The New Jersey Devils came to town on Wednesday night for another preseason battle with the Caps. For the Caps, their opening night roster is starting to come into focus. The lineup against the Devils is the closest thing to a full lineup we’ve seen from the team this preseason.
Wednesday night was a big chance for a few players fighting for the final roster spots to make a favorable impression.
The lines on Wednesday looked like this:
Burakovsky – Backstrom – Oshie
Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Connolly
Vrana – Eller – Boyd
Graovac – Beagle – Peluso
Orlov – Niskanen
Ness – Carlson
Orpik – Bowey
Holtby
- This is probably what the top-six forwards will look like on opening night. Brett Connolly and Jakub Vrana could be flipped, but other than that, the top two lines are set. The first line will likely play against the opponent’s top line most nights and should thrive in that role.
- Travis Boyd was on the third line as a place holder for Tom Wilson, who was serving the second game of his two-game suspension.
- Tyler Graovac wasn’t a favorite to land a roster spot coming into camp but he’s done everything possible to earn a sweater on opening night. At this point, he should be ahead of every winger vying for a spot on the fourth line except Nathan Walker. He works well along the boards in the offensive zone and uses his body well to prolong the cycle game. This style of play could work well with Jay Beagle as his center. Graovac has gotten time on the first penalty kill unit, another sign that Barry Trotz and company have taken note of his stellar play.
- What is the point of giving a sweater to Anthony Peluso at this point? He’s a known quantity, and an inferior one at that. The Caps will have enough depth issues this season, they don’t need to give Peluso a roster spot over a more deserving player. While I expect Walker to skate alongside Graovac and Beagle to open the season, it seems as if Peluso is still in the mix to be the 13th forward.
- On defense, Aaron Ness got a big shot playing alongside John Carlson on the second pair. I’ve been impressed with Ness this preseason. But he’s not a top-four defender and this team is in trouble if he’s there for an extended period this season. The problem is, the other two options are Taylor Chorney and Christian Djoos. Chorney is fine enough as a seventh defender, but nothing more. Djoos has potential, but it’s a bit optimistic to think he’ll make the jump from the AHL to be a suitable second pair defenseman on a team with playoff aspirations. Basically, the second pair is likely to be an issue all season. Oh well, at least, like Brian MacLelln said, losing Nate Schmidt was no big deal because he was a third pairing defender.
- With Ness playing well, it will be interesting to see what the Caps do with the seventh spot on defense. They likely don’t have enough cap space to carry eight defenders and the prevailing opinion is that Chorney will definitely make the team. This means that either Ness, Djoos or Madison Bowey won’t. More on Bowey later, but the Caps really have no other right-shot option to play on the third pair with Brooks Orpik, so it seems as if Ness or Djoos won’t make the roster. But the issue is both have to clear waivers to go to Hershey. If the Caps can only keep seven defenders up, they should give serious consideration to exposing Chorney to waivers before Ness or Djoos.
- Bowey looks ready for the NHL. I didn’t expect him to look so good given the uneven year he had in the AHL last season. But he looks ready, and given the team’s lack of right-handed defenders, he should open the season on the third pair with Orpik.
How do you guys think the final roster will look?
Headline image: Bruce Bennett
