Top 3 reactions to Capitals opening night roster for 2023
By now we know who made and didn’t make the Washington Capitals. We are getting a clearer picture of what the lineup could look like each day of practice. At morning skate it’ll be crystal clear.
Here’s what the lines looked like the last few days at practice:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
McMichael-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Milano-Strome-Protas
Malenstyn-Dowd-Mantha/Phillips
Sandin-Carlson
Johansen-Jensen
Fehervary-TvR
Alexeyev
Kuemper
Lindgren
Now let’s break down the top 3 reactions I had to the roster:
#3 Hardy Haman Aktell didn’t make the team
A dark horse that could’ve made the sixth defenseman spot was Hardy Haman Aktell. In the end, he got sent to Hershey. In the process, Alex Alexeyev and Lucas Johansen both made the team.
Haman Aktell had a good showing at training camp and the preseason and this shocked Caps fans in a way. The reasoning behind Haman Aktell beginning the season with the Bears is the salary cap.
The Caps placed Max Pacioretty on LTIR and Joel Edmundson on IR but Haman Aktell’s cap hit would’ve put the team over the salary cap. Edmundson would not go on LTIR because he will not be missing at least 10 games following his surgery. So that’s what put the Caps in salary cap hell to the point they had to send one of their studs down to the minors.
#2 Caps have something they haven’t had since the Cup run
The Caps roster will feature eight players that are 25 years of age or younger. This is something the Caps haven’t had in their lineup since 2017 18.
Among the roster this year in that age 25 or under threshold are Alex Alexeyev who’s 23, Martin Fehervary who’s 24, Lucas Johansen who’s 25, Beck Malenstyn who’s 25, Connor McMichael who’s 22, Matthew Phillips who’s 25, Aliaksei Protas who’s 22, and Rasmus Sandin who’s 23.
The Caps folks on that Cup squad who were 25 years of age or younger include Evgeny Kuznetsov, Andre Burakovsky, Jakub Vrana, Brett Connolly, Devante Smith Pelly, Christian Djoos, Nathan Walker, and Philipp Grubauer.
Those people I just mentioned were just as big as contributing to the Cup as Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom were. Evgeny Kuznetsov was the one who scored the historic goal to end the Caps second round jinx. That came in overtime in a thrilling series win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Devante Smith Pelly scored big goals in the playoffs including three straight finals games capping it off with the game tying goal in the Cup clincher in Game 5.
Jakub Vrana had some big moments of his own. A game winner in Game 5 of the second round to put the Pens on the brink as well as the first goal in that Stanley Cup Game 5.
Because of those eight players making the team, the Caps are now tied for the sixth oldest roster in the NHL with an average age of 28.8. That’s a whole lot better than being the oldest or second oldest.
#1 Core intact and ready to go
No real surprises after the other two slides but the core of the Capitals remains intact and this will be a good opportunity for them to get back in the playoffs.
The Caps will once again be led by team captain Alex Ovechkin as well as alternate captains Nicklas Backstrom and John Carlson. T.J. Oshie, Tom Wilson and Evgeny Kuznetsov are back to complete the core.
With 822 career goals entering the new seasons, Ovechkin needs 73 goals to pass Wayne Gretzky for first place on the NHL’s all time goals list. He is signed for the next three seasons and would need to average 25 goals per season to reach the mark.
If Ovechkin’s season ends in the 40-50 goal range he will be well in the driver’s seat to surpass Gretzky next season.
Carlson missed 42 games last season including 36 consecutive games from Dec. 27 to March 21. Despite this, Carlson ranked third on the Caps in points per game at 0.73. Had he been healthy it could’ve been a career year for the veteran defenseman.
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The Caps are back tonight. There will be Rock the Red carpet along with pregame coverage from Monumental Sports Network while the game itself will air exclusively on Hulu and ESPN plus at 7:30 p.m.