(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Washington Capitals are slowly approaching critical mass, as now more than half of the projected opening night roster is back and working out at Kettler. New Arrivals this morning included: Nicklas Backstrom, Marcus Johansson and Chris Brown.  Justin Williams also made his first public appearance on the ice this morning.

Already practicing at Ketler: Braden Braden Holtby, Philipp Grubauer and Mitch Korn are back : They join Karl Alzner, Jason Chimera, John Carlson, Matt Niskanen, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitri Orlov, Stanislav Galiev, Liam O’Brien, Nathan Walker, Jakub Vrana, Vitek Vanecek, and Connor Carrick.

The fact that Nicklas Backstrom is already back and working out with the team is a great sign.  He still has to endure training camp, but the fact that he will likely be ready to go at the start of camp next Friday, is a very encouraging sign.  Backstrom told CSN’s Jill Sorenson that the most he’s skated is three days/week. Just a matter of waiting for pain to subside then he will work on mobility.  Backstrom told Alex Prewitt he’s taking a better-safe-than-sorry approach: “I’m going to be back to 100% before I start playing. I’m not going to play on 90%.”  Alex Prewitt’s interview with Backstrom today details Nicky’s long road back.

(Justin Williams autograph)

The Capitals stepped up the pace with regards to conditioning, which was guided by strength coach Mark Nemish this morning.

Alex Ovechkin is set to return to Virginia on September 13th.  Andre Burakovsky will arrive on September 10th.  Michael Latta has finished up his summer vacation and is returning to Virginia today.

If you are interested in attending morning skates at Kettler, please check the “Caps Today” link in the upper right corner of the front page of the NoVa Caps site.

If you have any tips, photos or news you would like to share from morning skate or anything else Caps related, please e-mail to: novacapsfans@gmail.com

(Photo: Washington Capitals)