ARLINGTON, V.A. — The Washington Capitals didn't hold anything back as they opened training camp on Thursday.
Players got to work right away, divided into three groups that participated in skate testing before an intense and upbeat practice. It was a promising sign of things to come, as the Capitals expect quite a bit of competition.
"I was joking in the office it feels like this is the most opportunity we’ve had in a camp for someone to come in and earn a spot and there’s maybe like one and a half spots available," general manager Chris Patrick said.
Groups A & B were the ones to watch, as both groups saw an even split of NHLers along with roster hopefuls and fringe players. It also gave coach Spencer Carbery the chance to experiment with lines.
Here's what the NHL combinations looked like from Day 1:
Terik Parascak (placeholder for Alex Ovechkin)-Dylan Strome-Anthony Beauvillier
Aliaksei Protas-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Ryan Leonard
Ivan Miroshnichenko-Connor McMichael-Tom Wilson
Brandon Duhaime-Nic Dowd-Justin Sourdif
Martin Fehervary-John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun-Trevor van Riemsdyk
Rasmus Sandin-Matt Roy
Declan Chisholm-Dylan McIlrath
Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren
Alex Ovechkin, who is dealing with a minor lower-body injury (day-to-day), did not skate with the group as he was held out for precautionary reasons. Justin Sourdif is dealing with an illness and was in a no-contact jersey, along with Martin Fehervary, whose reps are being managed as he continues to work his way back into the rhythm of playing following recovery from knee surgery.
These lines are expected to continue to change as Carbery experiments with different players competing for those vacancies on the roster, including Sonny Milano, who is fully healthy, Andrew Cristall, Hendrix Lapierre, Ethen Frank, Bogdan Trineyev and Henrik Rybinski.
Camp continues on Friday at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.