The Washington Capitals have announced their final roster for the season opener versus the Pittsburgh Penguins at Capital One Arena on Friday. Fourteen forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders make up the Capitals’ season-opening roster.
Roster Update: #Caps loan Ivan Miroshnichenko and Riley Sutter to Hershey (AHL) and recall Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas from Hershey (AHL).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) October 11, 2023
Here is the full list.
Forwards: Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome, T.J. Oshie, Anthony Mantha, Matthew Phillips, Beck Malenstyn, Max Pacioretty (LTIR), Sonny Milano, Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas, Nic Dowd
Defensemen: John Carlson, Joel Edmundson (IR), Rasmus Sandin, Nick Jensen, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Lucas Johansen, Martin Fehervary, Alex Alexeyev
Goaltenders: Darcy Kuemper, Charlie Lindgren
The 24-man roster consists of 14 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders. The Capitals made some paper transactions on Tuesday, sending McMichael, Protas and Hardy Häman Aktell to the Hershey Bears.
All set for Opening Night#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/PHevGcVrUm
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 11, 2023
However, McMichael and Protas were called up Wednesday morning and will be on the opening night roster.
Meanwhile, Matthew Phillips officially made the cut on Tuesday after his very impressive preseason. Lucas Johansen also won a roster spot on the opening night lineup.
The Capitals have eight players on the opening night roster that are aged 25 or younger: Alex Alexeyev (23), Martin Fehervary (24), Lucas Johansen (25), Beck Malenstyn (25), Connor McMichael (22), Matthew Phillips (25), Aliaksei Protas (22) and Rasmus Sandin (23). The Caps have not had this many 25 or younger players make the roster since the 2017-18 season.
The #ALLCaps made roster moves today:
Down: Sutter, Miroshnichenko
Up: Protas, McMichaelThey now have $72.5K Cap Space remaining in LTIR.
If this had been the opening roster submission, they would have lost out on $72.5K of LTIR capture for the yearhttps://t.co/p35U91BZ18
— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) October 11, 2023
A notable name that is not on the list is Ivan Miroshnichenko. This morning it was announced that he was loaned to Hershey, however there is a good chance that he will get called up in the near future.
The Capitals begin the regular season on Friday, Oct. 13 against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Capital One Arena.
By Jacob Cheris