TJ Oshie was one of the Capitals’ best players during their Stanley Cup run in 2018, scoring 21 points in 24 games. This year, if the Caps are to repeat, they’ll likely have to do it without him.
On Saturday, Caps head coach Todd Reirden announced that Oshie will miss Game Five and is out “indefinitely.”
By Ian Oland 1 day ago
Wednesday morning, Capitals senior reporter, Mike Vogel, tweeted that Dmitrij Jaskin was missing practice because he was going to be placed on waivers at noon.
Instead, the Capitals pulled a switch, and placed Devante Smith-Pelly on waivers instead, forcing DSP off the ice.
That change came mid-practice because there are a lot of “moving parts,” Capitals coach Todd Reirden said.
By Ian Oland and Julia Karron 2 months ago
I write a lot of game recaps, and those recaps have a section where I summarize all the goals that got scored, and I realized lately I’ve been using the word “rush” a lot in that section. For example, on Tuesday two of the three goals Columbus scored came on the rush, continuing a pattern we’ve been seeing all season.
The Caps have problems with their transition game, and they’re paying for it on defense. Whatever Brian MacLellan does to improve the team between now and the deadline should be paired with fixes to the x‘s and o‘s of Washington’s neutral-zone system.
By Peter Hassett 2 months ago
On Monday evening, the Capitals held the 13th annual Hockey ‘N Heels event. The event, which is exclusive to members of the Scarlet Caps, is a special evening dedicated to the team’s female fans.
The evening featured instructional sessions from a handful of Capitals and off-ice presentations, including a question and answer session with USA gold medal-winning Olympian Haley Skarupa.
By Cara Bahniuk 3 months ago
The Washington Capitals committed two penalties in the first period of Sunday’s game against the Bruins, and coach Todd Reirden wasn’t having it. During a stoppage in play, Reirden told NBC Sports, “guys are going to start missing shifts.”
And that’s exactly what happened to Evgeny Kuznetsov.
By Ian Oland 3 months ago
In my story last week cheekily apportioning blame for the Caps’ slump, my most pointed words were for Washington’s goalies. During five-on-five during the slump, Braden Holtby has saved 86.5 percent of shots and Pheonix Copley has saved 85.9 percent. These are two very bad performances. It’s neither difficult nor incorrect to identify them as the root cause the seven-game losing streak.
But the losing streak has also sparked a spirited conversation about team defense, which I understand to be the revolutionary concept that an entire team is supposed to play good defense. The implication is that head coach Todd Reirden is ultimately responsible for the recent underlying patterns beneath all the losing. This is wrong, but maybe not for the reasons you would think.
By Peter Hassett 3 months ago
Braden Holtby and John Carlson will be returning home to Washington DC nearly $100k richer.
The Metropolitan Division All-Stars defeated the Central Division All-Stars 10-5 in the championship game to win the 2019 All-Star Game’s three-on-three tournament.
Sidney Crosby was named All-Star MVP after scoring four goals and four assists, winning a 2019 Honda Passport Elite. Todd Reirden earned the win in his first career All-Star Game as head coach.
Following the Washington Capitals’ first players’ only meeting of the 2018-19 season, a second meeting delayed their scheduled practice on Monday by nearly 30 minutes.
Capitals head coach Todd Reirden spoke to the media after the team’s skate. Reirden addressed some of the topics they discussed during their meeting and just what the team needs to do to get back on track.
“Right now it’s starting with some physical errors, and maybe some mistakes, and they’re being compounded by more mistakes after it,” Reirden said. “Sometimes you have to go through some tough situations and learn some lessons [in] difficult ways to really grow your group. Certainly, no one likes going through what we are right now, but in the end, I hope to look back on this and say these were valuable lessons we learned.”
By Donya Abramo 3 months ago
Capitals forward Devante Smith-Pelly started Sunday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks. And for a very good reason.
The last time DSP was in Chicago on February 19, 2018, the right wing faced racial taunts from Blackhawks fans while in the penalty box. Those four fans were later banned from ever coming back to United Center.
According to Capitals’ senior writer Mike Vogel, Todd Reirden wanted DSP on the ice for the national anthem. The forward started the game on the first line.
Todd Reirden‘s lineup changes at Saturday morning’s practice might be the biggest move of his coaching tenure so far. Reirden is motivated to get the Caps scoring again, and the new top nine just might do the trick.
By Peter Hassett 3 months ago
