An apparatus in one embodiment comprises at least one processing device comprising a processor coupled to a memory, with the processing device being configured to detect a failure of at least one storage node that impacts a write cache destaging process in a distributed content addressable storage (CAS) system comprising a plurality of storage nodes each associated with one or more storage devices. Responsive to the detected failure, the processing device issues one or more write cache metadata preload commands to direct one or more other ones of the storage nodes to preload from their associated storage devices metadata characterizing one or more data pages that are subject to the write cache destaging process, thereby illustratively reducing address lock contention in the CAS system. The processing device illustratively comprises at least a portion of a distributed storage controller of the CAS system. Other embodiments include methods and computer program products.