Devil In The Details – The Caps are set to drop the puck on then 2024-25 season tonight at Capital One Arena when they face-off against fellow Metropolitan Division rival New Jersey. The Devils opened their season in Prague last weekend with a set of back-to-back contests against the Buffalo Sabres, winning both of those games. Two nights ago in Newark, New Jersey dropped its home opener to the Maple Leafs, 4-2.
So while the Devils are already playing their fourth game of the season, the Caps are the 31st of the 32 NHL teams to start their season, and they’re playing for the first time in a week. Anaheim is the last of the 32; the Ducks drop into San Jose later tonight to open their campaign against the Sharks.
How can the Caps best get out of the starting blocks against a team that’s already played 180 minutes of regular season hockey?
“Your first game out,” begins Caps’ coach Spencer Carbery, “the jitters, and the excitement, the calmness in your game, the reads, and the puck touches – we’ll need to be very diligent with our start. Because they’re going to be very comfortable; they’ve gotten the kinks out through [three] games and we’re going to need to make sure that we are able to get those jitters out very, very quickly, and get on with it and make sure that we’re responsible with all the things that we need to do.”
Given the number of new faces – six of them tonight – in the lineup and the unusually long period of time since their previous game, that might be easier said than done.
“They’ve played a few games, and they’ve kind of gotten the jitters out,” says Caps’ defenseman John Carlson. “I think when it’s the real thing, it’s easy to get too far ahead of yourself, in terms of either trying to make too good of plays or trying to be too perfect, or to be too excited and running yourself out of position all of the time.
“So communication is key, and just accountability to what we’ve been talking about since day one of camp. And now here we are, able to act on it.”
Keep It Between The Lines – Eight of the players on Washington’s opening night roster were in other organizations last season, representing the greatest amount of offseason personnel change for the Capitals in nearly two decades. Even with all the new faces and only six preseason games, Carbery and staff stuck with the forward lines and defensive pairings they envisioned at the outset of camp just over three weeks ago. That’s unusual for this time of year, but it’s also not surprising, given than most of those lines and pairings looked strong throughout camp.
The one forward line that might be the least set in stone is the Hendrix Lapierre line, with Lapierre centering for Sonny Milano and Aliaksei Protas. That line is the only once comprised entirely of holdovers from last season, though Jakub Vrana – back this season for a second stint in a Caps’ sweater – is also vying for playing time on that line. But Milano and Vrana both offer some offensive ability that may not be readily evident.
After being dealt to Detroit on April 12, 2021 in a swap that brought Anthony Mantha to the District, Vrana encountered some injuries and other career roadblocks that have limited him to just 83 NHL games since his departure from the District. But he has scored 34 goals in those 83 games, and the Caps are a team in need of goal scoring.
“Every year, it’s harder and harder to score,” says Caps’ captain Alex Ovechkin, who should know. “Teams play differently, and goalies play differently. We’re just going to try to do our best to score goals, win games, and do all kinds of stuff.”
Vrana was invited to camp on a PTO basis, and he managed to secure a berth on the opening night roster. Earlier in the week, he signed a one-year contract for $775,000 for the upcoming 2024-25 season. But that’s just a roster spot, it’s not a lineup spot. Vrana has been alternating practice reps with Milano on that line, and Milano will be in the lineup tonight.
“We’ll see where it goes,” said Carbery earlier in the week. “We’re not going to make any 100 percent commitments to the lineup this early in the week, but Sonny has a lot of credibility with our coaching staff and with this team. He had a solid year; I think it tailed off a little bit in the playoffs for him, but it tailed off for a lot of guys in the playoffs for us.
“Him getting first crack and an opportunity to be in the lineup opening night – again, I’m not going to commit to anything lineup-wise – he’s got some credibility with us. So whether he had a great preseason or he’s easing his way back into it, there’s a confidence level that when the puck drops for real that he will put his best on display.”
Vrana and Milano are somewhat similar players. Since the date of Vrana’s trade to Detroit – and among all players who have played 83 or more games over that span – Milano ranks 11th in the League with a shooting percentage of 17.9 percent. Vrana ranks 21st on the same list with a 16.8 percent shooting rate of success.
The top 25 of that list is a mixture of two different types of players. First, there are durable and established stars like Leon Draisaitl (20 percent, ranks 2nd), Brayden Point (19.7 percent, 3rd), Sam Reinhart (19.1 percent, 5th), Mark Scheifele (18.3 percent, 8th) and Chris Kreider (17.4 percent, 16th). All of those players have played well over 200 games during the time span mentioned, and all are firmly ensconced in their team’s top six; all have averaged over 18 minutes of ice time per night during that time frame.
The other group consists of players like Milano and Vrana, skilled players – usually with pedigree – who have shown an ability to put the puck in the net, but whose durability and/or trust level from their coaching staff isn’t at the level of the previously mentioned group. Andrei Kuzmenko tops the overall list with a gaudy 23.1 percent shooting rate, but he’s achieved those numbers over just 153 games while skating 15:36 a night. Milano has played 179 games while averaging 13:40 in nightly ice time, and Vrana is averaging 14:25 per night over his 83-game sample size.
Shooting 19.1 percent over his last 124 games, Rem Pitlick ranks fourth on the list. He is averaging 14:10 per night in ice time. Simon Holmstrom (18.9 percent) is sixth on the list; he has played one more game than Pitlick while averaging 12:26 per night. While averaging just 10:07 in nightly ice time – the lowest figure of anyone in the top 25 – Klim Kostin has clicked on 17.7 percent of his shots over his last 151 games. Kostin and Holmstrom are the only two players in the top 25 who have not scored a power play goal over the last three and a half years.
Looking at the list, one can’t help but wonder which of the players with fewer than 200 games and lower average ice times would be candidates to break out if they got more ice time and/or power play opportunity, and which would regress further to the pack if given such responsibility and opportunity. Each player’s situation is unique, but – in Milano and Vrana – the Caps do have a couple of guys who have proven capable of lighting the lamp at this level.
During the Ovechkin era, the Caps have been a bit of a breeding ground for the low minutes, negligible power play time and high shooting percentage forwards – Eric Fehr, Brett Connolly and Daniel Sprong all come to mind, in addition to Milano and Vrana on the current squad.
Over the franchise’s five-decade history, more than two dozen Capitals have returned to the fold after departing and spending some time in other organizations. Vrana, the team’s first-round choice in the 2014 NHL Draft, is the fifth former first-round Washington draft choice who has departed and returned; he follows in the skate-steps of Bobby Carpenter (first-rounder in 1981), Kris Beech (1999), Eric Fehr (2003) and Marcus Johansson (2009).
“On top of everything, just being able to get a chance to be back in the League and on top of everything is this organization and this team, it’s great,” says Vrana. “I’ve been here before and had a great time, and it’s great to be back here.”
In The Nets – Last season, Charlie Lindgren got the opening night start for Washington, but it came on somewhat short notice. Scheduled starter Darcy Kuemper’s wife went into labor and gave birth to the couple’s first child on the eve of the opener, putting Lindgren between the pipes for the Caps’ opener against Pittsburgh.
Tonight, Lindgren gets the second opening night start of his career when he goes up against the New Jersey Devils in tonight’s ’24-25 season opener. This one, Lindgren earned entirely on merit.
Beginning with an 18-save shutout over the Bruins in Boston on Feb. 10 of this year, Lindgren led the Caps’ improbable late-season charge to the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. From Feb. 10 to season’s end, no NHL netminder played more games (28), made more starts (27), played more minutes (1,632:30), or had more shutouts (4) than Lindgren.
The Caps’ goaltender fashioned a 16-9-3 record over that stretch to go along with a 2.65 GAA and a.910 save pct.
Lifetime against the Devils, Lindgren is 4-2-0 in six appearances, with a 3.64 GAA and an .885 save pct.
Now in his 15th NHL season, Jacob Markstrom gets the nod in net for New Jersey tonight. Markstrom was obtained from Calgary in a mid-June deal that sent blueliner Kevin Bahl and a first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft to the Flames.
Markstrom has started two of the Devils’ first three games of the season, and he has a 1-1-0 record with a 2.55 GAA and a .906 save pct. in those two appearances. Lifetime against Washington, Markstrom is 1-8-2 in 11 appearances, with a 3.06 GAA and an .898 save pct.
All Lined Up – Here’s how we expect the Capitals and Devils to line up on Saturday night in the District:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 88-Mangiapane
24-McMichael, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
15-Milano, 29-Lapierre, 21-Protas
22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 16-Raddysh
Defensemen
6-Chychrun, 74-Carlson
42-Fehervary, 3-Roy
38-Sandin, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
79-Lindgren
48-Thompson
Extras
13-Vrana
27-Alexeyev
52-McIlrath
Out/Injured
19-Backstrom (hip)
77-Oshie (back)
NEW JERSEY
Forwards
28-Meier, 86-J. Hughes, 63-Bratt
90-Tatar, 13-Hischier, 91-Mercer
47-Cotter, 56-Haula, 11-Noesen
18-Palat, 42-Lazar, 14-Bastian
Defensemen
5-Dillon, 7-Hamilton
71-Siegenthaler, 8-Kovacevic
24-Casey, 17-Nemec
Goaltenders
25-Markstrom
34-Allen
Extras
23-MacDermid
Out/Injured
22-Pesce (leg)
43-L. Hughes (shoulder)
