The Washington Capitals were back to work at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Thursday for day nine of their 2020 summer training camp. The team will hold their third intrasquad scrimmage on Friday at 4:00 pm, which will be streamed live on Capitals social media platforms. The team will wrap-up training camp this weekend and depart for Toronto on Sunday. Here is the latest from MedStar.
PRACTICE
Martin Fehervary returned to practice on Thursday after missing practice for the first time on Wednesday. Ilya Samaonov was once again a no-show.
Power Play Units
For the first time in camp, the Capitals dedicated significant practice time to the power play units.
PP1: 8-19-77-92-74
PP2: 20-43-17-13-9
PK1: 26-62-34-3#Caps— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) July 23, 2020
Connor McMichael
McMichael finishes the black aces’ skate with a goal and celebration. #Caps pic.twitter.com/6zZCXCEXt5
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) July 23, 2020
Friday’s Intrasquad Scrimmage
Monumental Sports Network will provide live coverage of the Capitals intrasquad scrimmage, presented by Leidos, scheduled for Friday, July 24 at 4 p.m., at MedStar Capitals Iceplex. The coverage will also be streamed live on the Capitals and NBCSW’s Twitter and Facebook platforms. An encore presentation of the coverage will also be televised on NBCSW on Monday, July 27 at 5:30 p.m. All Capitals practices remain closed to the public and general staff of the Capitals. (More here.)
Braden Holtby
Holtby sat for an interview with Mike Vogel following Thursday’s training session. “You’re going from 0 to 100 at a pace that you’re not used to… Whoever can right the ship quickest is going to have success.”
“You’re going from 0 to 100 at a pace that you’re not used to… Whoever can right the ship quickest is going to have success.”
– @Holts170 on the quickly approaching return to play pic.twitter.com/lKrEndiiRG
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) July 23, 2020
T.J. Oshie
On the Capitals’ trade deadline acquisitions, defenseman Brenden Dillon (who was acquired from the San Jose Sharks on February 18) and forward Ilya Kovalchuk (who was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens on February 23), Oshie said: “I never liked playing against either of them.” … [I] have had a lot of battles with [Dillon]” and hated “going to the wall with them.” He felt like the two fit in well and said that “[I] couldn’t have asked for two better guys to join the team.” (More here.)
Radko Gudas
After voicing concerns about coming back to North America to resume the NHL season throughout the pause, Washington Capitals defenseman Radko Gudas told the media on Thursday that he came back because “we have a chance to win the Cup” and felt confident with the league’s protocols. He wanted to compete. (More here.)
Tom Wilson
Wilson met with the media for the second time this training camp. You can watch his entire interview below:
WATCH: Today’s media availability with Tom Wilson.https://t.co/tNFV28klTJ
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) July 23, 2020
Lars Eller
Lars Eller established a new career high with 39 points (16g, 23a) this season and recorded a 51.89 face-off percentage, his highest since joining the Capitals in 2016-17. Eller led the Capitals with a 55.8 shot attempt percentage at five-on-five (908 shot attempts for, 717 against), which was not only a personal career high for Eller, it was the third-highest percentage by a Capital since the NHL began recording the data in 2009-10 (Alex Ovechkin, 2009-10: 57.6 shot attempt percentage; Nicklas Backstrom, 2009-10: 56.5 shot attempt percentage). (More here.)
Broadcast Schedule
The Capitals released the broadcast schedule for their first four games, including the exhibition game on Wednesday.
Release the Kraken!
The 32nd team of the NHL finally unveiled their team name, which will be the Seattle Kraken and logo on Thursday. Their inaugural season will be in 2021-22. Seattle was awarded an NHL franchise on December 4, 2018. The ownership group featuring billionaire managing partner David Bonderman and Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer paid an expansion fee of $650 million to get Seattle a franchise. (More here.)
By Jon Sorensen
Per EITM, Samsonov’s absence is non-COVID related but you shouldn’t expect to see him the rest of the year
Is he suspended or in rehab?
Because of league reporting rules, it’s unknown. He also had expired visa, which may/may not be an issue as well.