When the Washington Capitals signed Jonny Brodzinski, he was one of three depth veterans the team added on the first day of free agency, likely to provide veteran leadership in Hershey and serve as an injury call-up. The six-foot-tall forward, who can play center and wing, has split time between the NHL and AHL in eight of his 10 seasons during his pro career, including eight straight years from 2016-17 through 2023-24.
With the Capitals adding stars Alex Tuch, Jordan Kyrou, and Boone Jenner over the offseason and several prospects from Hershey ready to graduate, Brodzinski was even less likely to make the team, despite spending the last two seasons full time with the New York Rangers. In fact, the Caps’ vast depth at forward meant any surprise preseason performance could create a Jenga-like problem for the Opening Night roster that head coach Spencer Carbery and general manager Chris Patrick would have to navigate.
Brodzinski has wasted little time making that hypothetical roster problem very real. Through two preseason games, he leads the Capitals with three goals.
The 33-year-old forward kicked off his surprise scoring spree with a one-timer in the Capitals’ preseason opener against the Boston Bruins.
Jonny Brodzinski’s first goal of the preseason
He was one of the Capitals’ most noticeable skaters in their first preseason matchup, recording two shots, six individual shot attempts, three individual scoring chances, one individual high-danger chance, a drawn penalty, one hit, and the game’s opening goal.
Brodzinski then dented the twine twice the very next night in an equally impressive performance during the Capitals’ 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers in Hershey.
Jonny Brodzinski’s second goal of the preseason
Jonny Brodzinski’s third goal of the preseason
Both of Brodzinski’s back-to-back tallies came in the third period, with the latter coming shorthanded.
“I think it’s kind of as advertised with how he’s gotten to where he has in his career,” Carbery said. “He’s very versatile, so that’s number one. He can play a lot of different positions. He can play a lot of different roles. Whether you’ve got him on the fourth line, he knows and understands because he’s been in the league and playing professional hockey for a long time, so he knows, okay, fourth line, that means I’ve got to be good with the puck. I’ve got to get in on the forecheck. I’ve got to be extremely reliable. I’ve got to rip my puck battles.
“And then he gets into scenarios where he’s in more offensive roles. Then you can push the envelope a little and try to attack and make a play. So I just think he’s a very versatile player, first and foremost. And then he’s a pro. He came in early. He’s been in DC for a while. He’s been working with the guys. He’s getting prepared for camp. And you could tell right from the start of camp, like he was ready to go and not surprised that he’s had a real strong camp.”
With a shorter preseason, including two fewer exhibition games, Carbery started training camp with the lines he believed he would open the season with, hoping the added time together would improve chemistry, especially with so much turnover over the offseason.
Lines & Pairings
Those lines, though, clearly show the players who are on the bubble.
Assuming the team won’t carry more than two goaltenders, the Capitals have 12 forwards locked into roster spots, along with six defensemen, leaving three slots for five bubble players: Brodzinski, Ivan Miroshnichenko, Ethen Frank, Justin Holl, and Dylan McIlrath. If Alex Ovechkin starts the season on injured reserve, which seems far-fetched at this point, that could open up a fourth spot, at least temporarily.
When asked about Brodzinski’s preseason performance, Carbery agreed that he had made the process of who stays and goes even more excruciating.
“Yeah, big time, big time,” Carbery said. “I mean, that’s – Miro’s had a good camp. Franky — those guys that are right on that fourth line, fifth line, trying to compete for a spot to make our team — they’re making it really difficult, and they’re having good camps. And that’s ultimately, as an organization, as a coaching staff, you want to have to make those difficult decisions, even though you’re (like), ‘Oh, this is going to be tough coming down to the end.’ But there’s still a week left. We’ve got practices and stuff, and next week playing the two exhibition games.”
Keeping Brodzinski could also put Frank or Miroshnichenko’s future in the organization in peril. Frank, who signed a two-year, $4 million contract extension last March, became an every-night player for the Capitals last season, recording 24 points (12g, 12a) in 62 games. The talented Miroshnichenko, a 2022 first-round pick, also signed a two-year extension and, like Frank, would need to be sent through waivers to get to the AHL’s Bears — something he may be unlikely to do without being claimed.
McIlrath and Holl are also entangled in their own fierce position battle, both suiting up on the same night in Hershey to help Carbery form a more informed opinion. The move pushed Ryan Chesley to his off-hand side, something he hadn’t done much before.
McIlrath, a beloved Capitals locker-room leader, left his mark with a big hit and heavyweight fight against Garrett Wilson in the game, while Holl had an assist and three shots. Both can no longer play any more preseason matchups because the renewed CBA mandates that players who have played in 100 NHL games or more can suit up just twice during training camp.
“[T]here’s a lot of moving parts, right?” Carbery said. “It’s so bizarre that now with the new CBA and the NHL exhibition rules, they are literally done. And so we’ve got practices, though. We’ve got some inter-squad stuff, and we’ll see where it shakes out. You never know with injuries and plans as far as 14 (forwards) 7 (defensemen), 13 (forwards) 8 (defensemen), all these different things are very fluid when it comes to the preseason and training camp. And so we’ll continue to let it play out and see what happens.”
The problem for Carbery and the Capitals is that some of those decisions are coming before the coaching staff has gotten as much game tape as it would normally like. With the new rules reshaping the preseason schedule, Washington will have to lean more heavily on last season and its internal evaluations.
“I’d probably say the biggest thing is, as a staff, and I’m sure Chris (Patrick) and his management team are feeling the same thing, there are some big decisions that are going to come that we just haven’t had a lot of game action to evaluate,” Carbery said. “So, that’s just nature of the beast; that’s the landscape that we’re in now with the new CBA. So a lot of it is (based) off of last year, how they played, what you think, and then you just have to make the best decision possible with the information that you have. But it is more difficult, no doubt.”
