Washington Capitals officially announce Opening Night roster

Hours after shedding two prospects to waivers, the Washington Capitals introduced their 23-man roster for the beginning of the 2022-23 season.

The Capitals will likely be led by Alex Ovechkin, who’s getting into his 18th season within the NHL. The crew will likely be sporting a bunch of recent gamers together with Darcy Kuemper, Charlie Lindgren, Dylan Strome, Connor Brown, and Erik Gustafsson. Prospects Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas, and Joe Snively additionally made the crew out of Coaching Camp.

Essentially the most notable a part of the Capitals roster is who’s inactive. Nicklas Backstrom joined Tom Wilson and Carl Hagelin on long run injured reserve on Monday. All three gamers are out with vital accidents/rehabs. Wilson is anticipated to be again someday in November or December, which is able to necessitate a roster transfer.

Right here’s the total press launch from the Washington Capitals:

Capitals Announce 2022-23 Opening Night time Roster

Caps host the Boston Bruins in season opener at Capital One Area on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have introduced the 23 gamers who will make up the crew’s roster for the season opener versus the Boston Bruins at Capital One Area on Wednesday, October 12 at 7 p.m., senior vp and basic supervisor Brian MacLellan introduced right now.

Fourteen forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders make up the Capitals’ season-opening roster, led by captain Alex Ovechkin, who enters the season with 780 profession targets and 22 targets shy of passing Gordie Howe (801) for second place on the NHL’s all-time targets record. Ovechkin can be seven targets shy of passing Howe for essentially the most targets scored by a participant with a single franchise (Howe: 786 targets with Detroit).

The Capitals enter the 2022-23 marketing campaign trying to make the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season and the thirty third time in franchise historical past. The Capitals have reached the postseason in 14 of the final 15 seasons, becoming a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins as the one groups with as many appearances within the final 15 years.

Goaltender Darcy Kuemper will make his Capitals regular-season debut and play in his three hundredth NHL sport on Wednesday night time, after signing a five-year contract with the Capitals through the offseason. Kuemper, who helped the Colorado Avalanche seize the Stanley Cup final season, posted a report of 37-12-4 with a 2.54 goals-against common and .921 save share in 57 video games performed in 2021-22. Kuemper will likely be joined by Charlie Lindgren, who the Caps signed to a three-year contract within the offseason to fill out their goaltending tandem.

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Up entrance, Connor Brown and Dylan Strome are scheduled to make their Caps debuts versus the Bruins. The Capitals acquired Brown from the Ottawa Senators for Washington’s second-round decide within the 2024 NHL Draft. Brown, 28, recorded 39 factors (10g, 29a) in 64 video games with Ottawa in 2021-22. Strome signed a one-year contract with the Capitals after recording 48 factors (22g, 26a) in 69 video games with the Chicago Blackhawks final season.

The Capitals’ core of Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson, T.J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov and Tom Wilson will enter their eighth season collectively. The New York Islanders are the one different crew to have a minimum of seven gamers play collectively for the final seven seasons on their energetic roster.

With accidents to forwards Backstrom, Wilson and Carl Hagelin, the Capitals will search for contributions from younger expertise. Washington rookies mixed for 65 factors final season (32g, 33a) to rank eleventh within the NHL. Seven Caps rookies made their NHL debuts final season, and 10 rookies recorded a degree, the fifth-most in a single season in franchise historical past and essentially the most for the reason that 1981-82 season (12). One among them is Herndon, Virginia, native Joe Snively, who earned a full-time position with the Capitals this season after turning into the primary Virginia-born participant to play for the Capitals in franchise historical past final season. In 12 video games, Snively recorded seven factors (4g, 3a), together with a three-point effort on Feb. 10 in opposition to the Montreal Canadiens (2g, 1a).

Head coach Peter Laviolette enters his third season with Washington. Final season, Laviolette guided the Capitals to a 100-point season regardless of the crew incurring 288-man video games misplaced to damage. Laviolette additionally handed John Tortorella (673) for essentially the most wins by a US-born head coach in NHL historical past and later earned his 700th profession win, turning into simply the tenth coach in NHL historical past to achieve the 700-win mark. Laviolette begins the season six wins shy of passing Alain Vigneault for the eighth-most wins in NHL historical past.

Headline photograph: Alan Dobbins/RMNB