Sonny Milano loves the chia pet, Capitals fans will love him even more
August 28 was a memorable day for the Washington Capitals Twitter/X community. The day started out with the team giving an extension and promotion to general manager Brian MacLellan. As you can imagine, Caps Twitter was divided on the subject. But then something beautiful happened that afternoon.
The Capitals announced their promotional schedule for the season. And it wasn’t just any old promotion schedule with giveaways like bobbleheads and tees. Nope, there was one thing that brought Capitals fans together and it was the Sonny Milano chia pet.
This giveaway will happen on Jan. 11, 2024 when the Capitals host the Seattle Kraken. All fans will receive it. Some will keep it and watch the chia pet grow. Others will be greedy and flip it on eBay.
We’ve been predicting players one by one for a while. Today is the first of a few of them so we will not only be talking about chia pets but how Milano will fare this season.
Milano performed well enough to get a midseason extension and thanks to that extension he won’t need to make an extra buck off of his own giveaway. In fact, he’s keeping it as he should.
TNT’s Tarik El-Bashir asked the question we were all dying to hear after Sunday’s preseason shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres. Note: we apologize for including The Athletic in a previous post about him, looks like it’s just TNT and because of that I am pressing that unsubscribe button. Alas the game is changing but at least we’ll see our friend on TV more often.
“Everyone back home loves it. It’s pretty fun. I’m excited about that. …I had a bobblehead my first year in the AHL but not a chia pet. For sure I’ll keep it.”
Alright enough about chia pets, it’s prediction time! In that loss to the Sabres, Milano made his presence known. On a nice set up by Anthony Mantha, Milano tied the game in the third period and had the lone Caps goal in the shootout. At the start of training camp, Milano skated on a top six line with Tom Wilson and Evgeny Kuznetsov.
Milano’s career high in goals is 14 and he did it twice. First in 2017-18 as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Then again in 2021-22 with the Anaheim Ducks. He had 11 goals and 22 assists for 33 points last season after he signed with the Caps when they were playing just their second game.
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Milano started that season hot but cooled off after he signed his new contract. That can happen from time to time. But if he can start fast and finish strong I could see him with 15 goals and 20 assists for 35 points. That would be a career high in goals and points. As for his chia pet night, I predict he scores two goals. If I say hat trick I’ll sound too much like a homer.