The Washington Capitals opened training camp on Friday and their quest to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions is on. Here is all of the news from the first day of training camp.
The “White” group on the ice here at @MedStarIceplex includes Nick Backstrom, T.J. Oshie & Braden Holtby as the #StanleyCup Champs open camp! #Caps @1067theFan pic.twitter.com/l7ghY7jqg5
— Chris Russell (@Russellmania621) September 14, 2018
Ewwwwww man! Seriously? #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/Y5K8uwk9sl
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 14, 2018
Defenseman John Carlson, who led NHL defensemen with 68 points last season and signed an eight-year contract extension on June 24, and center Lars Eller, who scored the Stanley Cup-clinching goal for the Capitals in Game 5 against the Vegas Golden Knights on June 7, are each day-to-day with lower-body injuries but it sounded more like a precaution more than anything. Capitals’ head coach Todd Reirden said he wasn’t sure either of them will skate tomorrow.
Just heard back a little more on Carlson and Eller. Nothing serious, just a precaution. No need to aggravate anything on the first day.
— JJ Regan (@JJReganNBCS) September 14, 2018
The newest Capital, forward Sergei Shumakov, will not come to camp for a few more days as he’s dealing with visa issues traveling over from Russia. Shumakov signed a one-year, two-way contract with the team on September 1.
#Caps are minutes away from hitting the ice on Day One of 2018 training camp. Three of the 65 players won’t be on ice today: Carlson and Eller are day-to-day with lower body injuries and Shumakov is in the midst of the visa process.
— Mike Vogel (@VogsCaps) September 14, 2018
These were the groups for the Capitals’ first day of training camp.
Lineups for today. No Carlson, Eller, or Shumakov. Still trying to find out why. pic.twitter.com/TwpwmXMrhU
— JJ Regan (@JJReganNBCS) September 14, 2018
Reirden decided to keep his top-six unit from the Stanley Cup Final together to start training camp.
Reirden has Vrana-Backstrom-Oshie together today. And also Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson. Those line combos look familiar.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) September 14, 2018
The Capitals also ran their skate test.
Skate test day #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/xAY0hEzCgX
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 14, 2018
Stay tuned for more news throughout the day.
By Harrison Brown