One thing that will be interesting to see is whether Holtby rebounds next year, assuming he walks as a UFA and joins another team. Niskanen, Stephenson and Burakovsky have regained their form again since leaving the Caps, and while fresh starts themselves can help you have to wonder if coaching and systems were holding them back in Washington.
Holtby hasn't been the same since Korn stepped down as Goaltending coach, and he benefited hugely from Korn effectively stepping in for Scott Murray in the weeks leading up to the 2018 playoffs. Hotlby had a pretty brutal year (how he lost the starting job to Grubauer), but turned it around after Korn got him back on track. No such thing happened in 2019 because we neither had Korn nor a proper backup goaltender, and we're in the same position this year.
GMBM has got a lot of things right in terms of building rosters over the years, but seems to struggle with coaching staff. He didn't hire any of Trotz, Lambert, Forsyth, Korn or Reirden (as an assistant) – they were hired the same time he was promoted. He's then replaced Trotz with Reirden and brought in Cashman, Murray and Arniel, and every coaching change has left the team in a weaker state (while the blue line generally got less sturdy, the bottom six became uninspired and the top six got older/slower).
Unless Holtby has deteriorated physically, neurologically or optically, you have to wonder if he'd be doing so much better under a different goaltending coach right now. And if he had defensemen in front of him who were both capable and capably coached.