The Washington Capitals are separated into two groups at this year’s Training Camp but we still got a glimpse of what could be some potential, future lines this season.
Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette put together two comrades on the first line. There are also a few propsects to keep a close eye on as the preseason officially begins on Sunday.
Here were the lines to open the second day of camp, via Samantha Pell of the Washington Post:
Capitals are split up into two groups at training camp, but some lines in the first group today:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Mantha
Protas-Dowd-Oshie
Hagelin-Sgarbossa-Hathaway— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) September 24, 2021
Some lines in the second group:
Sprong-McMichael-Wilson
Sheary-Eller-PilonFehervary-Schultz was also a notable d-pair along with Irwin-TvR and Kempny-McIlrath
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) September 24, 2021
The familiar duo of Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov lead off camp on the same line. The two spent close to 275 minutes on ice at five-on-five together with varying right wings last season. Two members of that sparkplug fourth line have also been reunited in Garnet Hathaway and Carl Hagelin.
The absence of Nicklas Backstrom due to injury and Anthony Mantha being lined up on the right leaves the opportunity for two highly touted 2019 draftees in Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas to start camp at the top of their groups.
Martin Fehervary looks to have a leg up on the battle for spots on the left side of the defense as he is paired with top-four regular Justin Schultz and Trevor van Riemsdyk is with Matt Irwin, who signed a two-way deal with the Capitals in late July.
Things are definitely not cemented and likely won’t be until cuts are made and the roster trimmed down closer to the final 23-man unit.
“It’s just a starting point,” Laviolette said after the skates. “The lineups will change all the time. It’s more than combinations right now. It’s the performance of a player inside of that line and (we) see how they’re doing. We’ve got guys we’re evaluating that are young. Guys that were here last year that we’re evaluating that are looking for more ice time and looking for power-play time. We’ll be evaluating the team, evaluating the system. Evaluating some lines at some point but I wouldn’t think too much about it today.”
Laviolette said not to put too much into line combos yet. Today was just a starting point
— JJ Regan (@JJReganNBCS) September 24, 2021
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB
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