The Washington Capitals made their second round of major Training Camp cuts on Sunday morning, trimming their roster down to just 29 active players. With the 20 cuts, Washington is now down to just one group of players at camp.
Head coach Spencer Carbery took advantage of his first opportunity to work with a single group at camp and put together a full lineup of forward lines and defense pairings.
Extras: Andrew Cristall, Terik Parascak, Ethan Bear
“Pretty close [to what we’re thinking for Opening Night],” Carbery said post skate. “We’ll see how the next two preseason games go and practice, but it’ll be pretty close to what it looks like.”
Three of Carbery’s top lines have been consistent throughout camp, beginning with his new-look top line. Andrew Mangiapane sticks with the trio as the right wing, joining what has previously been an effective connection between Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome.
Carbery has gotten a good look at the first unit in two preseason games, and they’ve been good in both outings. Washington has held positive differentials in shot attempts (+12), scoring chances (+6), and high-danger chances (+3) in their 23:10 of five-on-five ice time. The Capitals have also scored three goals during those minutes.
Pierre-Luc Dubois still leads a second line with Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson flanking him. McMichael returns to the wing after a successful stint playing down the middle against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night. The three have played in just one game together, in which McMichael found the back of the net.
“Feel like they’ve had some good chemistry, keeping pucks alive, good decisions, a lot of [Dubois] using his frame to be able to hold on to some pucks, and getting to the interior of the rink,” Carbery said Tuesday. “A lot of positives from that line thus far through camp.
“We thought about what the line would look like in the summer, putting Mikey there with some speed and skill… there’s some chemistry there.”
The last consistent grouping is the team’s checking line, consisting of Nic Dowd, Brandon Duhaime, and Taylor Raddysh. Like the second line, they’ve only seen one game together but showcased immediate chemistry in that game, finishing with a combined five points (2g, 3a).
Carbery wants to see more of that sort of offense from his fourth line this season. “We want to try to unlock a little bit of offensive O-zone puck possession time there, which we weren’t able to do as good of a job last year,” he said.
The current third line of Sonny Milano, Hendrix Lapierre, and Aliaksei Protas has not skated together for a single second this fall. Lapierre has struggled to get much going through his preseason action, although Carbery did not sound worried about him after Sunday’s practice.
“Yeah, his games weren’t his best, but I’ve talked to him quite a bit,” Carbery said. “He’s going to get ramped up. He’ll be fine. He knows the areas that he needs to address from the preseason games. A little bit of scrambling. He played early in the camp, early in the preseason schedule. So, I’m not worried about Lappy, but he knows he’s got better, and I’m confident he’ll show that.”
Jakub Vrana, Mike Sgarbossa, Ivan Miroshnichenko, Andrew Cristall, and Terik Parascak appear to be on the outside of at least the starting lineup. The five players survived Sunday morning’s cuts and will likely stay with the club until the roster is trimmed down to its final 23 players at the end of the first week of October.
On defense, Carbery’s top pairings remain the same, even with Rasmus Sandin getting a few practices under his belt after arriving late to camp due to international visa issues. Sandin will make his preseason debut on Monday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, where it looks like he will skate with Trevor van Riemsdyk. The two have skated over 474 five-on-five minutes together since Sandin was traded to the Capitals in 2023.
More from Group B—Rasmus Sandin is back and skating with the team today. He missed the start of training camp dealing with visa issues, then had to clear medical before he was able to skate. pic.twitter.com/NpnNwwvnw5
— Katie Adler (@katieEadler) September 26, 2024
Jakob Chychrun and John Carlson appear slated to start the season as Washington’s top pair. The two have shared the ice during the preseason for nearly 40 minutes.
“Liked [the pairing] so far in practice and in the games,” Carbery said. “I feel like there was some chemistry there in that Jersey game. Not quite as much in the Columbus game, but I think we’ve liked that pair, and we’ll stick with it for now.”
The Capitals will play their penultimate preseason game against the Blue Jackets and then have a four-day break before their final preseason contest. Carbery says neither the Ovechkin line nor the Chychrun-Carlson pairing will suit up in Columbus after playing in the team’s two most recent games.
The second-year bench boss also announced Logan Thompson will start against the Blue Jackets on Monday. Thompson will get the whole game after beating the New Jersey Devils in his preseason debut last Wednesday.
