No pucks were needed to open rookie camp at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.
ARLINGTON, V.A. — The Washington Capitals prospects didn't need any pucks to open Day 1 of rookie camp at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.
It was all skating.
After some preliminary shooting work on goaltenders Mitchell Gibson, Clay Stevenson, Garin Bjorklund and Antoine Keller, the Capitals scooped up all the pucks and put them aside. Then, the team's coaches set up the sensors on the ice for the infamous test, which featured forward skating, backward skating and sprints.
It's all preparation for being a pro, as Washington and the NHL clubs open camp with the famous skate test. And though most players don't usually vote to go first, Hendrix Lapierre and Vincent Iorio stood at the front of the line to lead the way for their fellow teammates.
"You can tell the guys who've played one season as a pro. You just can, more maturity. It was a very intense practice, and those guys were leading the charge," Hershey Bears head coach Todd Nelson said of the two, who are coming off short summers following the Calder Cup run. "I think maybe it was an eye-opener for some younger players coming in."
Lapierre said that he had been focusing on skating and movement over the short summer, and it showed on the ice as he was one of the top skaters at camp. The same goes for Iorio, who's added an explosive stride to his arsenal.
In addition to them, Ivan Miroshnichenko was impressive with his edgework and fluidity on the ice, as was Alexander Suzdalev.
Another standout: Brett Hyland, the Capitals' 2023 seventh-round pick who took the ice for the first time with his organization after undergoing knee surgery in March. He was fast and strong on his skates, and he kept his feet moving as he moved down the ice.
Following skating work, Washington waited for the ice to be resurfaced once more before getting out the puck and working on some passing, 1-on-1 battle drills, transition drills and rushes.
Miroshnichenko and Bogdan Trineyev both impressed in the backchecking part of these drills, laying the body and shoving their opponent off the puck.
To close things out on the ice, players got time to get some individual on-ice work in. Miroshnichenko used the time at the end to work on his one-timer from Alex Ovechkin's office as Suzdalev fed him passes.
Following the first on-ice session, the players headed to the gym for workouts before taking the bus up to Annapolis. The Capitals' rookies will spend the next three days at the Naval Academy for team-building activities and on-ice sessions at McMullen Hockey Arena.