Washington Capitals Daily Report (09-24-15)

The Washington Capitals returned to split squad preparations this morning, as 20 players prepared for the game this evening against the Canadiens in Montreal. Washington dressed 20 players for the opener against Carolina, and it dressed 20 different players for the second game in as many nights in Boston. The remaining players continued with training camp protocols this morning (Thursday).

Capitals @ Canadiens, 7:30 PM
The Capitals take on the Alexander Semin and the Montreal Canadiens tonight in the third of the team’s seven pre-season games. Braden Holtby and Dan Ellis will be in net again tonight. The morning practice lines for Montreal included:

Schedule

Offensive Lines
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Chimera-Burakovsky-Williams
Vrana-Roy-Brown
Collins-Stephenson-Galiev

Defensive Pairings
Carlson-Orlov
Stanton-Chorney
Carrick-Siegenthaler

Capitals defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler will make his preseason debut tonight. The 6’3”, 224-pound defenseman was drafted by Washington in the second round, 57th overall, in the 2015 NHL Draft.

Unlike the first two pre-season games for the Caps, this contest will not include a 3-on-3 demonstration period at the end of the game, unless required due to score. The game will not be televised, but can be heard on Caps radio. Lineups for tonights game:

Training Camp
Those players who will be playing in Montreal this evening, held their morning at 10:00 a.m. Groups Maruk and Pivonka (not making the trip to Montreal) took the ice at 11:00 a.m.

(Photo: @mags74)

Roster Cuts:
The Capitals initiated the roster reduction process yesterday afternoon, releasing Trevor Cox (Medicine Hat), Tim McGauley (Brandon) and Keoni Texier (Portland) to their junior league teams.

Today (Thursday) at 3:30 PM, the Capitals announced 17 more cuts: Boyd, Burgdoerfer, C. Wilson, DeBlois, Dekanich, Elgestal, Fyten, Gazley, Herbert, Hobbs, Koules, Kozun, Leach, Mitchell, Sauve, Shea & Walker. The reduces the roster to 44. The updated roster can be found here. The Capitals need to have their 23-man roster set at by October 6th.

Both Chandler Stephenson and Connor Hobbs appear to be impressing the Capitals coaching staff. Both players were mentioned by Coach Trotz in his afternoon presser yesterday. Trotz told Chandler Stephenson, “I think you should believe you can make this team, because you’re close”. Trotz also noted yesterday that Connor Hobbs would he kept at camp for another day as a “reward”.

T.J. Oshie and Justin Williams preparing for tonight’s tilt in Montreal

More work on the three-on-three today at practice. Second camp session, Grubauer and Peters were in the net-the run for number two continues.

News and Notes
Washington Capitals players will participate in the 2016 Capitals Canine Calendar photo shoot to benefit Homeward Trails Animal Rescue at Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Va., on Tuesday, Sept. 29, from 1-4 p.m. Players being photographed include Karl Alzner, Jay Beagle, John Carlson, Matt Niskanen, Brooks Orpik, T.J. Oshie, Justin Peters and Justin Williams with their dogs and Nicklas Backstrom, Andre Burakovsky, Braden Holtby, Marcus Johansson, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Michael Latta, Dmitry Orlov, Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson with shelter dogs.

Michael Latta was on the ice for practice this morning at Kettler, Trotz said yesterday he expected as much. Marcus Johansson did not skate this morning. As per Jill Sorenson, Trotz said he hopes to get Johansson in the next game (Monday).

As per Alex Prewitt, Trotz said Johansson, Backstrom and Orpik all skated this morning. Johansson’s the closest. Trotz aiming to put him in two games next week. Big night in Montreal for several positional battles. Stephenson/Roy up the middle, Stanton/Chorney on D, Galiev/Collins/Brown at depth F.

The Hershey Bears have announced their training camp schedule. You can see more here on the Bears website.

Happy 27th Birthday to Karl Alzner! And finally, it looks like Andre Burakovsky is no longer one of the “roomies”