Connect with us

Washington

Possible Position Battles Entering Washington Capitals’ Training Camp

Published

on

Possible Position Battles Entering Washington Capitals’ Training Camp


After significant roster movement occurred over the summer, the Washington Capitals will have a new look for the 2024-25 season, leading to competition for several roles as opening night approaches. With training camp starting in three weeks and the exhibition slate set to begin on September 22, NoVa Caps takes a look at the key battles up for grabs in camp and preseason:

  • 2LW
    • Jakub Vrana – The 2018 Stanley Cup champion will join Washington on a PTO and has the talent to be a top-six forward, with two 20-goal seasons under his belt and 92 goals and 170 points in 252 games (.67 points per game—tied for 142nd among all players who played at least 200 games from 2018-23). If he can get his personal life together, Vrana could make a significant impact. He spent a couple of months in the NHLPA Player Assistance Program in 2022 and has since cleared waivers twice with the Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues.

    • Hendrix Lapierre – The 22-year-old established himself as an everyday NHL player last season, notching eight goals and 22 points in 51 regular-season games (a 13-goal, 35-point pace over 82 games), in addition to the goal and assist he earned in the postseason during his first full season. Despite being sent down to AHL Hershey for five weeks in mid-January, Lapierre scored six goals and 16 points in 27 NHL games (0.59 points per game) from January 18 onwards, ranking fifth on the roster, excluding Anthony Mantha and Evgeny Kuznetsov (both of whom were traded in early March).

    •  Andrew Mangiapane – The 28-year-old had his lowest goal total (14) in five full NHL seasons across 75 games, which is understandable considering the Calgary Flames sold off Tyler Toffoli, Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, and Chris Tanev last season. He had at least 17 goals and 30 points in each of his previous four seasons, including a 35-goal campaign in 2021-22. Washington acquired Mangiapane on June 27.
    • Connor McMichael – The 23-year-old impressed last season, finishing with 18 goals (tied for third on the team) and 33 points (fifth) in a career-high 80 games. Both McMichael and Lapierre were first-round picks by Washington in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
    • The players who do not get this roster spot will likely make up the Capitals’ third-line, although Sonny Milano will almost certainly be the left-wing on that trio. McMichael or Lapierre will likely be the third-line center.
  • 4LW
    • Brandon Duhaime – If Vrana makes the team, it will likely push someone down the lineup (likely Aliaksei Protas) and another player out. The 27-year-old scored five goals, 13 points, and had a .4512 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage in 80 games with the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche last season. He also scored a goal in Colorado’s 11 postseason games. Duhaime averaged 2:06 per game on the penalty kill with Minnesota (third among the team’s forwards) and 2:11 with Colorado (third).

    • Taylor Raddysh – The 26-year-old notched five goals, 14 points, and a .4288 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage in 73 games with the Chicago Blackhawks last season. Raddysh averaged 1:48 per game on the power play (ninth among Chicago forwards) and 1:33 on the penalty kill (fourth).
  • 3RHD
    • Ethan Bear – The 26-year-old tallied a goal, four points, a -5 rating, a .4537 five-on-five Corsi-for percentage, a .4089 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage, and a .4181 five-on-five scoring chances-for percentage in 24 games before entering the NHLPA Player Assistance Program. Bear did not make his season debut until December 30 last year due to offseason shoulder surgery. The Capitals will likely pay close attention to him during training camp after a full offseason of unrestricted training.
    • Trevor Van Riemsdyk – While averaging 18:40 per game (fifth among Capitals defensemen), including 1:35 on the penalty kill (fourth), the 32-year-old recorded 14 assists, a -7 rating, a .4674 five-on-five Corsi-for percentage, a .5049 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage, and a .4964 five-on-five scoring chances-for percentage in 70 games. He was healthy scratched a couple of times after Bear was brought in.

    • Alexander Alexeyev – The 24-year-old played a career-high 39 games this season, posting a goal, three points, a -8 rating, a .4674 five-on-five Corsi-for percentage, a .4996 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage, and a .514 five-on-five scoring chances-for percentage while averaging 13:42 per game (ninth among team defensemen), including 28 seconds on the penalty kill (sixth). Alexeyev performed admirably in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, where he recorded a .627 five-on-five Corsi-for percentage, a .7683 five-on-five expected goals-for percentage, and a .7069 five-on-five scoring chances-for percentage, all of which led Washington defensemen who appeared in all four postseason games. An advantage for Alexeyev could be Bear’s ($2.625 million cap hit) and Van Riemsdyk’s ($3 million) high salaries, which could lead to a trade of at least one of them before opening night, with Washington up against the NHL salary cap.

In addition to these open spots, Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren will compete for ice time, and Dylan Strome and Pierre-Luc Dubois will vie for the first-line center position, though both of these roles could very well be interchangeable throughout the season.

With training camp approaching, the Capitals still need to finalize a few details regarding their lineup for October 12 after an offseason of roster tinkering. With new players coming in, salary cap adjustments needed, and young players demanding more ice time, this should be a very exciting camp in the District.

By Harrison Brown

Advertisement

About Harrison Brown

Harrison is a diehard Caps fan and a hockey fanatic with a passion for sports writing. He attended his first game at age 8 and has been a season ticket holder since the 2010-2011 season. His fondest Caps memory was watching the Capitals hoist the Stanley Cup in Las Vegas. In his spare time, he enjoys travel, photography, and hanging out with his two dogs. Follow Harrison on Twitter @HarrisonB927077

This entry was posted in News and tagged Alexander Alexeyev, Andrew Mangiapane, Brandon Duhaime, Connor McMichael, Ethan Bear, Harrison Brown, Hendrix Lapierre, Jakub Vrana, Roster, Stats, Taylor Raddysh, Training Camp, Trevor Van Riemsdyk, Washington Capitals. Bookmark the permalink.





Source link

Advertisement

Washington

Widespread Verizon outage prompts emergency alerts in Washington, New York City

Published

on

Widespread Verizon outage prompts emergency alerts in Washington, New York City


Verizon said on Wednesday that its wireless service was suffering an outage impacting cellular data and voice services.

The nation’s largest wireless carrier said that its “engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly.”

Verizon’s statement came after a swath of social media comments directed at Verizon, with users saying that their mobile devices were showing no bars of service or “SOS,” indicating a lack of connection.

Verizon, which has more than 146 million customers, appears to have started experiencing services issues around 12:00 p.m. ET, according to comments on social media site X.

Advertisement

Two hours later, Verizon posted an update on social media, saying that its engineers were “continuing to address today’s service interruptions,” but did not say if a specific reason for the outage had been identified or when it could be resolved.

“We understand the impact this has on your day and remain committed to resolving this as quickly as possible,” the company said.

Despite those efforts, shortly after 4:00 p.m. ET, Verizon issued a third statement that contained little new information. The company said teams were “on the ground actively working to fix today’s service issue.”

Users had initially reported problems with Verizon’s competitors, T-Mobile and AT&T, as well. But both companies said they were not experiencing any service problems.

“T-Mobile’s network is keeping our customers connected, and we’ve confirmed that our network is operating normally and as expected,” a spokesperson told NBC News. “However, due to Verizon’s reported outage, our customers may not be able to reach someone with Verizon service at this time.”

Advertisement

A spokeswoman for AT&T also said the company’s network was “operating normally.”

A Verizon store in New York City on Jan. 12, 2024.Angus Mordant / Bloomberg via Getty Images

In Washington, D.C., the District’s official emergency notification system sent out a message to residents saying that the Verizon outage was “nationwide.”

“If you have an emergency and can not connect using your Verizon Wireless device, please connect using a device from another carrier, a landline, or go to a police district or fire station to report the emergency,” the AlertDC system told recipients.

New York City’s Office of Emergency Management also said it was aware of the outage without mentioning Verizon by name. The city said it was “working closely with our partners” to review the outage and “assess any potential effects on city agencies & essential services.”



Source link

Continue Reading

Washington

Vance to meet Danish and Greenlandic officials in Washington on Wednesday

Published

on

Vance to meet Danish and Greenlandic officials in Washington on Wednesday


People walk along a street in downtown of Nuuk, Greenland, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026.

Evgeniy Maloletka/AP


hide caption

Advertisement

toggle caption

Evgeniy Maloletka/AP

NUUK, Greenland — Along the narrow, snow-covered main street in Greenland’s capital, international journalists and camera crews stop passersby every few meters (feet) asking them for their thoughts on a crisis which Denmark’s prime minister has warned could potentially trigger the end of NATO.

Greenland is at the center of a geopolitical storm as U.S. President Donald Trump is insisting he wants to own the island — and the residents of its capital Nuuk say it is not for sale. Trump said he wants to control Greenland at any cost and the White House has not ruled out taking the island by force.

Advertisement

U.S. Vice President JD Vance will meet Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt in Washington on Wednesday to discuss the Arctic island, which is a semiautonomous territory of the United States’ NATO ally Denmark.

Tuuta Mikaelsen, a 22-year-old student, told The Associated Press in Nuuk that she hoped American officials would get the message to “back off.”

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen told a news conference in the Danish capital Copenhagen on Tuesday that, “if we have to choose between the United States and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark. We choose NATO. We choose the Kingdom of Denmark. We choose the EU.”

Greenland is strategically important because as climate change causes the ice to melt, it opens up the possibility of shorter trade routes to Asia. That also could make it easier to extract and transport untapped deposits of critical minerals which are needed for computers and phones.

Trump also said he wants the island to expand America’s security and has cited what he says is the threat from Russian and Chinese ships as a reason to control it.

Advertisement

But both experts and Greenlanders question that claim.

“The only Chinese I see is when I go to the fast food market,” Lars Vintner, a heating engineer told AP. He said he frequently goes sailing and hunting and has never seen Russian or Chinese ships.

His friend, Hans Nørgaard, agreed, adding “what has come out of the mouth of Donald Trump about all these ships is just fantasy.”

Denmark has said the U.S. — which already has a military presence — can boost its bases on Greenland. For that reason, “security is just a cover,” Vintner said, suggesting Trump actually wants to own the island to make money from its untapped natural resources.

Nørgaard told AP he filed a police complaint in Nuuk against Trump’s “aggressive” behavior because, he said, American officials are threatening the people of Greenland and NATO. He suggested Trump was using the ships as a pretext to further American expansion.

Advertisement

“Donald Trump would like to have Greenland, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin would like Ukraine and (Chinese President) Xi Jinping would like to have Taiwan,” Nørgaard said.

Mikaelsen, the student, said Greenlanders benefit from being part of Denmark which provides free health care, education and payments during study.

“I don’t want the U.S. to take that away from us,” she said.

Ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, Naaja Nathanielsen, Greenland’s minister for business and mineral resources said it’s “unfathomable” that the United States is discussing taking over a NATO ally and urged the Trump administration to listen to voices from the Arctic island’s people.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Washington

HIGHLIGHT | Lawrence Dots a Pass to Washington for a 6-Yard TD

Published

on

HIGHLIGHT | Lawrence Dots a Pass to Washington for a 6-Yard TD


DE Dawuane Smoot, LB Foyesade Oluokun, TE Brenton Strange, S Eric Murray, and S Antonio Johnson  speak with the media after practice on Thursday ahead of the Wild Card Matchup vs. Bills.

0:00 – 2:28 – DE Dawuane Smoot

2:29 – 6:24 – LB Foyesade Oluokun

6:25 – 9:25 – TE Brenton Strange

Advertisement

9:26 – 11:32 – S Eric Murray

11:33 – 13:46 – S Antonio Johnson



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending