Washington Capitals: 5 training camp storylines

Washington Capitals hockey is back. Well, training camp that is.

Summer is over and you can already feel the chill from the ice. The Washington Capitals met with the media for the first time on Thursday and today the team hits the ice for training camp.

For the 13th time in franchise history, the Caps will gear up for the season at their team headquarters and practice facility: MedStar Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, VA. If you’re in the D.C. area, all training camp sessions are free and open to the public and you’re encouraged to come check it out!

The team released their training camp roster on Wednesday which you can access here. The Capitals will be split into three separate groups: Group Red, White, and Blue. The first preseason game is Monday night at Capital One Arena against the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Capitals are determined to bounce back in 2019-20 and there are several storylines entering training camp. Storylines such as two high-profile players entering their last year of the contract and another on their penultimate season, as well as roster battles and salary cap issues surround the team.

Some players are on the bubble, or hot seat sort’ve speak with that salary cap issue. General Manager Brian MacLellan faces his biggest challenge yet, until next summer rolls around.

#1 Nicklas Backstrom and Braden Holtby’s contracts

Where else would we start? A hot debate going around Washington is whether to keep Nicklas Backstrom or Braden Holtby. An even bigger one, can the team afford Braden Holtby?

Brian MacLellan told Isabelle Khurshudyan of The Washington Post that they’re “going to play this out” regarding Backstrom and Holtby.

Backstrom signed a 10-year, $67,000,000 that paid him a good $6.5 AAV per season and it’s the $9-10 million AAV range that could do the trick to keeping him.

One similar player of Backstrom’s skillset as said by Luke Adomanis of Japers Rink as well as our own Andrew Gillis: Joe Thornton signed a three-year deal when he was 32 (Backstrom will turn 32 this season), for a seven-million AAV. Gillis also mentioned Jonathan Toews‘ current cap hit of $10.5 million. Not only are they similar but like Backstrom and Ovechkin, Toews and Patrick Kane are inseparable.

As for Holtby, the big story league-wide was Sergei Bobrovsky‘s seven-year, $70-million contract worth a $10-million AAV. A lot of you know my opinion on how Holtby is worth $11-million. He’ll get the money, no doubt but the question is will it come out of the Caps pockets?gei

With a tight salary cap and Ilya Samsonov coming up the ranks, the decision of whether to give Holtby the raise will lie in his performance. While some think there could be a hometown discount with a tightened cap, I don’t see it happening. But Holtby gave an interesting response to Khurshudyan at media day:

“There’s always that area where you can work with, but at the same time you have a responsibility to the other players in the league, too.”

Get your popcorn ready! It’s going to be fun watching Backstrom and Holtby play this season. Regardless of what happens next summer, soak this season in Caps fans. It could be the last time we see the full core on the ice.

#2 Roster Battles

MacLellan checked everything off of his offseason to-do list but there was one glaring issue. The Capitals are over the salary cap. Teams are allowed to be over until the end of the preseason so it’s likely the performance of some bottom-six forwards and a few defensemen will dictate the direction MacLellan goes.

On the forward front, Chandler Stephenson and Travis Boyd are both on the hot seat and it’s been that way since July 1. The Capitals acquired three bottom-six forwards in Richard Panik, Garnet Hathaway and Brendan Leipsic.

The competition on the fourth line could be up for grabs. Stephenson was re-signed by the Caps but the deal had to be done through a neutral arbitrator. The contract is enough to shed salary to send him right down to Hershey. His full salary of $1.05 milion would be taken off the books.

Boyd carries an $800,000 cap hit and is set to become a restricted free agent after the season. Taking him off the books wouldn’t be enough to get under the cap. With $1,364,294 over the cap (via CapFriendly), GMBM has to get creative and it’ll make these preseason games worth watching.

The bottom six isn’t the only ones with competition. On the defensive front, there’s a spot on the second pairing that could be open next to Dmitry Orlov as well as three blueliners fighting for two spots on the third pair. Radko Gudas will be competing with Nick Jensen for the spot on the second pair.

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But the biggest thing to watch that will affect the future of the blueline is the competition between Christian Djoos and Jonas Siegenthaler. Djoos will look to bounce back from a down season plagued by injury while Sigenthaler will look to build on his solid rookie campaign.

#3 Alex Ovechkin enters the penultimate season of his contract

While a majority of the attention will be on Braden Holtby and Nicklas Backstrom’s contracts, Alex Ovechkin will embark on the second to last year of his massive 13-year, $124 million deal.

At this point none of us will know what will happen. Ovechkin hinted at the possibility of retirement in early August when his contract expires but on media day he point blank said he wanted to stay in Washington.

Ovechkin told J.J. Regan of NBC Sports Washington:

“Of course I would love to stay in Washington, but I would say before, we’ll see what’s going to happen. I said I don’t want to play for a different team than Washington.”

Ovechkin enters his 15th training camp and he is now the oldest player on the team. He has no desire talking about a new contract. Not with an important 2019-20 season coming up with a few milestones within striking distance including 700 career goals.

Everyone in Washington would love to see the Caps re-sign Ovechkin and regardless of what happens to Backstrom or Holtby, I see Ovechkin staying in Washington past the 2020-21 season as he continues his quest to catch Wayne Gretzky’s record.

#5 What can we expect from the Capitals this season?

It’s not easy figuring out a team before they even take the ice, especially one with a roster subject to change being over the salary cap but there’s a reason the entire staff of Stars and Sticks picked the Caps to win the Metropolitan Division.

We all believed that the Capitals made improvements despite saying goodbye to a couple of popular players. They chose defense over offense in the offseason.

After coming up not only short of their lofty Stanley Cup aspirations but enduring their longest summer since the end of the 2013-14 season, many players trickled back to MedStar and it seemed like a packed house at the informal skates up to two weeks before training camp.

The start of the season presents a brutal October with nine of their 14 games that month on the road in a tough stretch of games against both divisional foes and western conference powers plus the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I’m interested in seeing how the third line will perform this season with Richard Panik replacing Brett Connolly. Connolly was a success story in Washington and replacing his 22-goal production. Panik has a two-way game, however, and on a team like the Caps and on a line with Carl Hagelin and Lars Eller, he can tap into that potential.

The fourth line battle will be fun to watch as will how the Caps construct their defense. It’s still weird seeing Radko Gudas in a Capitals sweater but his new teammates have made him feel right at home.

It all begins October 2 in St. Louis. If the Capitals begin October with at least a .500 or better record they’ll be in good shape. Nope the playoffs aren’t clinched then but a .500 record against the toughest opponents can give you the confidence necessary for the rest of the season.