ARLINGTON, Va. — The Washington Capitals were back practicing at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Monday morning. The Caps have won their last four games and are 8-1-1 in their last 10. Here is what you need to know from practice.
Evgeny Kuznetsov was back on the ice after not suiting up against the Columbus Blue Jackets due to illness.
Matthew Phillips was playing defense with Lucas Johansen. That does not mean he is playing on the blue line for games. Rasmus Sandin was reunited with John Carlson and Alex Alexeyev was paired with Trevor van Riemsdyk. Martin Fehervary has yet to return to the ice for a full practice.
Capitals lines in practice
Ovechkin-Strome-Wilson
Mantha-McMichael-Oshie
Milano-Kuznetsov-Protas
Malenstyn-Dowd-NAKSandin-Carlson
Edmundson-Jensen
Alexeyev-TvR
Johansen-PhillipsHendrix Lapierre was rotating with Kuznetsov. Phillips is only playing D for practice @NoVa_Caps
— Jacob Cheris (@JCheris17) November 20, 2023
The Caps continued working on the power play. Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said that the two biggest issues that the power play unit has are entries and puck retrievals.
Spencer Carbery on what the power play needs to clean up: “For me it’s entries and puck recoveries. That’s where power plays start for me. Usually when you’re struggling, you’re not able to enter a game possession consistently.” #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/IjMDNOBfsr
— Jacob Cheris (@JCheris17) November 20, 2023
Connor McMichael remained on the first power play unit after he was replacing the ill Kuznetsov against Columbus.
Capitals power play lines
PP1: Ovechkin, Strome, Oshie, McMichael, Carlson
PP2: Milano, Kuznetsov, Mantha, Wilson, Sandin #ALLCAPS @NoVa_Caps— Jacob Cheris (@JCheris17) November 20, 2023
The Capitals also worked on puck movement centering on getting the puck to F3 (forward #3) in the slot area.
The Capitals seem to be working on hitting the F3. Probably to generate more high-danger chances in the slot area. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/qyzzHS30Am
— Jacob Cheris (@JCheris17) November 20, 2023
The Capitals will practice tomorrow at 11 a.m. ahead of their Thanksgiving-eve tilt against the Buffalo Sabres.
By Jacob Cheris
If you had been told the Caps would be 9-4-2 after 15 games, I think all of us would have been delighted. Yeah, there are things to work on, but it’s nice to have a cushion.
Looking forward to next year:
Mantha: minus $5.7 mill
Edmundson: minus $1.7 mill
Backstrom LTIR: minus $9.2 mill
Salary cap expected to rise by about $4 mill
So by my calculations, MacLellan could have over $20 million to spend. McMichael, Protas, Malenstyn, and Sandin will need new contracts, and NAK resigned. Don’t think they’ll need more than bridge contracts. I think Pacioretty’s bonus of $2 mill will go against next year’s cap. All told, it should be $13-15 mill available for Mac to spend.
Lets just hope and pray that the GM does not screw things up by trading someone young (either on the roster or in Hershey) for an older player. The young guys are learning on the fly. One other things to consider is the possability of trading Kuzy as he has asked for atradeso lets accommodate him. I would like to see the ego driven head case traded and let Lapierre play the 3C full time. Dowd has one year left and Sutter is ready to take his place. Sad that we still have 3 yearsof Kuempre (a very bad move by the GM) when we have Lindgren and Shepard who can play and Stevenson on the horizon. Wonder if there is a market for Kuemper? One year left and Oshie walks and in 2 Ovie is gone. Lets just hope that the GM does not trade the future for older players now.
Nah, a Caps GM would never trade a young, soon to be star, for a washed up vet.
Oh wait….
I was actually thinking about the UFA market. Nylander and Lindholm could be available.
Dowd is so far and above better than Sutter. I like him. Think he COULD be a good 4C. He could also be a good 4RW. But i am in no hurry at all to part with Dowd to get Sutter in. We’ll see when we get closer to that time.
If Edmunson plays well and remains healthy, why would you let him walk without a reasonable offer for another contract? The Caps do not have another Dman like him and desperately need one (more than one actually).
He’s too brittle, for one thing. For another, the Caps need another puck mover, and offensive D. Part of the reason for this anemic offense, is the fact that the D corps has a grand total of one goal. We don’t need John Erskine, Jr. We need a secondary puck mover, like Dimitri Orlov, or Matt Niskanen. I like physical D too, but Ryan Chesley is at least a couple of years away, and paying a guy to be on IR all the time doesn’t do it for me. Maybe see if there’s someone better in the UFA crop. Trading two draft picks for a guy who spends more time with the trainer, than on ice, was stupid.
who exactly is “paying a guy to be on IR all the time doesn’t do it for me” for a guy who isn’t/wasn’t on IR except due to a broken hand. Not much he can do with that and it does not make him “brittle”. I think you are putting was too much on speculation as I said, “remains healthy” as the caveat and Chesley IS “at least a couple of years away”. I flatly disagree that the Caps need another puck mover.
He’s never played more than 69 games in a year. Yes, that makes him brittle.
You’re OK with just one goal from the D? Sandin hasn’t been what they were hoping for offensively. TVR and Jensen are good defensively, but generate little offense. So that leaves Fehervary, who is, again, better defensively, and Alexeyev, who struggles to even stay in the lineup. Oh yeah, and Carlson, who pretty much generates all of what little offense comes from the blue line. Look what happened when he went down. The team sank to the bottom.
Last year was too much offense from the D, leading to constant odd man rushes. Now it’s too little. There needs to be a happy medium.
Next seasons lineup:
Miro-McMichael-Nylander
Ovi-Strome-Wilson
Milano-Lapierre-Protas
Malenstyn-Dowd-NAK
Snively/Frank extra forwards
Johansen-Carlson
Sandin-Fehervary
Alexeyev-TVR
Oshie retires. Kuzy traded. Jensen traded. Caps sign Nylander for $11m.
Oshie still has one year left on his deal after this year, so he’ll give it a go next year. After that, he likely retires.
If his poor body lasts that long. A friend and I debate whether wrapping him in Kevlar or bubble wrap would be better.
Seriously, he has no goals, 1 assist, and 10 PIM this year. If he gets injured and has to miss significant games or plays a lot of games injured, or if his numbers remain this low, would he still want to come back?
unrelated question as Ovie ramps up for his 1500th point.
has there ever been a pair of players on the same roster with over 500 goals each? I’m pretty sure 99 and 11 were on the Rags together when they each had over 500 goals….
As I research it looks like gartner and messier also shared time on the Rags while each had 500 career goals…
Howe and Hull played on the 79-80 Whalers. Does that count? I have no idea if they were ever on the ice together. Howe played 80 games, Hull 9.
Phil Esposito and Johnny Bucyk were both on the Bruins when they hit 500.
Bucyk is one of those players who was better after turning 30 than before. A few years ago, I had calculated that if Ovi could keep up with Bucyk in productivity from age 35-40, he’d pass Gretzky.
Dionne and Lafleur both were club members when on the Rangers.
Gretsky and Kurri might have been on the Kings together with 500. Moth moved that year so not sure.
Brett Hull and Hawerchuk were both on the Blues when they made their 500th. Brett and Yzerman on the Wings with 500.
It looked to me that Gartner left before Messier got his 500th. I have Messier 11/6/1995 and Gartner left in the 93-94 season. Did I copy something wrong?
I asked this because we should witness it this season in Pittsburgh…Malkin is 20 goals from 500. I know , poop on Pittsburgh but he and Crosby are first ballot HOF players and deserve the credit.
Malkin does. As you say, they are the Pits, but Malkin has been a great draft pick for them. When he makes it, all four active club members will have stayed on one team.
Right now the three active 500 club members (Ovi, Sid, Stammer) have all been on only one team. I had long been curious how often this had occurred. It turns out more often than I thought, but not often.
Yzerman, wings; Lemieux, Pits; Perreault, Sabres; Bossy, Isles; Mikita, Hawks; Beliveau, Habs. The most travelled were Recchi and Jagr at 9 teams.
The team has probably decided to just ride Mantha’s contract out at this point. I’m sure Kuzy is on the trading block if a team is interested. Plays great when he’s in to it, which seems to be less and less as time goes on.
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Go Caps!
Lapierre should be playing center and kuzy on the wing!
Reality is Lapierre goes to Hershey. If Caps continue to be in race neither Kuzy or Mantha are getting traded. Will assess in offseason. We’re still getting a lot of young talent ice time. Lappy and Iorio wait a year. Miro probably two because of his waiver status. He’d had to beat out Oshie or Protas.