Over the years, the Caps have taken different approaches in getting their youngest players acclimated to the organization and the upcoming hockey season. Washington’s prospects participated in the Center Ice Tournament for a few years in the early part of this century; the tourney is held in Traverse City, Mich. every September and is still going strong as the granddaddy of several ongoing NHL rookie tournaments.
For several Septembers after the lockout that wiped out the entire 2004-05 NHL season, the Caps conducted a rookie camp locally, one that culminated with a single rookie game against the Philadelphia Flyers’ rookies, with the two organizations alternating hosting responsibilities.
During the last decade, the Caps were participants in a rookie tourney that included Nashville and the NHL’s two Florida teams. But in the 2019 tournament, three Caps suffered injuries that caused them to miss the team’s main training camp ahead of what was the first professional season for each of those players. The Caps bowed out of that tournament at that point, and they’ve run their own rookie camp at MedStar Capitals Iceplex since.
This September, the Caps changed things up. They shifted the venue for most of rookie camp, spending three days and nights in Annapolis, where the team’s prospects had a trio of high tempo practice sessions along with a team dinner and some fun extracurricular activities at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. The Caps concluded their Annapolis rookie camp on Tuesday, returning to the Arlington area ahead of Thursday’s opening of Washington’s official 2023 training camp.
“It’s part of a team-building thing too,” says Caps’ assistant general manager Ross Mahoney. “Getting away from the facility in [Arlington] and coming down here and spending some time, and exposing the kids to a little bit of a different environment. It’s such a good facility and it’s so close by. It was all part of the plan, and it was in the works for about a year, trying to get it worked out, and to be able to make this work.”
Dozens of area fans came out to McMullen Arena to watch the players as they were put through their practice paces for three straight mornings. Following Sunday’s session, the players spent time on a confidence course that included a zipline and a team-building rope course. After Monday’s practice, the team received a tour of the Naval Academy campus, had lunch with the Midshipmen, and listened to a few presentations from guest speakers.
“I loved it,” says Caps’ forward Ryan Hofer, the team’s sixth-round choice (181st overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft. “They did a great job. The Naval Academy welcomed us very good. It was a cool experience to see how they operate and how they go through things. It’s a great eye-opener for all of us to see how they have to be accountable and all that stuff with it. It was a great experience.”
In the aftermath of Tuesday’s final practice in Annapolis, the Caps returned to Arlington by bus. Most of the participants from the four-day camp (the first day’s practice was held on Saturday in Arlington, before the team bus departed for Annapolis) will be in uniform and in one of the three groups of players when the Caps kick off their 2023 training camp on Thursday morning at MedStar Capitals’ Iceplex.
Washington’s rookie camp comes just over two months after many of the kids got their first look at the Caps’ practice facility at the team’s annual summer development camp in July. The team’s AHL Hershey coaching staff – fresh from winning the Calder Cup championship in mid-June – runs both the July camp and the September rookie camp.
Regardless of what form it has taken over the years, the main objective of rookie camp is simply to get the youngsters ready for what is to come, the organization’s main training camp. In July, the prospects are playing and competing against one another. Come September, they’re playing against established pros and longtime NHL stars as they try to navigate their way to a prosperous NHL career of their own.
“In the summertime, they’re here to get educated on how to be a pro,” says Hershey coach Todd Nelson. “How to eat right, and how to learn pro habits. But now it’s go time. You saw all the coaches out here watching the guys as our coaching staff prepares these guys for main camp. We just want to make sure that they’re ready.”
