The Washington Capitals were back on the ice for practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Monday after a scheduled day off. With nearly a dozen cuts made to the Training Camp roster in recent days, head coach Peter Laviolette had a group of 12 forwards, eight defensemen, and two goaltenders out for the team’s main session.
The Capitals have just two preseason games remaining on their slate before the regular season begins. Those two games are expected to be a dress rehearsal of sorts for their season-opening matchup with the Boston Bruins on October 12. The Capitals’ next preseason game is Wednesday against the Detroit Red Wings.
Most notably, Connor McMichael jumped back into the top six, skating on the left wing of the second line with Dylan Strome and Anthony Mantha.
The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir posted the team’s full lines during rushes on Twitter.
Four games into the preseason, here's how the #Caps lined up Monday (after more cuts Sunday):
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Brown
McMichael-Strome-Mantha
Johansson-Eller-Oshie
Sheary-Dowd-HathawayFehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
Gustafsson-TvR
Johansen-IrwinKuemper
Lindgren— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) October 3, 2022
Connor Brown seemingly remains the first option on the top line that Laviolette wants to test out in place of the injured Tom Wilson. The veteran bench boss said on the very first day of camp that Brown would get a real chance to try and fill that hole.
“We’re going to try things in practice, we’re going to try some things in exhibition games and see where it goes and what looks good with Kuzy and Ovi,” Laviolette said then. “If we can find the right mix there it could be [Brown]. We’ll give him a look and we’ll see.”
McMichael returns to the second line after previous practices saw the young forward skating on the fourth line or as the extra, thirteenth man.
Previously, Strome and McMichael were expected to be in a battle for a center spot on the team with both players claiming the position as their preferred way to line up. For now, Strome appears to be the winner after scoring twice in his Capitals’ preseason debut.
Conor Sheary skated in the “open” fourth-line left wing position vacated by Carl Hagelin. Sheary has been used all up and down the lineup during his tenure as a Caps player and would be a natural fit next to Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway on the team’s checking line.
Camp and preseason standout, Aliaksei Protas, as well as Joe Snively, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Brett Leason, and Henrik Borgstrom all skated before the main practice group as what the Capitals labeled a “taxi squad”. Reading between the lines, with 22 players on the ice during the later session, these prospects could be fighting for a final roster spot. Protas is the only one of the five that would be exempt from waivers given a demotion to Hershey.
The team’s defensive pairings and goaltending duo remain exactly as expected with Erik Gustafsson preferred on the third pairing to both Lucas Johansen and Matt Irwin.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
