- The Capitals are believed to be among the teams that have shown some interest in free agent winger Jake Virtanen, reports 630 CHED’s Bob Stauffer (audio link). The 26-year-old had his contract bought out by Vancouver last summer following accusations of sexual assault. That went to trial and six weeks ago, he was found not guilty. Virtanen spent last season in the KHL and has 100 points over 317 career NHL contests. At this point, it seems likely that he’ll land a PTO or a contract near the league minimum over the coming days.
Capitals Rumors
Wilson "Ahead Of Schedule" In Return From ACL Injury
- Tom Wilson is “believed to be ahead of schedule” in his return from a torn ACL, according to Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic. The Washington Capitals forward was given a six to eight-month recovery timeline when he went under the knife in late May, and it is still unclear when he will be ready to return to the lineup. It’s somewhat positive news on Nicklas Backstrom too, who is expected to at least be on the ice with the team at their photo shoot later this week. Backstrom is coming back from hip surgery in June.
Hagelin Skating Without Restrictions
- Capitals winger Carl Hagelin took part in informal team skates without needing a no-contact designation, relays Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic (Twitter link). The veteran has been dealing with an eye injury that has his availability for the upcoming season in question but the fact he’s skating without restriction bodes well for him. The 34-year-old had 14 points in 53 games last season.
Snapshots: Dach, Sharks Rookie Tournament, Stadium Series
After being originally reported by Sportsnet’s Eric Engels last week, his colleague Elliotte Friedman confirmed the original report today on the 32 Thoughts podcast. Echoing the fact that the Canadiens and Dach are close to signing Dach to a four-year contract, he added that the team is likely working on other moves before making the deal official.
Cap implications aside, the team will likely need to trade a forward (or two) just to have space for Dach in the lineup. With the addition of Sean Monahan into the fold for next season, Dach will likely shift to wing. He has the most experience there out of Montreal’s five natural centers in their top 12 forwards. With Cole Caufield, Mike Hoffman, Josh Anderson, Jonathan Drouin, Evgenii Dadonov, and Brendan Gallagher all in the fold, there’s just not enough room in Montreal’s NHL lineup to have Dach play an appropriate role to continue developing. Cap implications are certainly a part of that, though, as a $3.5MM cap hit as surmised by Friedman and Engels would still put Montreal dangerously close to the salary cap even with Carey Price’s $10MM cap hit on long-term injured reserve.
- The San Jose Sharks are hosting this year’s 2022 Rookie Faceoff, a voluntary tournament for teams’ rookie camp rosters to get some game experience against each other. The Anaheim Ducks announced their participation today, noting that the Arizona Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche, Los Angeles Kings, and Vegas Golden Knights will also participate. The tournament will feature nine games in total across four days from September 16 through September 19. Anaheim has not lost a rookie tournament game in regulation since 2016, going 11-0-2 in the process.
- The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro reports that American coverage of the 2023 Stadium Series game will be on ESPN after TNT/Turner Sports hosted coverage last season. ESPN will broadcast the Carolina Hurricanes’ first-ever outdoor game as they host the Washington Capitals at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh on February 18, 2023. Shapiro also adds that the full slate of American national TV games is expected to come out later this week as the regular season approaches.
Nicklas Backstrom "Optimistic" About Quality Of Life, Hockey Future After Surgery
Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom has put together an incredible career, especially considering that he has been dealing with chronic hip pain for parts of at least half of it. Up until this season, Backstrom has missed very little time due to injury throughout his career despite the nagging injury, however as the injury became more and more unbearable, the veteran knew he needed to address it for real, not simply ride it out. That ultimately lead to hip resurfacing surgery back in June, a procedure that should alleviate much of Backstrom’s day-to-day pain, but could affect his long-term career plans, much as the procedure did to Ryan Kesler and Ed Jovanovski.
Recently, Backstrom sat down for an interview with Swedish website expressen.se to discuss life before and after the surgery (link to original Swedish article). Washington Hockey Now’s Sammi Silber broke down Backstrom’s interview, originally in Swedish, profiling the Capitals star’s road to recovery (link to Silber’s article in English). Of note, Backstrom said prior to the surgery he had trouble doing things as simple as tying his shoes or putting on his socks. He added that skating had become easier than walking at times with the injury. On the brightside, however, Backstrom says that since the surgery, his quality of life has improved greatly and he’s been able to enjoy the offseason. Though the injury can end the careers of professional athletes, and there’s no timetable on when or if Backstrom can return, the All Star says that he’s not ready to think about hanging up his skates and for the first time in a long time, feels optimistic about where things are. Despite the injury and his age (34), Backstrom remains an incredibly important part of the Capitals’ build and has three more seasons at a $9.2MM AAV left on his contract.
- An interesting bit of news, if it can be called that, was free agent forward and former Capital Brett Connolly joined several members of the Capitals at an informal skate at the team’s facility in Arlington, Virginia on Friday. Connolly skated alongside John Carlson, Lars Eller, Carl Hagelin, Garnet Hathaway, Hendrix Lapierre, Joe Snively, Sam Anas and Alexander Alexeyev, and though he was a teammate of a few of them from 2016-19, he wasn’t skating with them as a teammate Friday. The veteran forward instead told El-Bashir he was in town for personal reasons and simply needed a place to skate. An NHLer, and one who helped bring a Stanley Cup to D.C., Connolly was simply able to skate in a familiar place with some familiar faces. The veteran is currently a UFA awaiting his next deal, which could likely be on a PTO and invite to training camp with an NHL team looking for a proven offensive weapon.
A Case To Keep Lars Eller Even With Washington's Center Depth
With Washington’s top two centers being Evgeny Kuznetsov and newcomer Dylan Strome (with Nicklas Backstrom injured) and Connor McMichael in the mix as well, some have wondered if the Capitals should look into moving veteran middleman Lars Eller. However, Sammi Silber of Washington Hockey Now cautions against that approach, noting that having a bit of a logjam down the middle is never a bad thing while Eller can certainly help on the defensive side of things, an area that McMichael isn’t ready to take on just yet. With one year left at $3.5MM, Washington would have some interest if they were to shop the 33-year-old around but his best value might come later in the season compared to now when the trade market is not yielding top returns for veteran players.
Capitals May Be Planning To Be Without Nicklas Backstrom For Entire Regular Season
- There’s no firm timeline for when (or if) Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom might return next season after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery but Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic feels (subscription link) that the team is planning to be without the 34-year-old for the entire regular season with a small hope that he could be ready in the playoffs. Backstrom has three years left on his deal with a $9.2MM AAV and will clearly be eligible to go on LTIR. However, if the Caps feel that he won’t return at all during the season, that would give them more flexibility to add to their roster as they wouldn’t have to have enough freed up to accommodate his return. Speculatively, this feels like a situation where they’ll want to wait until closer to midseason and then reassess things heading towards the trade deadline.
Hershey Bears Hire Todd Nelson
The Hershey Bears lost their head coach Scott Allen to the NHL a few weeks ago, when the Washington Capitals promoted him to replace the outgoing Scott Arniel. That left an appealing vacancy for the Capitals affiliate, one they have filled with an equally experienced coach. Todd Nelson, who spent the last four seasons as an assistant with the Dallas Stars, has been hired as the new head coach in Hershey.
It was in 2017 that Nelson led the Grand Rapids Griffins to a Calder Cup championship but his success in the minor leagues started long before that. In 11 seasons as the head coach of an AHL or UHL team he has never missed the playoffs or had a record below .500. With two championships in the UHL with the Muskegon Fury, the Calder Cup win just a few years ago, and even some head coaching experience at the NHL level with the Edmonton Oilers, it’s hard to argue with the choice.
Fans of the team may even remember him from his playing days when he spent one season with the Bears and racked up a career-high 50 points in 70 games. The former defenseman appeared seven times at the NHL level, including six (two regular season, four playoff) games for the Capitals where he scored his first (and only) NHL goal.
Capitals Expected To Name Todd Nelson Head Coach With AHL Hershey
With the Capitals promoting Scott Allen to an assistant coaching role with the big club to replace Scott Arniel, that left a head coach opening to be filled with their AHL affiliate in Hershey. It appears that they’re close to filling that opening as ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports (Twitter link) that Washington is closing in on hiring former Stars assistant Todd Nelson as the next head coach of the Bears.
Nelson has been coaching for nearly two decades and it will be his third stint as an AHL head coach after running Oklahoma City for parts of five seasons (before becoming Edmonton’s interim bench boss) and three years in Grand Rapids before he joined Dallas four years ago.
It will be a return of sorts for the 53-year-old as Nelson spent three seasons as a player in Washington’s system, spent primarily at the minor league level although he scored his only NHL goal in a Capitals uniform. Nelson became available back in May once Dallas decided to overhaul their coaching staff and while he won’t be making it back behind an NHL bench, he’ll be returning to a very familiar role.
Looking Back At The First Round Of The 2005 NHL Entry Draft
On this date 17 years ago, the first round of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft was held at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa. It was the league’s first major event since the lockout that cost them the entire 2004-05 season ended just over a week prior, and considering the draft’s top prize, there was added intrigue.
With the lack of regular-season standings to determine the draft order, the league implemented a snake draft system to make things more equitable for teams in later rounds that didn’t fare so well in the draft lottery. One team that did fare well that night, though, was the Pittsburgh Penguins, who cemented a 15-plus year run of success by drafting future captain Sidney Crosby with the first overall pick.
Five players selected that night went on to appear in at least 1,000 NHL games, including Crosby. One was 2022 Stanley Cup Champion Jack Johnson, taken third overall by the Carolina Hurricanes. Johnson never played a single game for Carolina, though, as he was traded the following offseason to the Los Angeles Kings along with defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky in exchange for defenseman Tim Gleason and center Eric Belanger.
Johnson wasn’t the only player from the first round to play meaningful games for the Kings, though. The team selected two-time Stanley Cup champion and future captain Anze Kopitar with the 11th overall selection. Another thousand-gamer was selected directly after him when the New York Rangers picked defenseman Marc Staal 12th overall, while Johnson’s teammate on the 2022 Avalanche, forward Andrew Cogliano, was selected 25th by the Edmonton Oilers.
One name from that night who could still join the 1,000-game club was St. Louis Blues selection and current Washington Capitals forward T.J. Oshie. Taken 24th overall, he only needs 100 more appearances to hit the mark.
Future Stanley Cup-winning skaters weren’t the only future legends drafted that night, though. Two of the greatest goalies in recent memory were drafted that night, with the Montreal Canadiens selecting Carey Price with the fifth overall pick and the Toronto Maple Leafs selecting Tuukka Rask with the 21st overall pick, of course prior to trading him to the Boston Bruins the following season.
Just three players selected that night, all taken within four picks of each other, would never make an NHL appearance. Slovak forward Marek Zagrapan, drafted 13th overall by the Buffalo Sabres, played just three years in the organization with two different AHL affiliates, scoring 20 goals there just once. At 35 years old, Zagrapan is still active, playing the 2022-23 season in the French Ligue Magnus.
Directly after him, the Washington Capitals took Canadian defenseman Sasha Pokulok with the 14th overall pick. The first overage player taken in the draft, he’s arguably the biggest bust of the night. He never spent a full season in the AHL, bouncing up and down between there and the ECHL for four seasons after turning pro in 2006. He failed to make a notable impact in Europe, too, only lasting one season in the DEL (2010-11) before floating around various lower-level leagues in Eastern Europe and Quebec.
Lastly, there’s Canadian winger Alex Bourret, taken by the Atlanta Thrashers at 16th overall. A short but strong power winger, Bourret had a very successful junior career in the QMJHL that just didn’t translate. His North American career fizzled out quickly after a strong start in the AHL, but after being traded twice (first to the Rangers, then to the Coyotes), he had just 14 points in 48 AHL games during his final season there in 2008-09.