With a core of players such as Mike Gartner, Rod Langway, Larry Murphy, and Scott Stevens, they became a regular playoff contender for the next fourteen seasons.

After purchasing the team in 1999, Leonsis revitalized the franchise by drafting star players such as Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson, Braden Holtby, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson.

In addition to 13 division titles and three Presidents' Trophies, the Capitals have reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998 and 2018, winning the latter in five games against the Vegas Golden Knights.

This stood in contrast to the Scouts; they were forced to move to Denver after only two years because their original owners did not have the resources or patience to withstand the struggles of an expansion team.

[4] As his first move, Poile pulled off one of the largest trades in franchise history on September 9, 1982, when he dealt longtime regulars Ryan Walter and Rick Green to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for Rod Langway (named captain only a few weeks later), Brian Engblom, Doug Jarvis and Craig Laughlin.

This move turned the franchise around, as Langway's solid defense helped the team to dramatically reduce its goals-against, and the explosive goal-scoring of Dennis Maruk, Mike Gartner and Bobby Carpenter fueled the offensive attack.

Although they were eliminated by the three-time defending (and eventual) Stanley Cup champion Islanders three games to one, the Caps' dramatic turnaround ended any talk of the club leaving Washington.

Despite a continuous march of stars like Gartner, Carpenter, Langway, Gustafsson, Stevens, Mike Ridley, Dave Christian, Dino Ciccarelli, Larry Murphy, and Kevin Hatcher, Washington was knocked out in either the first or second round seven years in a row.

The Capitals had thoroughly dominated most of the game, outshooting the Islanders 75–52, but lost in overtime when goaltender Bob Mason was beaten on a Pat LaFontaine shot from the blue line.

In 1997–98, as the Caps opened MCI Center, Peter Bondra's 52 goals led the team, veterans Dale Hunter, Joe Juneau and Adam Oates returned to old form, and Olaf Kolzig had a solid .920 save percentage as the Caps got past the Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres (the latter on a dramatic overtime win in game 6 on a goal by Joe Juneau) en route to the team's first Stanley Cup Finals appearance.

In the summer of 2001, the Capitals landed five-time Art Ross Trophy winner Jaromir Jagr, by trading three young prospects to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

[7] Before the 2002–03 season, the Caps made more roster changes, including the signing of highly regarded Robert Lang as a free agent, a linemate of Jagr's from Pittsburgh.

Washington returned to the playoffs in 2003, but disappointed fans again by losing in six games to the Tampa Bay Lightning after starting off with a two-game lead in the best-of-seven first-round series.

The Caps tried to trade Jagr, but as only one year was left on the existing NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) before it expired, few teams were willing to risk $11 million on an underperforming player.

Several other Capitals played part or all of the lost season in Europe, including Olaf Kolzig, Brendan Witt, Jeff Halpern, and Alexander Semin.

The Capitals' 2005 off-season consisted of making D.C.-area native Halpern the team's captain, signing Andrew Cassels, Ben Clymer, Mathieu Biron and Jamie Heward, and acquiring Chris Clark and Jeff Friesen via trade.

As a result, general manager George McPhee fired head coach Boudreau, hiring Capitals legend Dale Hunter as his replacement.

The Capitals shocked the NHL by defeating the heavily favored defending Stanley Cup champion and second-seeded Boston Bruins in seven games on an overtime goal by Joel Ward.

On April 26, 2014, 15 days after the regular season ended, the Capitals announced they would not renew general manager George McPhee's contract and that they had fired head coach Adam Oates.

After the 2017 playoffs, the Capitals were unable to retain a number of players, losing Kevin Shattenkirk, Karl Alzner, Justin Williams, and Daniel Winnik to free agency, and budding young defenseman Nate Schmidt to the 2017 NHL expansion draft.

They qualified for the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs for the 10th time in 11 years with their third straight division title and a second seed finish in the Eastern Conference.

[28] Following their third straight first round exit since their Stanley Cup win, the Capitals started the following season strong, holding first place through the Christmas break.

[31][32] The structure would be part of an arts and entertainment district at the site, which would include a practice facility, restaurants, an esports venue, concert hall, and a new headquarters for Monumental.

[36] The Capitals took to the ice in red, white and blue jerseys featuring contrast-colored shoulders and stars on the chest and sleeves based on the flag of the United States.

[39] The Capitals wore the same jersey, minus the NHL Winter Classic patch, on February 1, 2011, to honor Hockey Hall of Fame winger Dino Ciccarelli.

[41] For the 2015 Winter Classic, which took place on New Year's Day at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., the Capitals wore a newly designed jersey intended to pay homage to hockey's outdoor roots.

Vogel, who also participates in podcasts and in-stadium video presentations as well as guesting on various Washington DC radio and television programs, has been described as "the most interesting man in Caps media".

[60] WTOP-TV's coverage was sporadic and poorly received, to the point of being called "revolting" by the Washington Post; game broadcasts were scheduled around network commitments and often joined live in progress or tape-delayed entirely.

Before the 1977–78 season, the Capitals signed a five-year deal with WDCA (channel 20), which had regional cable carriage and as an independent station was able to commit to more expansive live coverage.

The team responded to fan complaints by reaching a temporary deal in January 2017 to place the rest of its games on WWDC-HD2, which is available metro-wide to those with HD Radios and has a low-powered analog signal that covers the city itself.