Thursday morning marked the end of the first full week of training camp. The entire camp roster will have the day off on Friday, for team building events.
MORNING SKATE
Morning practice lines:
We got a look at the first real practice lines this morning, as the Capitals rolled out what could be very close to the opening night lineup, with the exception of one or two changes:
Forwards:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Burakovsky-Backstrom-Williams
Johansson-Eller-Galiev
Winnik-Beagle-Connolly
Defensive Pairs:
Alzner-Niskanen
Orlov-Carlson
Orpik-Schmidt
Ness-Chorney
Tom Wilson returned to the ice for the first time since sustaining an upper body injury in the first preseason game against Carolina on Monday night.
Nicklas Backstrom made his first appearance of training camp, after returning from the World Cup of Hockey. He met with the media following practice:
After returning from the #WCH2016, @backstrom19 talks with the media. #CapsCamp pic.twitter.com/cc0gpztRKD
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 29, 2016
Skate Testing
Alex Ovechkin and Dmitry Orlov had their conditioning tests and both passed. Although he skipped the conditioning test, Kuznetsov is healthy, Reirden said. He’ll take the conditioning test Saturday with Backstrom.
ROSTER MANAGEMENT
The first round of cuts were made today. C. Bourque, R. Bourque, Gazley, Margonari, McGauley, Milner, Monardo, Labrie, Joey Leach, John Parker and Colby Williams were released to Hershey.
The following players were released from PTO: DeSalvo, LaPorte, McParland, Pitt and C. Williams.
The following players were sent to their respective junior clubs: Hobbs, Johansen, Malenstyn, Pilon and Zaitsev. The Capitals camp roster now stands at 44 players. The updated roster:
LINKS TO OTHER STORIES
Nicklas Backstrom returns to practice today from the WCH2016. (Capitals PR)
SCENES FROM KETTLER
When it’s not October yet, #RockTheRed at #CapsCamp pic.twitter.com/zFQNBuEM7D
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 29, 2016
CAPITALS COMMUNITY
By Jon Sorensen
