Halfway To Crazy – The Caps reach the midpoint of their season before the end of the night; their Wednesday night tilt against Vancouver is game No. 41 for Washington, putting them halfway through their 82-game slate for 2024-25.
Entering tonight’s game with a 26-10-4 record (56 points), the Caps’ .700 points percentage is tops in the Eastern Conference, and a full 10 points ahead of the team’s pace at the same juncture of last season (20-14-6, 46 points, .575). But even though they’ve collected points in eight straight home games (6-0-2) and in each of their last four games overall (2-0-2), the Caps aren’t playing up to the level and standard they established for themselves earlier in the season, and their goal is to get themselves back to that territory in the next month, before they take a break for the NHL’s Four Nations Tournament.
“I’m starting to get a little impatient – I’ll say that – with the way things have gone of late,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “Because now it’s creeping into where you have some ups and downs in a year and guys go through slumps and teams go through … this is now turning into more. And the challenge for us as a group, our start [to the season] is long gone now, and now, you are who you are. You are who you show on the ice. And so, two games, three games, four games, five games, 15 games, 20 games; what you’re showing is who you are. And we have to be careful with that, of resting on what we accomplished at the beginning of the year.
“And now, with the way that we look, is that who we truly are? Did we just get off to a good start with a great shooting percentage and win a lot of games and bank a bunch of points? Or are we a team that can carry play and look really good seven out of 10 nights? That’s what we’re going through right now and what our challenge is before the Four Nations break.”
Longshot – Caps defenseman Matt Roy will suit up for the 400th game of his NHL career tonight against the Canucks, a little under six years after his debut in the League, on Feb. 16, 2019 against the Boston Bruins while he was a member of the Los Angeles Kings.
“I still think it’s crazy, to be honest,” says Roy of playing his 400th game tonight. “It’s every kid’s dream to play in the NHL. When you’re in that spot in the minor leagues, you’re just looking for a call up, you’re looking for an opportunity. To be where I am today, I’m very blessed, and there’s a lot of people to thank along the way.”
Roy signed a six-year deal with Washington last summer, and he has played well in his first season with the Capitals. But before even ascending to the NHL with the Kings, Roy worked his way into the League with two seasons in the USHL, three seasons at Michigan Tech University, and the better part of two full seasons at AHL Ontario.
As Roy stated, every minor leaguer is waiting for that call up, that one opportunity to get a foot in the door in the NHL. Of those who do reach the NHL, many fewer are able to find a way to stay, and that’s where Roy’s story and his path to the NHL is really impressive.
As a seventh-round choice selected at the age of 20 in his third and final year of eligibility, Roy beat the odds just to hear his name called on the draft floor. Since 2005, the seventh round is the final round of the NHL draft. But since making his debut nearly six years ago, he has done what’s necessary to stay in the NHL, which is no easy feat.
From 2005 through 2016, a total of 138 defensemen were selected in the seventh round of the NHL Draft. Only 30 of them made it to the NHL, and only 13 of the 30 stayed around long enough to play in at least 100 games in the League. Teams unearthed some gem defensemen in the seventh round of those dozen drafts, namely Anton Stralman (2005 Draft, played 938 NHL games), Justin Braun (2007 Draft, 842 games), Jason Demers (2008 Draft, 700 games), MacKenzie Weegar (2013 Draft, 509 games), and Roy (2015 Draft, 399 games).
But most fell by the wayside, and of those who did make it and then stuck around for a few hundred games, only a couple others fit Roy’s profile of playing collegiate hockey and being drafted as a 20-year-old. Those two are Braun and Vancouver’s Vincent Desharnais, who was drafted as a 20-year-old out of Providence College in 2016. Desharnais has skated in 141 NHL games thus far.
“It was huge for me,” says Roy of his apprenticeship at Michigan Tech and in the AHL. “I definitely consider myself a late bloomer, so getting those years in at Michigan Tech was big for my development, getting some playing time and just being able to mature physically as well. I had a lot of fun up at school, and I think it’s a great program and they’re doing great things up there. I’m just happy to have been able to go there and have them develop me on the path that I’m on now.”
Although Roy was the 67th defenseman taken during the 2015 Draft, he ranks eighth among that group in points (114), tied for eighth in assists (89), and ninth in goals (25) and games played. Among all active defensemen chosen in the seventh round of an NHL Draft, only Weegar has logged more NHL games than Roy.
“It means a lot,” says Roy of his status among his draft class. “There’s a lot of hard work on my end, and I also had a lot of help from staff, teammates and coaches along the way. There are a lot of moving parts that go into it, and I’ve just been blessed to play with some great players and some great teams along the line.”
In The Nets – Logan Thompson gets the net tonight for Washington. With 16 victories on the season (16-2-2), Thompson ranks eighth in the League in victories. Each of the seven goaltenders ahead of him on the last has started between 5-13 more games than Thompson has to this point of the season.
Thompson has limited foes to two or fewer goals against in 12 of his last 16 starts, posting a 12-2-2 mark with a 2.18 GAA and a .925 save pct.
Lifetime against the Canucks, Thompson is 2-2-0 with a 3.95 GAA and an .870 save pct. in five appearances (four starts).
For the Canucks, we are expecting to see Kevin Lankinen between the pipes tonight. The former Chicago and Nashville netminder has claimed 15 of Vancouver’s 18 victories in his first season with the Canucks, bringing him to within two victories of matching his single season high of 17, established with the Blackhawks in his rookie NHL season of 2020-21.
Lankinen won his lone career start against Washington two years and two days ago, on Jan. 6, 2023 when he was with the Predators. Nashville won that game 3-2 on a Ryan McDonagh goal late in the third period, and with Lankinen stopping 30 of the 32 shots he faced in that contest.
All Lined Up – Here’s our best guess as to how the Caps will look and how we believe the Canucks might look on Wednesday night in Washington:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 21-Protas
24-McMichael, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
88-Mangiapane, 20-Eller, 63-Miroshnichenko
22-Duhaime, 26-Dowd, 16-Raddysh
Defensemen
38-Sandin, 74-Carlson
6-Chychrun, 3-Roy
42-Fehervary, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
79-Lindgren
Extras
13-Vrana
27-Alexeyev
52-McIlrath
Out/Injured
15-Milano (upper body)
19-Backstrom (hip)
77-Oshie (back)
VANCOUVER
Forwards
23-Lekkerimaki, 9-Miller, 6-Boeser
34-Di Giuseppe, 24-Suter, 8-Garland
74-DeBrusk, 53-Blueger, 44-Sherwood
21-Hoglander, 63-Sasson, 20-Heinen
Defensemen
43-Hughes, 57-Myers
7-Soucy, 47-Juulsen
28-Forbort, 73-Desharnais
Goaltenders
32-Lankinen
31-Silovs
Extras
26-Brannstrom
55-Brisebois
Out/Injured
17-Hronek (lower body)
35-Demko (back spasms)
40-Pettersson (undisclosed)
81-Joshua (lower body)
