The Washington Capitals are poised to face-off against the Carolina Hurricanes tonight at 7pm in the first pre-season game of the... well, the pre-season.
Set to play for the for Washington are Alex Ovechkin and newly acquired T.J. Oshie. The anticipation has been building since Oshie was trade to the Caps in July for fan-favorite Troy Brouwer and goalie prospect Pheonix Copley. Ovechkin will most likely be playing alongside Evgeny Kuznetsov tonight as Nicklas Backstrom is still recovering from off-season hip surgery. Backstrom could miss the first two weeks of the season, but is progressing nicely. Kuznetsov is the favorite to center the top line in Backstrom's absence.
Oshie will be pairing off with former Blues teammate, Derek Roy, who is on a PTO with the Caps. With the center situation being the big question mark for the Caps this season, Roy's presence should be nice buffer for when Backstrom returns. However, to keep Roy in the mix, if he even makes the team, the Caps may have to shed some salary.
Sophmore Andre Burakovsky could play with Roy and Oshie tonight, while rookie Stanislav Galiev could see time with Ovechkin and Kuznetsov.
In goal tonight it is looking like Holtby and newcomer Dan Ellis will be sharing time between the pipes. Holtby is the obvious number one in Washington this season, but the backup job is up in the air as the Caps have three potential reliable goaltenders in Ellis, Justin Peters and Philipp Grubauer. Grubauer has a one-way contract now after re-signing the summer and is probably the best choice. Peters and Ellis will find themselves in Hershey most likely, unless one of them is waived at the start of the season.
The full Caps roster for tonights game is as follows:
Forwards
8 OVECHKIN, 92 KUZNETSOV, 49 GALIEV
10 ROY, Derek, 65 BURAKOVSKY, 77 OSHIE
13 VRANA, Jakub, 24 BARBER, Riley, 48 CAMPER, Carter
21 LAICH, 25 CHIMERA, 43 WILSON
53 COLLINS, Sean
Defensemen
2 NISKANEN, 27 ALZNER
9 ORLOV, Dmitry, 20 STANTON, Ryan
29 DJOOS, Christian, 55 NESS, Aaron
58 CARRICK, Connor
Goaltenders
39 ELLIS
70 HOLTBY
The puck drops at 7pm at Verizon Center, and the game can be seen on CSN Washington.
More to come...