Washington Capitals: Top 5 bold predictions heading into the preseason

#1 Ilya Samsonov will beat out Vitek Vanecek for opening night starting goaltender

It’s going to come down to two goalies when all is said and done. Beyond the preseason, both will be auditioning for that spot of being a Caps goaltender of the future. In the meantime, both will be trying to win games.

The six games will be interesting. As far as the preseason opener is concerned Pheonix Copley and Vitek Vanecek are the two goaltenders listed on the roster. So Vitek is up and we’re guessing Ilya Samsonov gets the nod in the second preseason game.

Tom Wilson told the media via Alex Flum of WDVM:

"“At the end of the day, to win hockey games in the NHL, you gotta have good goalies, and they are. And you know we’re excited to have them back there so they’ll do the job and just continue to get better.”"

Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette added:

"“They’re both coming into a year where they’ve really taken on some experience with regard to the league, as trying to be that guy and be the person that takes the crease. And so they have that whole year under their belt and we look for them to be better than that, better than they were last year.”"

In the end, the Caps will go as far as these young goaltenders will take them. We’ll see if either Vanecek or Samsonov has what it takes.