Breaking down the Capitals opening night roster for 2023
The other day the Washington Capitals opening night roster was not their opening night roster. But on Wednesday at 9 a.m. the team made the moves that they needed to set their lineup for Friday night’s season opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Before the roster was released, the Caps made the following transactions. They loaned Ivan Miroshnichenko and Riley Sutter to the Hershey Bears. They then recalled Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas from Hershey.
Forwards: Nicklas Backstrom, Nic Dowd, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Beck Malenstyn, Anthony Mantha, Connor McMichael, Sonny Milano, T.J. Oshie, Alex Ovechkin, Max Pacioretty, Matthew Phillips, Aliaksei Protas, Dylan Strome, Tom Wilson
Defensemen: Alex Alexeyev, John Carlson, Joel Edmundson, Martin Fehervary, Nick Jensen, Lucas Johansen, Rasmus Sandin, Trevor van Riemsdyk
Goalies: Darcy Kuemper, Charlie Lindgren
Offseason acquisitions Joel Edmundson and Max Pacioretty will begin the season on injured reserve and long term injured reserve, respectively.
The roster has 24 men on the roster in total consisting of 14 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders. Alex Ovechkin is once again team captain with alternate captains Nicklas Backstrom and John Carlson helping lead he charge.
T.J. Oshie, Tom Wilson, and Evgeny Kuznetsov are all back to complete the core. While the Caps are the second oldest team in the league they also have eight players 25 years old or younger. Those eight players at the quarter century mark or younger is the most the Caps had on an opening night roster since 2017-18 and we all know how that year ended.
11 of the 24 players on the roster this season were drafted by the Capitals.
Ovechkin enters the season 73 goals to pass Wayne Gretzky for number one of all time. He is signed with the Caps for three more seasons and would need to average 25 goals per season to reach the mark.
Related Story. T.J. Oshie will bounce back this season. light
The game Friday is at 7:30 p.m. Pregame coverage from the Rock the Red carpet will be on Monumental Sports Network. The game itself is on Hulu and ESPN plus.