No, not the golf course.

The Washington Capitals are coming off their third-best season in franchise history, after pacing the league with 118 points. However, the playoffs have been another story.

The Capitals squeaked by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round, needing three overtime victories to get by the rookie-heavy squad. In the second round, they're up against the reigning Stanley Cup champs, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and, after falling behind 3-1 in the series, will look to avoid elimination for the second straight game Monday night.

Heading into their second do-or-die game of the series, the Capitals will hope Alex Ovechkin and Braden Holtby are up to their old tricks, and that they get some help elsewhere.

Related: Holtby's elimination-game numbers are stellar, but he and Ovechkin need help

However, if they're unable to come back to take the series, some major questions will have to be asked, and none of them are easy to answer.

Can you tear down a dominant regular-season team?

Answering questions about the Capitals' future is so hard because they've been so dominant in the regular season over the last two campaigns.

The team has won back-to-back Presidents' Trophies, and has ranked atop the league in almost every statistical category during that span.

Some argue the Capitals need to tear it down or make some drastic changes to their core, but it's hard to wreck a club that has been so good in so many facets of the game.

Suggesting that Barry Trotz's job could be in jeopardy also doesn't seem realistic, given he's led Washington to the best record in the league in his only two years with the club.

Will they have the money to make moves in offseason?

Of course, an early exit will mean an attempt to upgrade in the offseason.

At first glance, it seems the club should have plenty of room to make a splash in free agency, as T.J. Oshie, Justin Williams, Kevin Shattenkirk, Daniel Winnik, and Karl Alzner will all be unrestricted free agents.

In all, the team is expected to have $22.8 million in cap space, but the problem is they also have some restricted free agents who could be in line for raises.

Evgeny Kuznetsov, Andre Burakovsky, and Dmitry Orlov highlight a list of six roster players who will be RFAs, and it can be argued that both Kuznetsov and Orlov deserve a pay bump.

That means what seems like a surplus of riches might not be so, and the Capitals could be hard-pressed to entertain free agents July 1.

Can a roster with this core succeed?

It's the daunting question that general manager Brian MacLellan might have to ponder very hard.

On paper, Ovechkin, Holtby, Nicklas Backstrom, and John Carlson appear to be as strong of a core as any around the league - with all being among the best at their respective positions.

They've been together full time since the 2012-13 season - when Holtby took over between the pipes - but in that time the Capitals have never made it past the second round. In fact, they haven't made it that far since the 1997-98 season.

It seems far-fetched that the team would ever deal one of the four, but after countless playoff failures, maybe it's worth considering.

And that's the biggest issue of them all: the fact that - at least on paper - there are no glaring problems with this team; that questions such as this have to be asked. The Capitals have all the skill in the world, and during the regular season have proven to be the team to beat.

They aren't done yet, but if they don't get two victories in their next two games - beginning Monday night - these questions will become very real.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

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