Not-So-Distant Early Warning Share this story Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports Okay, let’s get one thing out of the way up front: the Caps have played all of six hockey games (one-third of which have come without arguably their two most important offensive players) following an almost non-existent training camp during which new and old players were tasked with learning and implementing a new system. There is little reason to think that the Caps we saw yesterday, for example, will look the same on the ice as they look one or three months from now. That said, early returns in at least one area could be potential red flags, especially in context of some earlier concerns. Specifically, the Caps’ five-on-five offense through a half-dozen games has been, well, woeful. To wit, their adjusted expected goals-for (xGF) rate per sixty minutes is 1.63, worst in the League, per Natural Stat Trick. (As a point of reference, last season’s Caps posted 2.45 in that stat, fifth in the League and a tick above prolific Tampa.) They’re in the bottom five in shot-attempt metrics and second from the bottom in scoring chance rates after a poor offensive showing against Buffalo on Sunday. Yes, they’re missing players and practice time... but even Alex Ovechkin has posted the lowest shot rate of his career through the first four games.