It’s the preseason for everybody.
Thursday night, rookie NHL official Dan Kelly called a penalty on Tampa Bay for tripping. The only problem was he was reffing a game in Canada between the Florida Panthers and Montreal Canadiens.
On Thursday, the Washington Capitals made their first round of cuts from Training Camp. The Capitals’ first round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft (25th overall), Connor McMichael, was one of the players cut, despite impressing the organization with his play.
McMichael was in the running for a spot on the opening night roster – with Evgeny Kuznetsov suspended for the first three regular-season games and Lars Eller out day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
“I liked him a lot [in Sunday’s] inter-squad game, made a couple really good plays,” head coach Todd Reirden said to the AP’s Stephen Whyno. “For him, it’s about the maturity and whether the right decision is for him to continue to stay here or [keep] going with his junior career and continue to build on what he did last year. All those type of things go into the equation of when to let those guys go back and play or continue to keep them here and an opportunity to stay here.”
By Donya Abramo 4 hours ago
Eleven days after hiring Brooks Orpik, the Washington Capitals have named another former NHL player to their Player Development Department.
Jim Slater, a veteran of 584 career NHL games with the Winnipeg Jets, will work with the Capitals’ forward prospects moving forward – mostly with the Hershey Bears. Slater recently retired after playing the last four seasons in Switzerland with the NLA’s Genève-Servette HC and HC Fribourg-Gottéron.
After spending his afternoon at Fort Dupont with Ivanka Trump promoting President Trump’s National Youth Sports Strategy, Tom Wilson spent his evening with more of the DC faithful.
At the Entertainment and Sports Arena Thursday night, Wilson was in the house, along with Wizards stars Bradley Beal and John Wall, to support the Washington Mystics in their quest for their first WNBA championship in franchise history.
By Brennin Weiswerda and Julia Karron 7 hours ago
The Philadelphia Flyers are playing the Boston Bruins Thursday night. And even though former Capital Matt Niskanen got his first goal as a Flyer, the real star was off the ice.
Orange nightmare dreamboat mascot Gritty was by the glass when he met a small fan dressed up in an elaborate orange costume. Big Gritty gave little Gritty some curious pats on the head, demonstrated some dance moves, and bowed down to little Gritty’s awesomeness.
By Brennin Weiswerda 18 hours ago
Andre Burakovsky will rock the burgundy for the first time on Thursday night as his new team, the Colorado Avalanche, will face the Dallas Stars for their second game of the preseason.
“It’s going to be great,” Burakovsky told Avalanche reporter Ron Knabenbauer. “I have been wearing a Caps jersey for five years, so it is going to be a lot of fun to put a new jersey on and represent a new team and do whatever it takes to win for that team.”
The 24-year-old Swedish winger was drafted by the Capitals with their 23rd pick in 2013. Following his summer trade to the Avalanche, he will play for a different franchise for the first time.
By Brennin Weiswerda 20 hours ago
On Thursday, the Hershey Bears announced the full schedule for their 2019 Training Camp. All of the Bears’ practices will be free and open to the public. The AHL 2019-20 regular season kicks off on October 5th for the Bears, against rivals Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
During the 2018-19 season, the Hershey Bears went on a historic point streak that led to career seasons for several players. They qualified for the 2019 Calder Cup playoffs after missing them for only the 13th time in their 80-year history during the 2017-18 season, but were ultimately bounced in the second round by the Charlotte Checkers.
With several new additions to the squad, including veteran Matt Moulson, as well as key returning pieces from the Bear’s successful 2018-19 season, they will be looking to recapture that same success and improve on it as they head into the new season.
By Donya Abramo 21 hours ago
The Washington Capitals announced their new lines and updated groups after cutting 18 players from Training Camp earlier in the day.
The lines look about how you’d expect the team to line up in the regular season once Evgeny Kuznetsov returns from suspension.
Take a look.
Thursday morning at Fort Dupont Ice Arena, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, and advisor to and daughter of the President, Ivanka Trump, presented the Trump Administration’s National Youth Sports Strategy.
According to Azar, the strategy will give “$6.7 million in grants to 18 organizations in 13 states as part of [their] youth in sports initiative.”
Azar then thanked the NHL and Monumental Sports and Entertainment for their support of youth programs. The Nationals’ youth baseball academy and Fort Dupont Ice Arena, both of which support underserved youth in the D.C. area, will be two of the strategy’s financial recipients.
In attendance from the Capitals’ organization were players Tom Wilson and John Carlson, mascot Slapshot, former Capital and current color analyst Craig Laughlin. Neal Henderson, co-founder of the Fort Dupont Ice Hockey Club and recent US Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, was also present.
By Brennin Weiswerda 1 day ago
The Washington Capitals had an off day on Thursday but their front office remained active. Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan pared down the Capitals’ Training Camp roster from 62 to 44 in their first major cuts of the preseason.
The biggest news was that Connor McMichael (London; OHL) and Aliaksei Protas (Prince Albert; WHL) were loaned back to their respective junior teams. Both 18-year-old picks from the 2019 NHL Draft were impressive in their two preseason games with the Capitals. The mammoth Protas scored three points in his NHL preseason debut, including his first goal at the big league level.
McMichael was in the running to remain with the team and fill in during Evgeny Kuznetsov’s three-game suspension to start the regular season.
