ARLINGTON, V.A. — Washington Capitals hockey is officially back, as the team is set to open its training camp on Thursday to ring in the 2024-25 NHL season. The Hockey News has you covered with everything to know going into the campaign, including storylines to watch, updates and much more. TOP CAPITALS STORYLINES TO WATCH OVECHKIN'S "GR8 CHASE" CONTINUES Alex Ovechkin turned 39 on Tuesday and is entering his 20th NHL season in an interesting position: he's just 42 goals away from history. Ovechkin has 853 career goals, and he has two years left on his contract as he looks to break Wayne Gretzky's all-time record of 894. The Russian winger is coming off of his record 18th 30-goal season in which he recovered from a slow start to finish last season on a pace of .64 goals per game. If he can pick up where he left off last April and maintains that pace, he would finish the season with 52 goals, which would not only move him past Gretzky put push him over 900 career NHL goals. That being said, though, it's a tall task. Ovechkin not only has to stay consistent, but he also has to stay healthy. It's also not easy to maintain that pace in today's league, but there's hope that the team's new additions can help bolster the offense and give him some help in that area, too. NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK Washington is coming off quite the busy offseason, as the Capitals elected to overhaul roughly a third of its roster in an attempt to retool on the fly and return to being legitimate playoff contenders after just sneaking onto the postseason scene last year. Things kicked off with Washington acquiring Pierre-Luc Dubois in exchange for Darcy Kuemper, and then bringing in Logan Thompson to form a 1A/1B tandem with Charlie Lindgren. Dubois brings a new look down the middle and helps fill the void left by Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov. After that, D.C. brought in Andrew Mangiapane to further bolster the top-6 and provide another right wing option with T.J. Oshie now going on long-term injured reserve to open the season. Over the course of free agency, the team rounded out its forward lines by signing Brandon Duhaime and Taylor Raddysh and also inked Jakub Vrana to a professional tryout for training camp as a potential extra option. Beyond the forward lines, the Capitals also bolstered the blue line in a big way. On the opening day of free agency, they acquired Jakob Chychrun in exchange for Nick Jensen and a draft pick, giving the team another offensive defenseman who can complement John Carlson on the top pairing and provide another power-play quarterback option. In addition to Chychrun, Washington signed Matt Roy to a six-year contract, giving the team another shutdown defenseman on the right side. All of Washington's new offseason additions are under the age of 30, with Roy being the oldest of the group at 29. ALL EYES ON DUBOIS All eyes this training camp are on Pierre-Luc Dubois, who has seven years left on the contract that D.C. traded for this offseason. Dubois, 26, is getting a fresh start after things didn't go as planned with the Los Angeles Kings, who acquired him in a sign-and-trade with the Winnipeg Jets just one year ago. Dubois Skating This will be Dubois' fourth team in four years, and the hope is that head coach Spencer Carbery can help him recapture his game and find consistency. Dubois has shown that he has the talent to be a top contributor and first-line center; he has two 60-point seasons under his belt and has tremendous ability. Now, it's just a matter of putting it all together and displaying that skillset on a nightly basis. BETWEEN THE PIPES After Charlie Lindgren powered his way to the starting job last season with 50 starts under his belt and a .911 save percentage that was tied for eighth-best in the NHL, the Capitals chose to move on from Darcy Kuemper as part of the Pierre-Luc Dubois deal while revamping their goaltending situation. Lindgren will look to keep the starting job, but he'll face fierce competition in Logan Thompson, who Washington acquired at the draft from the Vegas Golden Knights. Thompson, who was an All-Star in 2023, will be looking to regain his top form and competing with Lindgren for time. The expectation is that both will push each other as a 1A/1B tandem as they look to earn contract extensions (both are UFAs at the end of this season). Both are also right catches and the lowest-priced goaltending duo in the NHL. BLOODLINES Two sets of brothers will be at this year's training camp: Aliaksei Protas and younger brother Ilya, who was taken in the third round of this year's draft. Dylan Strome is also back along with his brother and Hershey Bears forward Matthew, whose overtime winner in the Calder Cup Finals last season clinched the team's second consecutive championship. CAPITALS INJURY & PLAYER UPDATES There are some important injury updates that came in before training camp; T.J. Oshie underwent his medical exam on Wednesday and was listed as injured, and the plan will be for him to go on the long-term injured reserve during the 2024-25 season. He remains committed to finding a permanent fix to his chronic back issues that have limited him over the last few years. Meanwhile, Nicklas Backstrom is expected to remain on the LTIR this season after stepping away last season with his hip not responding as he'd hoped following hip resurfacing surgery. In other news, Ethan Bear has been cleared from the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program and is back skating with the team. He will take part in training camp after missing the end of last season. CAPITALS UP-AND-COMERS TO WATCH Beyond the veterans, keep an eye on Ivan Miroshnichenko, Ethen Frank, Riley Sutter, Pierrick Dubé and Bogdan Trineyev; the young Hershey Bears are looking to secure some NHL ice time this season, and Miroshnichenko is on a mission to stay up with the big club, though vacancies are hard to come by. In addition to players within the organization, also look out for free agent invites Tyler Weiss, Ayo Adeniye and Oasiz Wiesblatt, who are looking to turn training camp invites into pro deals after putting in some serious work this summer. CAPITALS TRAINING CAMP SCHEDULE Here's the Day 1 schedule: Thursday, Sept. 19 – Caps Media Day 9 a.m. – Group A skate test (Capitals Rink) 9:45 a.m. – Group A practice 11 a.m. – Group A media availability 11:45 a.m. – Group B skate test (Capitals Rink) 12:30 p.m. – Group B practice 1:45 p.m. – Group B media availability 2 p.m. – Head coach Spencer Carbery media availability 2:30 p.m. – Group C skate test (Capitals Rink) 3 p.m. – SVP and General Manager Chris Patrick media availability 3:15 p.m. – Group C practice 4:30 p.m. – Group C media availability -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- READ MORE ON THE HOCKEY NEWS - Capitals bringing back Screamin' Eagle as third jersey for upcoming season [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/news/washington-capitals-screaming-eagle-return-2024-25] - Andrew Cristall has sights set on making Capitals opening night roster after strong summer [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/features/washington-capitals-andrew-cristall-sights-set-roster-strong-offseason] - Capitals rookie camp updates as Holtby coaches [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/news/washington-capitals-rookie-camp-updates-holtby-parascak-cristall-names] - Jakub Vrana sticking with veterans at informal skates; how he could end up on Capitals opening night roster [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/takes/washington-capitals-jakub-vrana-how-end-up-opening-night-roster] - Expect big year for Rasmus Sandin amid upgrades on Capitals blue line [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/takes/washington-capitals-rasmus-sandin-big-year-revamp-blue-line] - Charlie Lindgren goes all out with new Capitals mask for 2024-25 season [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/takes/washington-capitals-charlie-lindgren-new-mask-2024-25] - L [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/news/washington-capitals-informal-skates-notebook-dubois-roy-ioriohttps://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/news/washington-capitals-logan-thompson-goalie-setuphttps://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/news/washington-capitals-logan-thompson-goalie-setup]ogan Thompson debuts full Capitals goalie setup [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/news/washington-capitals-logan-thompson-goalie-setup]
