Washington Capitals: Top 3 positional battles this preseason
The Washington Capitals are well underway into their preseason schedule and they enter their third contest tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers. We’ve seen many players impress despite the Caps not getting a win in their first two games. Some cuts have been made and the opening night roster is beginning to crystallize but there are still some positional battles that are up for grabs.
We won’t see some of these players tonight but they will be talked about anyway. It is these three spots that will determine the direction of the team this season. Let’s look at the top 3 position battles.
#3 Ilya Samsonov vs. Vitek Vanecek for the opening night starting goaltender spot
Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek are expected to be the goaltending duo this season but who gets the nod for opening night. Samsonov will get the start in Philadelphia tonight against the Flyers which will be his second audition after playing in the third period on Wednesday night against the New Jersey Devils.
Samsonov is 24 while Vanecek is 25 so they’re among the youngest players on the team and expected to be the youngest average NHL goaltending duo this season. Both have over 35 games of NHL experience with Samsonov playing in 45 games while Vanecek plays in 37 games.
#2 Martin Fehervary vs. Michal Kempny
The Caps were not only so high on Trevor van Riemsdyk that they decided to protect him in the Seattle Expansion Draft, they’re confident he can occupy the left side of the defense despite being a righty. We all thought there was two spots open for the defense with the departure of Brenden Dillon and Zdeno Chara. Now that leaves just one.
Michal Kempny will be on the roster tonight for the third straight preseason game but it’ll be just the second time he dresses. At Friday’s training camp practice, Kempny skated on the second pair with Justin Schultz while Fehervary was on the third pair with Nick Jensen. Van Riemsdyk was skating with Mat Irwin.
Kempny’s first game back on Wednesday is one he would like to forget. He finished with a minus one in 19:08 of ice time while being on the ice for three of the New Jersey Devils five goals of the game. One goal that was scored by Jack Hughes, came off a Kempny turnover. He even got beat by Nico Hischier.
Tonight we will get our second look at Martin Fehervary this preseason after playing in the opener against the Boston Bruins. After recording 14 points with four goals and 10 assists with Hershey in 2019-20, he surpassed his rookie point total in 32 fewer games. He finished the season with 17 points with three goals and 14 assists which ranked second among Hershey Bears defensemen.
Whoever wins this battle is tasked with helping the defense improve.
#1 Connor McMichael vs. Hendrix Lapierre
This matchup takes a night off tonight unfortunately but may resume Monday night. Nicklas Backstrom talked to the media after Saturday’s morning skate and practice and said he hasn’t been on the ice yet since his hip injury and is still week to week.
On Friday they took turns centering the third line between Conor Sheary and T.J. Oshie. Connor McMichael entered camp as the front runner for the third line center but after two preseason games, it looks like Hendrix Lapierre is going to give him a run for his money. Whoever gets that spot will have to earn it in the final three preseason games.
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Through the first two preseason games, Lapierre has assisted on four of the Capitals six goals in just under 29 minutes on the ice. Lapierre connected with Oshie on a breakaway goal and after the game Oshie had high praise for the rookie:
“He skated really well, he moved the puck really well. thought for the most part we weren’t really in our own end and a lot of that was because of his skating through the middle, making great plays. He actually had two super nice plays to me in the middle and I didn’t quite read them fast enough. I had to get used to his hockey IQ, which seems pretty high. I thought he did a great job.”
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Those are the top 3 positional battles to watch over the final four games. It’s what makes the preseason worth watching.