The Washington Capitals announced the roster that will dress for their penultimate preseason tilt against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Monday night (7 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network in-market, ESPN+ out-0f-market).

Defenseman Rasmus Sandin will make his preseason debut after reporting to training camp late due to visa issues.

Washington is expected dress most of their expected opening night lineup for October 12 vs. the New Jersey Devils, except the team’s first-line of Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome, and Andrew Mangiapane and top defensive pairing of Jakob Chychrun and John Carlson, all of whom have played the past two games.

The roster also features three recent first-round picks by the team in centers Connor McMichael (25th overall, 2019) and Hendrix Lapierre (22nd, 2020) in addition to left-wing Ivan Miroshnichenko (20th, 2022).

Left-wing Jakub Vrana, who is attending Washington’s training camp on a PTO agreement, will play his third consecutive game and fourth overall after notching a goal and an assist in his last two.

Logan Thompson will play the whole game in net, according to head coach Spencer Carbery.

Sunday #Caps lines:

Ovechkin-Strome-Mangiapane
McMichael-Dubois-Wilson
Milano-Lapierre-Protas
Duhaime-Dowd-Raddysh
Vrana-Sgarbossa-Miro
Extras: Cristall, Parascak

Chychrun-Carlson
Fehervary-Roy
Sandin-TvR
Alexeyev-McIlrath
Extra: Bear

Lindgren
Thompson
Shepard

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— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) September 29, 2024

Here is the expected roster for Monday’s game in Ohio:

Graphic: @Capitals

The roster Columbus should ice on Monday can be found below:

Graphic: @BlueJacketsNHL

Columbus defeated Washington by a score of 8-4 in the District on Friday in the first of the two’s home-and-home set.

Washington’s final preseason game will take place at Capital One Arena on Saturday against the Boston Bruins (5 PM ET, Monumental Sports Network locally, NHL Network nationally).

By Harrison Brown

The Washington Nationals might not have had a great season in terms of their win-loss record, but this was a season in which they saw a lot of their young players develop. 

While the Nationals have struggled for quite some time, the future does look bright for the franchise. This year, there was a lot of growth for Washington, especially in their lineup. 

This campaign, the infield combination of C.J. Abrams and Luis Garcia Jr. really took their games to the next level, as Abrams was selected to his first All-Star team. While those two taking a step into the All-Star caliber range was important, a few new top prospects also came up and made their debuts. 

Both James Woods and Dylan Crews got to see meaningful action in the second half of the season, and as two of the top prospects in the outfield in the Majors, that is a great sign for next season. 

While the future looks bright in the lineup, the Nationals do still have some work to do in the starting rotation and bullpen. 

Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report recently ranked the Top-5 pitchers for the Nationals this season in this order: Jake Irvin, Kyle Finnegan, MacKenzie Gore, Mitchell Parker, and Derek Law. 

“Right-hander Jake Irvin has been the unsung hero of the Nationals staff, making 32 starts and posting a 4.22 ERA and a 153-to-49 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 183.1 innings of work. His 1.18 WHIP ranks eighth among qualified NL starters, ahead of guys such as Max Fried, Freddy Peralta, Logan Webb and others. Veteran reliever Derek Law may have pitched well enough this season to earn himself a MLB deal this time around in free agency. The 34-year-old has a 2.68 ERA and 16 holds in 72 appearances after signing a minor league deal each of the past four offseasons.”

Irvin was certainly deserving of being in the top spot, as the right-hander had the second-best WAR of any pitcher on Washington this season at 2.3. 

While it was good to see Law recognized on the list, the argument could be made that he was the second-best pitcher on the team this season. Law has had a 7-4 record and 2.63 ERA. Furthermore, his WAR of 1.8 is right behind Irvin. 

Unfortunately for the Nationals after Irvin and Law, there really wasn’t much else to get overly excited about on the pitching staff. Adding a top-end starter to help guide this rotation next season should certainly be a priority for Washington. 

The biggest game of the season so far delivered in a big way.

No. 4 Alabama had No. 2 Georgia on the ropes early in their top-five showdown, up 28-0 at one point, but the Bulldogs just kept fighting their way back and forced a dramatic finish in Tuscaloosa. In the end, after trading leads late in the fourth quarter, Alabama secured the win with a miraculous catch-and-run TD by freshman Ryan Williams, and then an interception in the end zone by cornerback Zabien Brown.

The 41-34 finish was the capper on an incredible day of college football action — one that got going early when Kentucky went into Oxford against No. 6 Ole Miss and stunned the Rebels, 20-17, in a back-and-forth affair that ended with a shanked field goal that would’ve tied it.

And yet another highly ranked team lost to an unranked opponent at home when Arizona beat No. 10 Utah 23-10 in a late-night upset.

Later in the day, No. 21 Oklahoma got a late pick 6 to spark a comeback win over Auburn and earn its first SEC win. No. 16 Notre Dame also notched a key victory of its own in holding off No. 15 Louisville while No. 9 Penn State handled No. 19 Illinois at home and Colorado blew out UCF on the road.

And to cap the night, No. 25 Boise State rode running back Ashton Jeanty to a big 45-24 win over Washington State.