After a day off on Monday, the Washington Capitals returned to the ice for Training Camp on Tuesday at MedStar Capitals Iceplex. The roster has been trimmed down to 51 players so now instead of three groups there’s now just Group A and Group B.
A lot of questions surrounded the Capitals defensemen and how it would look come Tuesday. Trevor van Riemsdyk left Sunday’s preseason opener against the Buffalo Sabres as he took a slapshot to the right hand during the third period.
Zach Benson redirects the puck in and gives the Sabres the lead, 3-2 #LetsGoBuffalo #AllCaps pic.twitter.com/f0w0axj2kl
— Buffalo Hockey Moments (@SabresPlays) September 24, 2023
It turns out the injury wasn’t severe enough for TvR to miss time. He practiced Tuesday. But another defenseman was not there. This one is newcomer Joel Edmundson who the Caps acquired in a trade at the start of NHL free agency.
Per Tarik El Bashir of The Athletic and TNT, Edmundson suffered an upper body injury in Sunday’s non game group scrimmage at the Caps practice rink. He is still being evaluated to determine the injury.
Spencer Carbery said this after practice, “We’ll have more tomorrow. Probably not good, but we’ll know more tomorrow.”
Well if Edmundson is out for a long time or even for a little bit of time, it opens up a big opportunity for Alex Alexeyev (wink wink) to get a top six spot on the blue line.
By now you’ve read articles about Evgeny Kuznetsov’s tell all interview with the Russian language hockey podcast Slippery Ice. Among all the bombshells was when the center called his fellow countryman Alexeyev a “fool” for thinking he’d be anything other than the team’s seventh defenseman.
Elliotte Friedman yesterday on his 32 Thoughts podcast said the team was “not happy at all” and they especially weren’t happy with him picking on the team’s young defenseman who has yet to prove himself at the NHL level for dreaming big.