STATISTICAL ANALYSIS | The Washington Capitals started and ended the year full of promise.

They were the preseason favorites to win the Stanley Cup and played the role early on, starting the season 7-0 before miscues and underwhelming goaltending factored into the dismissal of Coach Bruce Boudreau.

Enter Dale Hunter, whose leadership and tenacity propelled the 1997-98 Washington Capitals all the way to the Stanley Cup finals. That same tenacity would be embraced by the team (and their fans), leading to an upset of the reigning Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins in round one before succumbing to the New York Rangers, the top seed in the East, in seven games during round two.

Then all those good feelings turned to dismay as Coach Hunter decided to return home to his family and the junior hockey team he co-owns with his brother in London, Ontario, leaving the Washington Capitals in search of their third head coach in just two seasons.

It will be just the 22nd time a team has had three coaches in two years since 1994, when the NHL switched to the current playoff format. The results have not been encouraging.

Several players saw themselves watching, rather than playing, for one reason or another during Dale Hunter’s tenure as coach. Jeff Halpern was one of them.

(John McDonnell - THE WASHINGTON POST) Signed to help anchor the fourth line and take key faceoffs, Halpern did precisely that for the bulk of the regular season but by March he was on the outside looking in as the Capitals tried to push toward the playoffs. Halpern was a healthy scratch for 12 of the final 15 regular season games. He continued to sit throughout the playoffs and only got in the lineup after Jay Beagle broke his foot in Game 5 of the second round.

Halpern didn’t want to discuss why he might have fallen out of favor with the coaching staff, but the veteran center said he tried to cope with the benching as best he could.

When it comes to puck-moving, offensively inclined defensemen, this year’s unrestricted free-agent pool is on the shallow side, which is why Dennis Wideman might have played his last game as a Capital.

Wideman is set to become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career July 1, and despite his struggles in the postseason — he finished tied with a team-worst minus-7, no goals points and only three points in the playoffs — he could be one of the more sought-after blueliners if he tests the market.

Nashville’s Ryan Suter will command the most attention as a free agent, but of the remaining defensemen who will be UFAs, Wideman is among the leaders in points (46) and average ice time.

This was not the easiest season for Mike Knuble. At 39, he saw his ice-time dip dramatically and his roles vary widely from top-six forward to fourth-line grinder. He was a healthy scratch for three different stretches between February and March and found himself sitting once more when the playoffs began.

This season was the first since 2001-02 that Knuble failed to record 20 goals and while he has lost a step, he proved in the postseason that he can still fill a valuable role on a team.

Knuble is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and said Monday that he would like to continue playing.

“I’m open to playing. I’d love to play,” said Knuble, who had a one-year, $2 million deal this season. “I feel good; my body feels good and I’ve got nothing nagging me. No nagging injuries or anything like that and that can be the case when you get into your upper 30s that you’ve got some chronic things going on. Mentally too, I still enjoy playing the game and I still enjoy coming out to the rink every day and I enjoy being around the other players and I think that that’s half the battle -- wanting to be there -- as you get older.”

Long before he suffered a torn groin muscle in the regular season and Braden Holtby stepped up as the Capitals’ starting goaltender in the playoffs, Tomas Vokoun knew that he likely wouldn’t be returning to Washington.

The veteran netminder signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with the Capitals last July when he faced a lack of interest in his services as a free agent. At the time it seemed like a good fit and a steal for Washington, but over the course of the season it was clear it wasn’t always an ideal arrangement for both sides.

So it wasn’t surprising when Vokoun, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, said Monday that he didn’t see a future with the Capitals.

“I wasn’t planning on being back here anyways,” said Vokoun, who added that he was happy to see Holtby to play well. “For me, it was never intention to be here more than a year. For me, it’s more disappointing about how it went and obviously getting hurt and not having the chance to play in playoffs. That’s what I regret more than worrying about what’s going to be next year. I was looking at it as a one-year thing and I’m sure that’s how it’s gonna be.”