Here We Go Again – With opening night of the 2024-25 season now less than three weeks away, the Caps go up against different logos for the first time on Sunday afternoon at Capital One Arena. The Philadelphia Flyers will be supplying the nemesis logos for the preseason opener for both teams.
Sunday’s game kicks off a stretch of four games in six nights for Washington. The Caps will take Monday off before taking on the Bruins in Boston on Tuesday. They’ll return home immediately after that game, grab a mostly fresh set of players, and head up to New Jersey for Wednesday night date with the Devils. Thursday is a practice day, and the stretch concludes when the Caps host Columbus here on Friday.
First Air of Autumn – Sunday marks the NHL preseason debut for a quartet of recent Caps draftees. A trio of 2024 draft choices – first-round winger Terik Parascak, second-round defenseman Leon Muggli, and third-round center Eriks Mateiko – are expected to see their name on an NHL preseason lineup sheet for the first time, as is 2023 fifth-round defenseman Cam Allen.
Muggli is the third defenseman the Caps have chosen from Switzerland in the last 10 NHL Drafts. In the second round of thee 2015 Draft, the Caps selected Jonas Siegenthaler, now with the New Jersey Devils. Two years later, in 2017, the Caps used their first pick of that draft (fourth round, 117th overall) to select Swiss blueliner Toby Geisser. Now 25, Geisser is still in the Washington system, and he plays for Zug EV, the same team for which Muggli played last season.
Muggli was 17 when the Caps drafted him in late June in Vegas; he didn’t turn 18 until July 9, days after the completion of Washington’s summer development camp.
“It’s been great,” says Muggli of the first couple of days of his first NHL camp. “It’s been great seeing all the guys who made the League or are on their way there. You can learn from everybody; I try to soak it up as good as I can, so it’s been great.”
One of those guys who has made the League is veteran Caps defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk. Preparing for his 11th NHL season, van Riemsdyk skated in his 600th NHL game late last season. Ten autumns removed from his own first NHL preseason foray, the 33-year-old van Riemsdyk is quite suddenly the oldest player in the lineup for either side today, and he’ll be Muggli’s defense partner for the teenager’s first NHL preseason tilt.
“I can vaguely remember mine,” says van Riemsdyk of his own NHL preseason debut, a Sept. 25, 2014 contest between his Chicago Blackhawks and the Red Wings, at Motown’s fabled Joe Louis Arena. “It was not too long ago – a decade ago – but I remember being super nervous for it.
“Obviously you’re going to be nervous regardless, so I’ll try to help him with that, be a good communicator, be on the same page with him, remind him to take a few breaths. And remind him to take it in, because it’s a really cool thing.”
As an undrafted player, van Riemsdyk cracked the Hawks’ opening night roster and got into a handful of playoff games as a rookie with Chicago, ultimately getting his name engraved on the Stanley Cup when the Hawks won the coveted chalice in his rookie season.
“Oh yeah, he’s a great guy, he’s helping me out a lot,” says Muggli of his veteran partner. “He showed me how’s it’s going, talking to me. He’s a great example for me; he’s been in the League for a long time, so it’s great.”
“He is going to be a special player,” says van Riemsdyk of Muggli. “You see it when you watch him out there; he moves really well and he handles the puck really well. He’s got that factor about him that you can tell he’s going to be a really high end player, so this will be the first of many for him. Just remember to enjoy it.”
Virginia Moon – At last September’s Caps training camp, four local players were in attendance. After being in integral part of Hershey’s consecutive Calder Cup runs, Herndon, Va. native Joe Snively signed with Detroit over the summer. South Carolina Stingrays forward Ryan Leibold – a native of Ashburn, Va. – is also not at camp this fall. But Vienna’s Garrett Roe and Winchester’s Alex Limoges are here for the second consecutive camp, and both were also important players on Hershey’s second Calder Cup run this past spring.
Today, Limoges skates in an NHL preseason game at Capital One Arena for the first time. Last season, he stacked up his third straight 20-goal season at the AHL level, finishing with a career best 24 goals and finishing with 51 points for Hershey. He tacked on four goals and 13 points as the Bears rolled to a second straight Calder Cup championship.
Last September, when all four players were here, we chatted them up on growing up and playing hockey locally, and discussed their individual hockey journeys. We asked Limoges whether he had allowed himself to peek into the future and wonder what it might be like to play at Capital One Arena in front of a host of family and friends.
“This is my favorite team my whole life, pretty much,” said Limoges. “And of course, as a kid you dream about it. You dream about playing with those players, and that’s another level. When I signed here, it was very exciting to get the opportunity. And I tried not to let myself think about that. But my whole family is right there saying it, and they’re beyond excited.
“I think if that comes – and hopefully, it does – they might rent out a whole section for everybody that wants to come. It would mean as much to them as it would to me.”
In The Nets – Today’s netminding tandem is the stingy duo that allowed the Bears to surrender a paltry total of just 151 goals (in 72 games) last season, 31 fewer than any other club in the circuit.
As we’ve written in this space previously, Hunter Shepard just stops pucks and wins games – and championships – wherever he goes. Last season, Shepard posted an otherworldly 27-4-3 record with the Bears, along with five shutouts, a 1.76 GAA and a .929 save pct. Shepard also got into four games with Washington, winning each of his first two NHL starts and posting a 2-1-1 record.
Clay Stevenson – the only Washington goaltender in camp who is signed beyond this season – was also sharp in his first full AHL campaign, rolling up a 24-10-2 record with seven shutouts, a 2.06 GAA and a .922 save pct.
All Lined Up – Here’s how we expect the Capitals to line up for Sunday’s preseason opener, and here also is an expected roster for Philadelphia for the contest:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
13-Vrana, 29-Lapierre, 53-Frank
15-Milano, 61-Sutter, 18-Parascak
28-Cristall, 58-Rybinski, 63-Miroshnichenko
55-Limoges, 73-Mateiko, 16-Raddysh
Defensemen
45-Muggli, 57-van Riemsdyk
27-Alexeyev, 25-Bear
4-Häman-Aktell, 54-Allen
Goaltenders
31-Shepard
33-Stevenson
PHILADELPHIA
Forwards
10-Bobby Brink
15-Olle Lycksell
17-Jett Luchanko
18-Rodrigo Abols
27-Noah Cates
39-Matvei Michkov
46-Sawyer Boulton
48-Morgan Frost
49-Rhett Gardner
74-Owen Tippett
86-Joel Farabee
91-Brendan Furry
Defensemen
3-Helge Grans
9-Jamie Drysdale
13-Adam Ginning
24-Nick Seeler
36-Emil Andrae
42-Spencer Gill
Goaltenders
64-Carson Bjarnason
82-Ivan Fedotov
