Washington Capitals: Takeaways from Day 1 of Training Camp

Washington Capitals hockey is back.

The Washington Capitals hit the ice on Monday for Phase 3 of the Return to Play Plan aka Training Camp 2.0. It feels like the first day of school as players came on the ice in two groups at MedStar Capitals Iceplex. Here are the highlights from the first day of camp.

The Lines

Here is what the groups looked like on the first day of training camp. First up was Group Blue featuring the following players:

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Forwards: Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Tom Wilson, Shane Gersich, Nicklas Backstrom, Garnet Hathaway, Carl Hagelin, Lars Eller, Brian Pinho and Philippe Maillet

Defense: Jonas Siegenthaler, John Carlson, Brenden Dillon and Dmitry Orlov

Goalies: Braden Holtby and Pheonix Copley

Lines in the first group:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Garsich-Backstrom-Hathaway
Hagelin-Eller-Pinho
Maillet
Siegenthaler-Carlson
Dillon-Orlov

Group Red

Forwards: T.J. Oshie, Ilya Kovalchuk, Jakub Vrana, Richard Panik, Nic Dowd, Travis Boyd, Connor McMichael, Beck Malenstyn, Daniel Sprong, and Garrett Pilon

Defense: Radko Gudas, Martin Fahervary, Nick Jensen, and Tyler Lewington

Goalies: Vitek Vanecek and Brett Leonhardt

Alex Alexeyev, Ilya Samsonov, and Michal Kempny didn’t skate today.

Contract Talk

Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom spoke to the media via Zoom after practice. Today is the day Ovechkin can sign a contract extension but the captain has been focusing on other things.

“Not even talking, not even thinking about it because right now we have lots of stuff to do,” said Ovechkin.

Nicklas Backstrom signed a contract extension back in January before the chaos began. He’s been told how lucky he is.

“I’ve heard it from many, many people that I got lucky. … Sometimes you got to be lucky,” said Backstrom.

Coach’s corner

Todd Reirden told the media that the practice groups were separated by those who had the opportunity to skate more regularly recently in the first group and guys who were coming off quarantine and haven’t been able to skate as much recently in the second group.

The fun part about Caps practices is you get an up close look at the players and the team. With the playoffs right around the corner this is usually the best time to catch one. But sadly we don’t have that option. Thankfully we can still follow on the blogs, beat writers, and social media.

The Caps will return to the ice tomorrow morning with Group Blue going up at 10:40-11:40 a.m. while Group Red will go on at 1:10-2:10 p.m.