Washington Capitals defenseman Michal Kempny, who has been limited in skating for the first few days of training camp after tearing his hamstring late last season, is now labeled as day-to-day according to head coach Todd Reirden. He stayed on for the team’s entire skate on Monday and did some one-on-one work with Reirden afterward. While Kempny is on the right track towards being in the opening night lineup on October 2, Reirden wasn’t sure if he will get into much preseason action, if any, on Friday. The Capitals open their preseason slate at Capital One Arena against the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night (7 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington).

Reirden told the media that goaltender Pheonix Copley will play the full game against the Blackhawks on Monday with Ilya Samsonov serving as his backup. Reirden also added that Samsonov will get a crack at playing a full 60-minutes later in the exhibition season.

Defenseman Alexander Alexeyev, center Riley Sutter, and forward Kody Clark all remain out with upper-body injuries with no timetable to return to the ice.

Reirden did not rule out center Connor McMichael, the Capitals’ first-round pick in this past June’s NHL Draft, starting the season on the NHL squad with center Evgeny Kuznetsov out for the first three games due to suspension.

Headlines From Around The League

• The Philadelphia Flyers signed RFA F Travis Konecny to a six-year contract that carries a cap hit of $5.5 million per season
• The NHLPA declined to reopen the CBA, so there will be no lockout in 2021
• With Colorado Avalanche RFA F Mikko Rantanen still unsigned, former Capitals F Andre Burakovsky took his place on the team’s top power-play unit

Capitals’ Lines vs. Blackhawks

Blackhawks’ Lines at Capitals

#Blackhawks lines this morning ahead of preseason trip to Washington:

Quenneville – Carpenter – Perlini
Nylander – Kampf – Saarela
D. Sikura – Highmore – Wedin
McLaughlin – Nilsson – Versteeg

Gilbert – Boqvist
Koekkoek – Gustafsson
Beaudin – Tuulola
Dahlstrom

Delia
Tomkins

— Carter Baum (@CarterBaum) September 16, 2019

Caps Today

CAPS TODAY: Herndon, Va., native Joe Snively will face the Chicago Blackhawks tonight. More info on Snively and the Caps at https://t.co/HecIC0ECg1 pic.twitter.com/hxpflRxyzU

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) September 16, 2019

By Harrison Brown