Top 3 reactions to Capitals opening night roster for 2023

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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:

Hardy Haman Aktell, Washington Capitals (Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images) /

#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.

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