Caps Take Weekend Trip to Midwest
The Caps embark up a rare preseason road trip on Friday when they head to the Motor City for a Friday night exhibition tilt with the Detroit Red Wings. A night later, they'll be in Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets. This weekend preseason journey marks Washington's first overnight preseason trip in nearly six years.
On Oct. 5, 2016, the Caps traveled to Kansas City to take on the St. Louis Blues in a preseason game at Sprint Center. After beating the Blues 4-2, the Caps flew to Raleigh where they enjoyed an off day with some splendid fall weather the following day. Many of the players spent the day on the golf course while staffers assembled at nearby watering holes to feast on a day of MLB playoffs. The Caps dropped a 3-2 shootout decision to the Hurricanes on Oct. 7, 2016, then headed home for their preseason finale against the Islanders.
There will no golf or MLB playoffs on this upcoming journey, and there will be no off day, either. The Caps are planning on bringing more than 30 players along for the ride, ensuring that only a few will be suiting up for both games on the trip.
On Wednesday night in Philly, the Caps put forth a strong effort that resulted in a 3-1 win over the Flyers in the first of three road preseason games in four nights. A trio of newly acquired players who've been in the organization for less than three months led the way.
Dylan Strome scored twice and Connor Brown added a goal and an assist, and Charlie Lindgren stopped all 13 shots he faced in 40 minutes of work to help Washington nail down its first preseason win in two outings this fall.
Strome was signed as a free agent on July 14, a day after the Caps signed Lindgren as a free agent and sent a second-round pick to Ottawa for Brown. The three newcomers played a big part in Wednesday's win over the Flyers in Philly.
With Joe Snively skating on the left side, Strome in the middle and Brown on the right, that Caps trio accounted for all three goals in Philly.
"I thought they were good all night," said Caps coach Peter Laviolette of that line's performance in the victory in Philadelphia. "That whole line I thought was really good. They worked, they had good skill, and they complemented each other, and they brought a lot of speed.
"Brownie did a good job of dogging pucks, and Snively gets in there with his speed, and Stromer was around the puck all night. They're a really good line, and they did a good job tonight."
After Thursday's practice, Laviolette praised the play of that trio once again, and he also delivered verbal kudos for the work of defensemen Lucas Johansen and forwards Aliaksei Protas and Joe Snively, three players who debuted in the NHL last season and who are seeking to land one of the few peripheral roster spots available on the Washington roster at season's outset.
With AHL Hershey set to begin its 2022 training camp on Monday, the Caps' training camp roster is expected to shrink drastically between now and then. There are still 62 players on Washington's camp roster as of Thursday afternoon, a figure that includes three injured non-participants: veteran forwards Nicklas Backstrom, Carl Hagelin and Tom Wilson. Roughly 25 players won't be making the trip to Detroit on Friday, and many of those players are likely to be headed to Hershey before the Capitals return from Columbus in the wee hours of Sunday morning.
With Backstrom on long term injured reserve, the Caps will have room under the salary cap to carry the full complement of 23 players on their opening night roster, a luxury they haven't always had as a team that typically spends close to the cap ceiling. The question now is, are they better served carrying two extra forwards and one defensemen, or one forward and two blueliners? Johansen, Protas and Snively are among several players vying for those roster berths.
"I think it works either way, because we're so close [to Hershey] if we need somebody we recall, or if you make a move and recall and you get what you want here. But I think a lot of it will play out in training camp conversations that the coaches have, that [GM Brian MacLellan] and I have, as to where are we talking on the 22nd, 23rd, 24th spot, what position they are, and how it plays best for our lineup."
Despite missing those three injured veteran forwards, the Caps have more depth on hand at training camp this fall than any other season in recent memory, and that's in spite of the fact that their top two draft choices - winger Ivan Miroshnichenko and defenseman Ryan Chesley - are not in attendance at camp, and neither was at rookie camp earlier this month, either. Miroshnichenko is still recovering from Hodgkin's lymphoma and Chesley is getting set for his freshman season at University of Minnesota.
Washington has 24 forwards and 10 defensemen on its camp roster that played in the NHL last season, and the Caps will be doing a delicate dance in trying to protect as many of those assets as possible in that group, many of whom would require waivers to be sent to Hershey. It's not difficult to pencil in the Capitals' top 12 forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders, but there are a slew of players competing for spots 21-23 on the team's opening night roster. The two upcoming games on this trip will be meaningful for Johansen, Protas, Snively and several others.
"I think there are going to be decisions that have to be made inside of our roster when it comes down to that, like there is every year," says Laviolette. "But if you're talking about a 23-man roster, you might be talking about training camp, and who played well and who earned a spot, who should start and who should go down [to the minors] and sometimes it pushes to that. And so I think those conversations will take place."
While the Red Wings didn't add any star caliber talent to their roster over the summer, they have some excellent young players who are set to ascend to that stratosphere, mostly notably in German defenseman Moritz Seider, who won the Calder Trophy as a 20-year-old last season. Detroit did add some complementary pieces to its lineup over the offseason, bringing in goaltender Ville Husso, defensemen Ben Chiarot, Olli Maatta and Mark Pysyk and middle six forwards Andrew Copp, Dominik Kubalik and David Perron.
The Wings will also have a new face behind the bench for the first time in several seasons, as former Lightning assistant Derek Lalonde takes over the reins from Jeff Blashill, who had a seven-season run as the Detroit bench boss.
Detroit split its first two preseason games, winning 6-2 at Pittsburgh and falling to Chicago by a 4-2 count on home ice.
