Brooks Laich skated with the rest of the Capitals today in Toronto for the first time this season since training camp in early January. Laich has been sidelined with a groin injury he sustained while playing for the Kloten Flyers in the Swiss League during the NHL work stoppage. (What is it with this team and groin injuries?) He is listed as a non-roster player, but the team can activate him whenever he's ready to play, which might not be any time soon.
The Capitals won’t have much time to brood over losses or wins this season. With a tight schedule and multiple back-to-back games, they’ll have to fix problems and learn quickly from mistakes without dwelling too much on failures or resting on successes.
In discussions with Capitals players and coaching staff surrounding Saturday’s 6-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lighting, one thing you’ll find in common is the acknowledgement that they need to do a better job of preventing teams from screening their goalie, and probably more practice with their penalty killing unit, despite getting a workout against the Lightning. Read more here.
(Photo by Brendan Sheridan) The start of the NHL season is now upon us. It’s four months late, but finally here, and we’re counting the minutes until we can watch it unfold. Realistically, all 30 teams have only had six days of practice as a unit to prepare for the 48-game season, so it’s safe to presume that the hockey we will be viewing is not going to be good. In fact, it will likely be terrible. Terrible hockey is better than no hockey, and if nothing else, it will at the least be entertaining. The Washington Capitals enter the season virtually the same team they were at the end of last season. Except, not really. Alex Semin, former “Young Gun,” skipped town for greener pastures with the Carolina Hurricanes. Maybe he wanted to meet Justin Beiber, er, Jeff Skinner. Who knows. Dennis Wideman, also gone. Who needs him anyway?...
It didn't take long for Tom Poti to make an impact on the ice. Early Sunday morning, news came out that Poti was to be sent to Hershey for a conditioning assignment. In return, defenseman Cameron Schilling was recalled by the Capitals in time for the opening to Capitals training camp.
Last January, Capitals defenseman Mike Green underwent surgery for a sports hernia after being sidelined with a groin injury for most of the 2011-2012 season. He returned to action for the Capitals' playoff run but was clearly not completely healthy. A year later, Green has totally recovered from the surgery. The long absence from a grueling NHL schedule allowed Green to mend completely. "I think that [with] the season not starting on time I've had a chance to kind of heal from my surgery. I've been training hard, so I'm ready." Structure is a large part of a professional athlete's life both during a season and in the off season, and NHL players had been missing that component during the lockout,as teams were not allowed to run official team practices. Green said even though he skated during the lockout, it was significantly lacking structure. "For us to get back on...
Early notes from AM practice: Caps not skating this morning are Brooks Laich, Mike Ribiero, and Braden Holtby. Marcus Johansson took the day off as well. Among the Caps on the ice are Nicklas Backstrom and Wojtek Wolski, who arrived from Toronto yesterday, Jack Hillen, and Joey Crabb. Mike Green, who has taken the last two days off, is also skating today. Goalie Michal Neuvirth, who has been battling a cold, is on the ice as well. 20 players total took part in the skate. Training camp is set to officially start Sunday, after a 113-day lockout.
Kettler Iceplex was the scene of a rare sight Friday morning. Capitals players John Carlson, Jay Beagle, Jason Chimera, Brooks Laich, ex-Cap Jeff Halpern and retired Capital Peter Bondra took to the ice for a pickup game with a few college players (including both George McPhee's son, Graham McPhee, and Peter Bondra's son) from NVCC, Michigan State, Princeton and the University of Connecticut, to name a few. John Carlson tweeted Thursday evening that he and a few other locked out players and teammates would be scrimmaging local college hockey players at 8:30 a.m on Friday at Kettler. Considering hockey fans in the D.C. area have been deprived of hockey for going on four months, this was a welcome distraction to the lockout. After the scrimmage, a few players worked on shooting drills and then gathered in the Kettler lobby to sign autographs and talk to fans. Jason Chimera spoke with...
Today is Karl Alzner's birthday! Drafted fifth overall by the Washington Capitals in 2007, Karl Alzner began his NHL career already something of a quiet star. In junior hockey, he captained two Team Canada gold medal teams in the World Junior Hockey Championship. Not to mention his distinction as both the Western Hockey League’s best player AND the Canadian Hockey League’s top defenseman in 2008 — both junior hockey accolades. Now in the big leagues for a couple of seasons he’s — once again quietly — earned the title of “shutdown defenseman” among the fans and media of the Capitals.
Tim Hunter will be joining Adam Oates and Calle Johansson as an assistant coach for the Washington Capitals this upcoming season. No relation to Dale Hunter. Or the Hunter brand. Or Tim Gunn, for that matter. Now that we have that cleared up, here are the facts, one of them being he had an eagle beak implanted on his nose. Read for more.
