Oct. 13 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:30 p.m.
TV: Hulu, ESPN+
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, Capitals Radio 24/7
Pittsburgh Penguins (0-1-0)
Washington Capitals (0-0-0)
Six months to the day after their last meaningful hockey game, the Caps get back at it on Friday night at Capital One Arena when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins in Washington’s 2023-24 regular season opener. The Pens opened their season earlier in the week, taking a 4-2 loss on home ice at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Both the Capitals and the Penguins – longtime rivals first in the Patrick Division and now in the Metropolitan Division – missed the playoffs last season, the first time that both these proud franchises missed the postseason since 2005-06, the rookie season of both teams’ captains, Washington’s Alex Ovechkin and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby. Neither team is in a rebuild mode; both are trying to return to the playoffs with groups of veteran core players who have together for many years.
Since Ovechkin and Crosby debuted in the League on the same October night some 18 autumns ago, the Penguins own the second-best points percentage (.616) among all teams that have been in the circuit for the entirety of that span, while the Capitals (.607) are third. The two Metro rivals trail only Boston (.625) over those last 18 seasons.
The Caps made multiple changes to their coaching staff over the summer, while Pittsburgh made a change at the top of its hockey operations department, installing Kyle Dubas as general manager and president of hockey operations. Washington’s actual opening night roster features only one player – winger Matthew Phillips – who did not see action for the Capitals last season, while the Pens made a number of personnel moves over the summer, most notably adding last season’s Norris Trophy winner, Erik Karlsson.
Washington’s opening night roster does feature eight players aged 25 or younger – including Phillips – the most the team has had on opening night since 2019-20 when it had nine such players (Travis Boyd, Martin Fehervary, Brendan Leipsic, Tyler Lewington, Ilya Samsonov, Jonas Siegenthaler, Chandler Stephenson, Jakub Vrana and Tom Wilson) on its opening night roster.
Half of that gang of eight young players is fresh from winning a Calder Cup with the Hershey Bears in June: defenseman Lucas Johansen and forwards Beck Malenstyn, Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas were all key components in the Bears’ run to the championship, and all four played with more swagger than usual at Washington’s 2023 training camp and preseason.
“You’ve got young guys that maybe weren’t here when we had our success back in 2018,” says Caps’ right wing T.J. Oshie. “They got to go down to Hershey and become a champion at the pro level and to see what that’s like. I think that matures them a little bit. And you’ve got a bunch of guys that have won before, but didn’t have the years they wanted, whether that’s heath-wise or whether that’s numbers-wise.
“So we’ve got young guys trying to prove something, and old guys trying to prove something, and everyone trying to deserve their own ice time. There’s a lot of competition in here, and we’re having fun again.”
The youth infusion extends beyond Washington’s dressing room to behind its bench, where a new coaching crew is in place. Caps coach Spencer Carbery – the 20th head coach in franchise history – will make his NHL debut as a bench boss on Friday night. Just under a month shy of his 42nd birthday, Carbery opens the season as the League’s youngest head coach. Along with assistant coaches Mitch Love, Kenny McCudden and Kirk Muller, Carbery is one of four new coaches on the Washington staff, the most turnover the Caps have seen on staff since the last time they missed the playoffs, in 2014.
“I think it’s different,” says Caps’ defenseman John Carlson of the new coaching regime. “There’s a lot of similarities; but just mentally coming in with a new coach, you’re learning a little bit more than maybe other years, you’re familiarizing yourself with other people. Usually that side of it is different, but training camp is hard no matter who it is or what it is. Physically, it’s difficult. But I think that the tone [Carbery] set early on has stuck with us all, and it has raised the bar around here, which is great. I feel like our practices are hard and sharp and fast and, hopefully that translates into the games.”
It’s not often that a non-playoff team returns the following season with essentially the same roster, but the Caps turned over a large chunk of their ’22-23 squad ahead of the trade deadline last season, when five regulars were dealt away, including two members of the team’s 2018 Stanley Cup championship squad (center Lars Eller, now with Pittsburgh and defenseman Dmitry Orlov, now with Carolina).
“I think it just kind of illustrates a little bit of the expectation that they're trying to get to,” says Caps’ center Nic Dowd, “how unhappy we were in not getting [to the playoffs], and then a little bit of desperation in like, ‘We’ve got to get back there.’ We're not rebuilding; we're in it right now to get to be the last team standing. You're not going to do that in the summer when you're signing those coaches, but that's a step in that direction.
“Everything from the management, down to how the coaches are getting ready for the season, to how the players are getting ready for the season – you have to attack each day. You have give your best each day, and then those add up to where you are at the end of the season. Management getting these quality coaches in and putting a lot of effort into sealing those deals, it just speaks to what we’re trying to accomplish.”
The real proof starts when the puck drops on Friday night in the District, but so far, so good. The Caps seem to enjoy playing hockey the Carbery way, and they believe his way best suits their collective abilities and attributes on the ice as well.
“It’s a fun system to play in,” says Oshie. “We’re playing with the puck a little bit more, and our creative players are being more creative. And we’re re-learning how to be in the right position to be able to make those plays, and if things don’t go right, we still have guys helping out and covering for each other. We were very good at that five or six years ago, and that’s one thing that’s maybe slipped, is our ability to cover for each other, and our details.
“This year, I’m excited to get going. I’m excited every year; I love these guys, and I love playing in D.C. but this is the most excited I’ve been I think since we raised the [Cup] banner [in 2018]”
