Lets see. Injured Matthews again and Tavares from 16-17 and its an easy Caps win. Backs and Kuz score 48 goals between them and the Leaf boys score 90 and its a Leafs blowout. Interesting comparison. Backstrom can duplicate his recent 86 point season I think, and Kuznetsov could maybe improve on 83pts a little bit. Assuming everything goes right, JT could improve a bit on 84pts but certainly no guarantee as he may take a cut in TOI and the vast majority of forwards have shown their best by 27. The change in teams could be a plus or a minus for him. I think it comes down to a healthy Matthews or not, and Matthews, if healthy,seems much more likely to lead these four in scoring than Backstrom. There is a real chance that both duos could be close to 170pts in scoring, and then you start arguing primary points vs secondary points, points per 60, and who has a better 200ft game. I have no interest in that comparison until next season has actually happened.
Its pretty common that the defending champs become even more difficult to play against because of the confidence boost even their foot soldiers acquire. Individual stats aside this Caps team should have way over 105pts next season. Very good chance to repeat IMO, if Holtby maintains his A game.