Ilya Samsonov will get his first start of the season against the Colorado Avalanche, Tuesday.
Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette announced the news in his pregame press conference hours before puck drop.
By Chris Cerullo 1 day ago
Vitek Vanecek will be in net for the Capitals again Saturday as they take on the back-to-back champs, the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The rest of the Capitals lines and pairings remain the same from Wednesday’s 5-1 blowout victory over the New York Rangers.
By Chris Cerullo 4 days ago
After having the team give out Cobra Kai headbands last season to the offensive and defensive players of the game, Peter Laviolette is turning up the danger level in his postgame awards.
“I did watch a new show this summer,” Laviolette said in his postgame presser. That show was History and Amazon Prime’s Vikings.
The Capitals are now giving out a Viking axe and shield as their new postgame award ridiculousness. We’re serious. Do you see the headline pic? That’s Ovi wielding a weapon from the 11th century.
By Chris Cerullo 7 days ago
Vitek Vanecek will start his first career season opener against the New York Rangers, Wednesday night.
Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette announced the surprising news in his pregame press conference hours before puck drop.
By Chris Cerullo 1 week ago
Previewing the Washington Capitals 2021-22 season in the prevailing vocabulary of our time: vibes.
In this edition: The Capitals have a goalie problem, and it’s the exact same one they had last season.
By Peter Hassett 1 week ago
One of the most intriguing storylines of the 2020-21 season was who the Capitals would potentially protect and who would they possibly lose over the offseason during the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft. Would it be [sigh] TJ Oshie or a depth member of the Capitals defense?
Instead, after surprisingly earning a majority of the starts in goal, rookie Vitek Vanecek played his way off the team and was the Capitals’ player selected by the Kraken. Vanecek’s skill, potential, and salary made him a perfect value pick for Seattle. He was slated to be the second or third goaltender on the Kraken’s depth chart.
Vanecek’s selection was heart-breaking. Well, until it wasn’t.
You may remember some months ago that Vitek Vanecek only lasted about 13 minutes in his first career postseason start due to injury, prompting a couple of playoff appearances from Craig Anderson in his stead. Vanecek did not return for any of the remaining games in the series.
We now know that, that injury was to Vanecek’s hamstring and that he was never close to being able to return as the injury held him out of action for twelve weeks.
By Chris Cerullo 4 weeks ago
Our nephew and Washington Capitals goalie Vitek Vanecek announced his engagement to fiancée Kristýna Fejtová on Sunday morning.
Dunno if it’s bad manners to comment on this, but the engagement ring sure is pretty.
By Peter Hassett 2 months ago
Vitek Vanecek is getting recognition for the sensation rookie season he had after coming in relief of both Ilya Samsonov and Henrik Lundqvist during the NHL’s 2020-21 campaign. Vanecek, who finished seventh in the NHL in wins (21), started 36 of 56 games for the Capitals, posting a .908 save percentage and 2.69 goals against average. Pretty good for a goalie slated to be on the taxi squad all year.
On Friday, the Czech Hockey Federation (Narodnitym) announced the winner of its Golden Hockey Stick award, Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak. It’s the fifth year in a row Pasta has earned the honor.
Vanecek finished tenth overall in voting and was the Czech Republic’s top goaltender.
And we’re back where we started.
The Capitals have acquired goalie Vitek Vanecek from the Seattle Kraken. You may remember Vitek Vanecek from the Washington Capitals, the team he played for up until like one week ago.
By Peter Hassett 3 months ago
