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Joel Edmundson Out 4-6 Weeks With Hand Injury

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The Washington Capitals have announced that defenseman Joel Edmundson will miss 4-6 weeks with a fractured hand after he suffered the injury during a scrimmage on Sunday. The native of Brandon, Manitoba had surgery yesterday on the injured hand and should be back in action by mid-November.

Edmundson came over to Washington in a trade this summer from the Montreal Canadiens in which the Capitals gave up a third and a seventh-round pick for his services. The 30-year-old has been hampered by injuries the past few seasons, particularly last year when he dealt with a chronic back issue that limited him to just 61 games. Edmundson posted two goals and 11 assists last season and was -29.

The injury is another run of bad luck for the former Stanley Cup winner. Edmundson had been battling in training camp and appeared eager to take on a fresh start in Washington. He is in the final season of a four-year $14MM contract he signed with the Canadiens back in 2020 and will need a big year if he wants to cash in on free agency. The flat cap has limited the free agent market for players over 30 years of age and could hinder Edmundson’s future earning potential.

The Capitals are expected to have several players battle for Edmundson’s spot while he is out of the lineup with Vincent Iorio, Hardy Haman, Lucas Johansen, and Alexander Alexeyev the favorites to claim his position.

The Capitals missed the playoffs last season and are hoping for a bounce back this year but so far have dealt with a few setbacks in the form of Edmundson’s injury, as well as the injury to Max Pacioretty, who has no timetable to return as of right now.

Edmundson Injury Appears Significant

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Earlier this morning, it was reported that the new Washington Capitals’ defenseman, Joel Edmundson, would not partake in team activities after suffering an injury during a team scrimmage. Unfortunately for both he and the team, Stephen Whyno of AP, is reporting that Edmundson’s prognosis is not good, but it was not similar to the injury that kept him out of the lineup for all of February last season.

Given the current makeup of Washington’s blue line, if he was to have a season of rejuvenation, Edmundson conceivably could have slotted in anywhere between three and six on the Capitals’ defensive depth chart. If Edmundson is to indeed land on the injured reserve for a while, Washington’s blue line will look remarkably similar to last season, while hopefully receiving a full year of play from both John Carlson and Rasmus Sandin.

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Joel Edmunson Misses Practice With Injury

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Capitals "Concerned" For Trevor van Riemsdyk After Leaving Game With Wrist Injury

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  • Washington Capitals head coach told reporters, including Monumental Sports Network’s Matt Weyrich, that he’s “concerned” about the status of defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk. The veteran right-shot defender left today’s preseason game against the Buffalo Sabres and did not return after a shot from Sabres forward Jordan Greenway struck him in the right wrist area. Van Riemsdyk will undergo further testing tomorrow to determine the severity of the injury and a potential recovery timeline. The 32-year-old is entering the first season of a three-year, $9MM extension he signed last March and is expected to start the season on the team’s third pairing alongside offseason trade acquisition Joel Edmundson.

Latest On Alex Ovechkin

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The Washington Capitals have an important season coming up, with the performance of rookie head coach Spencer Carbery and Alex Ovechkin’s chase of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record likely to take center stage as key storylines.

Ovechkin’s pursuit of Gretzky is likely to be the most significant storyline in Washington until Ovechkin manages to score his 895th goal.

In order to do so, the soon-to-be 38-year-old will need to remain in top shape and a consistent goal-scoring threat.

Despite his advanced age, Ovechkin hasn’t shown major signs of slowing down. He scored 42 goals and 75 points, though he did battle through a few injuries and ended up only playing in 73 games.

That could end up a more common concern for Ovechkin as he gets even older, though for what it’s worth Ovechkin doesn’t feel as though his health is anything to worry about at the current moment.

Ovechkin told Russian news outlet R-Sport that he feels he is in good health with everything to normal standard so far, and that yesterday he returned to North America to ramp up his preparations for the new season.

For as long as Ovechkin is healthy and chasing Gretzky’s record, one can anticipate the Capitals to avoid entering into a rebuild and instead focus on supporting Ovechkin and putting a contending team around him.

There were some who hoped that the Capitals would plunge deeper into a rebuild-like direction after their disappointing 2022-23, but Capitals GM Brian MacLellan resisted such calls. He aggressively targeted more NHL-ready young talent, showing a willingness to trade valuable draft picks in order to do so. He traded a first-round pick in order to land Rasmus Sandin from the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the 23-year-old provided an immediate return on the investment by scoring 15 points in just 19 games as a Capital.

But while Ovechkin’s place as the Capitals’ centerpiece player for the next few seasons is secure and untouchable, there are a few big-name players in Washington entering the season with high stakes.

Evgeny Kuznetsov has been a source of frustration and great optimism for Capitals fans in recent years, and after scoring just 12 goals last season is entering a make-or-break year for his future in Washington. Anthony Mantha, 28, is a pending unrestricted free agent who scored just 27 points last year. Both of those names are entering extremely important campaigns, and while the stakes aren’t as high as an all-time goal record chase, they matter quite a bit to each of those veteran’s playing futures.

With training camp approaching quickly, the Capitals look to be one of the NHL’s more interesting teams. Ovechkin and his record chase are a major reason for that, and thankfully for hockey fans around the world it appears that despite his advanced age Ovechkin shows no signs of slowing down, and is feeling in perfectly good health in advance of puck drop next month.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Pacioretty Unlikely To Be Ready For Opening Night

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  • Far be it from a confirmation, but the going notion is that new forward for the Washington Capitals, Max Pacioretty, will not be ready for opening night according to Jason Chen of The Hockey News. Even after suffering another Achilles tendon tear in January, Pacioretty was still able to land a one-year, $2MM contract from Washington this summer. If he is able to rebound in any meaningful way, he would certainly become a solid secondary scoring option for the Capitals down the stretch.

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Kuznetsov On The Hot Seat Next Year

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In his ongoing series throughout the summer, Adam Proteau of The Hockey News touched on Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov and explained that he is on the hottest seat for the Capitals entering into the upcoming season. Although Washington and Kuznetsov seem intent on starting the 2023-24 season together, the Russian forward has not officially rescinded his trade request from last summer.

Following up on one of the most disappointing seasons of his career, Kuznetsov has a lot to prove this year. Last season, playing in 81 games, Kuznetsov scored 12 goals and 43 assists with a -26 rating, not quite living up to his $7.8MM salary. If the Capitals hope to move Kuznetsov for something substantive, or even hope to make the playoffs in a loaded Metropolitan division, they will need Kuznetsov to find his old form in the top six.

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Carl Hagelin Announces Retirement

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Two-time Stanley Cup champion winger Carl Hagelin announced his retirement today via an Instagram post. Now 35 years old, Hagelin missed the 2022-23 season due to severe eye and hip injuries.

“It’s been an amazing ride, but it ends here,” Hagelin said. “Unfortunately, my eye injury is too severe to keep playing the game I love.” He told reporters at the beginning of the offseason that he hoped to return to NHL play for the 2023-24 campaign, but unfortunately, that won’t be the case. His four-year, $11MM extension he’d signed with Washington in 2019 expired on July 1.

Picked in the sixth round of the 2007 NHL Draft by the New York Rangers out of Södertälje SK’s junior program in Sweden, Hagelin took a somewhat unconventional path for European prospects and immediately came over to North America, embarking on a four-year collegiate career with the University of Michigan. It was undoubtedly the right choice, however – by his senior year, he was named team captain and produced over a point per game over his last two seasons.

Aside from a few games in the minors in 2011-12, Hagelin made the jump to the NHL immediately from college, recording 38 points in 64 games during his rookie season with the Rangers, along with a +24 rating. That placed him fifth in Calder Trophy voting and even earned him a few votes for the Selke Trophy.

He would continue consistently producing in the 30-40 point range over his four-year tenure with the Rangers but never really built on that rookie campaign. That’s not a knock on Hagelin at all, however. He was a quintessential two-way middle-six secondary scoring forward with a good amount of speed to his game. That’s even more impressive in relation to his sixth-round selection, given he went on to play over 700 NHL games.

His tenure in New York ended somewhat unceremoniously. A restricted free agent at the end of 2014-15, he couldn’t agree to a new deal with the Rangers and his signing rights were dealt to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for depth forward Emerson Etem (along with some draft picks changing hands, but nothing of significance). Anaheim compensated him nicely by signing him to the richest contract of his career (four years, $16MM), but Hagelin couldn’t really find his game in Southern California. He recorded just 12 points in 43 games to begin 2015-16 before Anaheim moved him to the Pittsburgh Penguins for David Perron, who was similarly underperforming in Pittsburgh.

It would turn out to be one of the most underrated transactions in Penguins history. Down the stretch, Hagelin would complete the famed third line with Nick Bonino and Phil Kessel that played such a crucial role in Pittsburgh winning their first of back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016. Hagelin exploded for 27 points in 37 games after the trade and added 16 points in 24 playoff games en route to the championship.

Again, he couldn’t quite recapture that performance the following season. While he would win another championship in 2017, he scored just two goals in 15 games during that playoff run. Fast forward to 2018-19, and Hagelin had scored only one goal and two assists through the first 16 games of the season. A move to the Los Angeles Kings in November didn’t do much for him, either – he recorded just five points in 22 games there. It was near the 2018-19 deadline that the Kings moved him to Washington, where he notched 11 points in the final 20 games of the season, appearing rejuvenated and earning himself the final four-year extension.

Hagelin would wrap up his career by scoring 20 goals and 66 points throughout 187 games in a Capitals uniform, posting solid numbers for a bottom-six scoring winger. Unfortunately, it was a freak eye injury in a practice in March of 2022 that would end his career.

PHR extends our best wishes to Hagelin in his continued recovery from both injuries and congratulates him on a championship-caliber career.

Washington Capitals Announce Front Office Restructuring

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The Washington Capitals have unveiled a reshuffle in their leadership hierarchy ahead of the 2023-24 season, with general manager Brian MacLellan adding president of hockey operations to his job title. They’ve also promoted Chris Patrick to associate general manager and appointed Dick Patrick as chairman.

MacLellan’s affiliation with the Capitals now enters its 23rd year, having joined the organization in various capacities since his arrival in 2000. He’s been at his current post of GM since 2014, during which time he’s also served as the team’s senior VP of hockey operations. Since taking over as GM, the team has amassed a record of 409-213-77, boasting a .640 winning percentage that ranks third only behind the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning. Washington didn’t have a dedicated president of hockey operations last season, meaning job titles are being shuffled around among the team’s upper management before the upcoming season begins.

His significance to the Capitals cannot be understated, and he’s a lock to receive high honors from the organization whenever he does step away from the game. He built a good portion of the team that won the franchise’s first Stanley Cup in 2018, with eight of the 19 players on the ice during the series-clinching Game 5 of the Final against the Vegas Golden Knights signed, traded for, or drafted under his direction.

Chris Patrick is also a longtime fixture in Washington’s front office, now entering his 16th year with the team. He’d previously served as an assistant general manager to MacLellan with a specialty in player personnel, a promotion that came just two years ago. Now he’s been promoted again, and his new role as an associate will take a considerable load off MacLellan as the latter shoulders more wide-ranging responsibilities in his presidential role. Patrick will now oversee the team’s analytics department, player contract negotiations, hockey operations staff, player personnel, budget, and team scheduling issues, per the team. He’ll be tasked with more impactful decisions as the team enters quite a tricky retooling phase, and it seems apparent Capitals owner Ted Leonsis has identified him as a potential candidate to replace MacLellan as general manager when he eventually steps away.

Dick Patrick bears no relation to Chris, but he is the grandson of NHL forefather Lester Patrick. He’s held an active role in the sport for as long as his grandfather, serving as the Capitals’ president for 40 years – he assumed the role in 1982. The 77-year-old will now take on a bigger-picture role, likely passing on some of his former day-to-day responsibilities to MacLellan. Patrick had also served as the COO for Leonsis’ Monumental Sports and Entertainment, which also owns the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. His role will now be solely focused on the Capitals. In Patrick’s 40 seasons as president, the Capitals only missed the playoffs eight times.

Spencer Carbery Has Spoken With Evgeny Kuznetsov

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  • One surprisingly quiet storyline throughout the offseason has been that of Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov, who the team confirmed had requested a trade earlier this summer. In an interview with NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti earlier this week, Capitals incoming head coach Spencer Carbery said he’s spoken with Kuznetsov multiple times this summer and “it sounds like there’s a real focus to his preparation for next season.” While it’s far from a confirmation he’s rescinded his trade request, Kuznetsov staying in the nation’s capital and returning to form could very well thrust Washington back into the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race, something captain Alex Ovechkin would certainly love to see while he chases the NHL’s all-time goals record.

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