Welcome to the dog days of August. The NHL and the hockey world are now offficially on summer vacation. But fear not, the start of the new NHL season (and the Capitals Championship banner-raising) is only 60 days away. In the meantime, here are latest Capitals’ rumors and news bits for the week ending August 4, 2018. 

Training Camp – Mark your calendars. According to an article published in The Record, the Washington Capitals will officially open training camp on Thursday, September 13th. The date makes sense, as it is two days after the conclusion of thenprospect tournament in Florida. Look for players and coaches to begin trickling into town in about two weeks.

Ted Leonsis – In an interview with the Washington Post, Leonsis was asked about the future of sports. “Gaming and gambling and wagering are the promised land for media and sports,” Leonsis said. Leonsis see big data also playing a prominent doll in the next generation of sports.

Rookie Tournament – The schedule is set for the Capitals annual rookies (prospects) tournament in Florida. As you may recall  last year’s tournament was cancelled due to Hurricane Irma. (more here). This year’s tournament is set for September 8-11 in Estero, Florida. (more here).

New Alternate Jerseys –  As you may recal, adidas took over the NHL’s jersey production last year. In an attempt to cut down on first year work for adidas, all third jerseys were eliminated last season. But they are coming back for the 2018-2019 season. Several teams have already released images of their new third (Alternate) jerseys. Look for the Capitals to reveal their new design in the coming days. There have been no indications to date with regards to what type of design is on the way, however, the fine folks at Icethetics, a website dedicated to the asthetics of hockey, anticipates a “retro design”.

Backup Goaltender – Look for the Capitals to extend professional tryout (PTO) offers in the coming days. High on the candidates,list for PTO’s will be seasoned veteran goalies to potentially battle with Pheonix Copley for the backup to Braden Holtby. The Capitals are currently $1,099,039 under the salary cap.

Nicklas Backstrom – Nicklas Backstrom had to withdraw from Mats Zuccarello’s 2018 Summer Classic outdoor charity game to be held in Oslo, Norway on August 11th. However, Nick’s cancellation is for good reason. Backstrom and fellow Gavle, Swede, Christian Djoos will be busy with Stanley Cup activities on August 11 and 12. Plans for the weekend can be found here. You can see the latest schedule for players dates with the Stanley Cup right here.  Previous players recaps: John Carlson, Alex Ovechkin, Michal Kempny, Jakub Vrana, Mark Nemish, Brian MacLellan, Matt Niskanen, T.J. Oshie, Todd Reirden, Madison Bowey, and Braden Holtby

Hershey Bears – The Bears announced their preseason schedule this week (here). The Bears also announced the addition of Mike Eastwood to the coaching staff (here). You can keep up with all of the Bears latest player transactions via Zack Fisch’s excellent “offseason player tracker” right here.

By Jon Sorensen