Capitals Return Cristall To Juniors & Assign Miroshnichenko To Hershey To Set Roster At 23; Vrana Appears To Win Spot

WASHINGTON — The Washington Capitals have made their final cuts of training camp, returning Andrew Cristall to the WHL's Kelowna Rockets and assigning forward Ivan Miroshnichenko to the AHL's Hershey Bears.

That leaves Jakub Vrana as the lone extra forward for the Capitals. He is attending training camp on a professional tryout, and it appears that from the looks of the situation, he could end up signing his contract sooner rather than later.

He is skating with the team at practice on Monday. Final opening night rosters are due at 5 p.m. ET.

The decision to return Cristall to Kelowna was difficult for D.C., as the 19-year-old impressed through four preseason games and did enough to earn consideration until the end of camp. However, him returning allows him more time to continue to work on his game and further develop.

Miroshnichenko also had a strong camp, but would benefit from more time down at the AHL level playing top-6 minutes than sitting in the press box as a healthy scratch.

READ MORE ON THE HOCKEY NEWS

- Capitals mailbag: Who wins the extra forward role, Ovechkin's PP time and more

- Jakub Vrana feeling the love as he attempts to come back to Capitals

- Andrew Cristall can either make the NHL or return to juniors, and he's leaning toward the former

- Capitals ink Eriks Mateiko to entry-level contract

- Logan Thompson's new Capitals mask pays homage to childhood, franchise history

- Alex Ovechkin discusses why scoring has become so much more difficult in today's game, not stressing over Wayne Gretzky's record

- Ethan Bear opens up about time in NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, overcoming anxiety and depression

- Andrew Mangiapane says Johnny Gaudreau's passing is still difficult to process; Capitals forward calls late star his 'role model' and 'best friend in hockey'