USA TODAY

For the Washington Capitals, the offseason preparation has intensified as June has arrived and has gotten underway. Players have gone their separate ways and most have returned to their offseason homes. Right wing TJ Oshie has had a busy offseason thus far, from buying a new home to recuperating from the wear and tear of the long season.

Oshie joined former Washington teammate Karl Alzner’s podcast “Alz Caps” to talk a variety of topics (listen to the full podcast HERE).

The Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning are the last two teams standing in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, with Game 1 kicking off the series on Wednesday night. Among the handful of players who have previously won a championship between the two clubs is Andre Burakovsky, a former first-round pick of the Capitals who was part of the club’s 2018 run to the Stanley Cup.

“He’s a really great kid, I think he’s a really solid person, good friend, a great hockey player. I feel he’s the kind of guy who brings all the jokes on himself and I think he knows he’s doing it sometimes, but sometimes I think he’s also oblivious to it but he would get chirped by a lot of the guys but it was always in good fun and he took it the right way. On the ice, super, super good player, his release and how he’s able to get off his wrist shot…he’s super accurate with it. He’s a great player and I’m really excited for him to be in the Finals and hopefully he can go get another one. ”

The 2022 Stanley Cup Final pits the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning against the Colorado Avalanche who last won it all in 2001.

“I have no idea, I haven’t watched one game. I used to find out from friends who wins these Game 7s. Sounds like there’s been an exciting playoff season. We’ve got three kids now, so once five o’clock hits it’s dinner, it’s bathtime, it’s bedtime, and then I’m on my phone trying to fall asleep.”

Prior to a July 2, 2015 trade that sent him to the Washington Capitals, Oshie spent several seasons in St. Louis as a member of the Blues. After two seasons with the club, he signed an eight-year contract with Washington in the summer of 2017 that should see him finish his NHL career in a Capitals sweater.

“Minnesota Wild [on which team he would finish his career with if it couldn’t be in Washington]. It’s close to home. I love St. Louis, but for just my family, it would be the Wild. I’m not going anywhere, I’m staying here or I’ll retire. If they try to trade me, ‘Oh sorry, I’m retired’.”

To hear more from Oshie, listen to the full podcast HERE

By Michael Fleetwood