Photo: Jill Sorenson
On the first day of Training Camp, players debuted new Caps shirts. Conceptualized by head coach Barry Trotz, the shirts feature the same Caps design on the front. On the back, they feature one of three words: strength, discipline, or structure.
Trotz explained his reasoning why he picked these words to the Caps’ Mike Vogel.
Strength
“We’re going to need the strength as a group to get rid of some of those wounds of the past. We’re going to need the strength to play against a very good Metropolitan Division. We’re going to need the strength for an 82-game schedule and hopefully another 28 games – if needed – to win a Stanley Cup; that’s part of the strength component.”
Discipline
“We’re going to need the discipline that they showed during the summer to work out and to become good pros and work on their game, coming in as pros every day and pushing the pace to get better. That’s the difference between amateurs and pros; pros come to the rink ready to go and amateurs come to the rink and expect the coach to get them ready to go. I think we got over some of those thresholds last year.”
Structure
“They need the structure in terms of understanding their responsibilities to each other. You need the structure as a group to understand everybody’s responsibility within the group so that you can have success. And you need to understand the importance of the group and everybody’s role; that’s part of the structure in a team to be successful. Those are three important words to us in terms of starting this year. Sticking to the script as a whole is very important.”
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