After the day off on Friday, the Capitals have reconvened this morning at Medstar Capitals Iceplex with some changes.

For starters, Hershey stud Daniel Sprong has joined Group A to take shifts on the third line. Also, Ovechkin and Backstrom are reunited.

The Group A lines, via WaPo’s Samantha Pell:

Ovechkin – Backstrom – Oshie
Vrana – Kuznetsov – Wilson
Sprong – Eller – Panik
Hagelin – Dowd – Hathaway

Orlov – Carlson
Dillon – Schultz
Chara – Jensen
Siegenthaler – van Riemsdyk

Samsonov
Anderson
Copley

Sprong, 23, was first acquired in the Christian Djoos trade. Over the summer he signed a two-year, one-way contract with the Caps. After a week with Group B with more marginal players, he is getting time alongside Lars Eller and Richard Panik on Saturday. Last season with the Bears and San Diego Gulls, Spring recorded 12 goals and 21 assists in 44 games.

The swap on the top line is perhaps more significant. Laviolette kept lines in week one similar to how the Caps ran in the playoffs, but now he’s shaken up the top six.  As discussed in our Kuznetsov 2019-20 review, Ovechkin (and everyone else) had vastly better results with Nicklas Backstrom than with Evgeny Kuznetsov.

It’s still early days for this iteration of the team, but we’ll keep an eye on how this develops.

Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB