP | 4.11 | 3.08 | 18% | 3.26 |
| Pts allowed to D / GP | 1.56 | 2.05 | 18% | 1.96 |
How much does schedule matter?
Not much over a season, more over a week. With perfect hindsight about every opponent, a normal 82-game NHL schedule moved a team by at most about 2.0 standings points from an average one (2018-19 to 2025-26; the 2020-21 divisional season was the exception at a standard deviation of 1.9).
Forecasting test: we trained on 2018-19 to 2022-23 and tested on 2023-24 to 2025-26 (96 team-seasons). At game 41, adding the remaining schedule to a team's own blended rating left the error of its rest-of-season points % unchanged (0.0810 without, 0.0810 with). A one-standard-deviation tougher remaining schedule is worth about 0.7 standings points over 41 games. That is noise next to a team's own quality, so we do not treat season SOS as a betting or futures edge.
Single games are different: a team facing an opponent one standard deviation weaker in goals against scores about 0.23 more goals that night (holdout 2023-24 to 2025-26, 7,872 team-games). Game lines already price the opponent, so this helps fantasy lineups, not bets.
How strength of schedule is measured
For every game we take the opponent's rating and ask how many standings points an average NHL team would expect against it, at that venue. Adding those up over a window and comparing with an average slate of the same length gives the schedule edge in standings points: positive means easier. The opponent rating is points %, blended with last season early in the year. Opponent xGF%, goals and shots per game are shown beside it.
Opponent ratings this early carry a lot of last season: on Oct 21 the typical team has played 9 games, so its rating is 18% this season and the rest last season. Over a full season even perfect knowledge of every opponent moves a team only about ±2 standings points.
For fantasy, short windows matter most: the next 10 days and the fantasy week, where off-nights, back-to-backs and weak opponents stack up. For standings or futures, treat the season numbers as a tiebreaker, not a forecast.
Metropolitan Division schedules
Frequently asked questions
Does Washington Capitals have an easy schedule in 2026-27?
Washington Capitals faces the 19th-easiest remaining schedule in the NHL: −0.13 standings points against an average slate over 75 games (opponents' points % .561). Over the next 10 days: 3 games, the 12th-easiest slate (+0.06), 1 on off-nights and 1 back-to-back.
How many back-to-backs does Washington Capitals have left?
12 of its remaining 75 games are the second night of a back-to-back, with 55,577 km of travel still to come.