2018-19 Record: 11-4-1 23pts 2nd Place in the NWHL
Playoffs: Lost in Isobel Cup Championship Game
Key Additions: D – Lenka Curmova, D – Iveta Klimasova, F – Ashley Birdsall
2019-20 Preview:
The Buffalo Beauts will have a new look to them this season after a majority of last season’s team decided not to return this season, but with veterans Corinne Buie and Taylor Accursi returning to lead the way the new look Beauts will be in good hands. Also the return of goaltender Kelsey Neumann will bring stability between the pipes for the Beauts as well.
Pete Perram will be making his NWHL debut as the Beauts head coach this season, and will be looking to take general manager Mandy Cronin’s newly built team, and make them once again an Isobel Cup Championship team.
Today the Washington Capitals announced some waiver news, as well as some injury news in regards to the roster.
Roster Moves
First the Capitals announced that Christian Djoos, Liam O’Brien, and Michael Sgarbossa have cleared waivers and have been loaned to the Hershey Bears of the AHL.
Christian Djoos, Liam O'Brien and Michael Sgarbossa have cleared waivers and have been loaned to Hershey.
The move brings the Capitals to 23 for their roster, including the Evegny Kuznetsov three game suspension to start the season, and per the Capitals release Kempny can be activated when healthy and that there is no minimum game threshold for how long Kempny can be on the Injured Non Roster.
What does this really mean? With Kuznetsov’s suspension and Kempny’s injury the Capitals have the cap space until after their game against Carolina on Saturday, and will then need to make some more moves before they can play their next game on Tuesday, October 8th against Dallas top make sure they are under the cap.
Capitals News
In other news for the Capitals, they have announced that John Carlson has been named alternate captain.
The Washington Capitals have named John Carlson as an alternate captain for the 2019-20 season, joining Nicklas Backstrom (A) and Alex Ovechkin (C). pic.twitter.com/HtFsFVYH7Y
Carlson ranks third among active Capitals players in games played, and is taking over for Brooks Orpik who retired this past summer.
NHL News
In NHL news the League has announced that San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane has been suspended for the first three games of the season in accordance to Rule 40.4 (Physical Abuse of Officials).
Under the terms of the CBA, and based on Kane’s average annual salary, Kane will forfeit $112,903.23. The money will be going to the Player’s Emergency Assistance Fund.
2018-19 Record: 47-30-5 99pts. – – 2nd Place in Central
Playoffs: Lost in First Round to St. Louis
2019-20 Jersey Guide:
Key Additions: F – Mark Letestu, D – Neal Pionk, F – Joona Luoto, F – Andrei Chibisov
Key Departures: D – Ben Chiarot, F – Par Lindholm, D – Tyler Myers, D – Bogdan Kiselevich, F – Branden Tanev, F – Matt Hendricks, D – Jacob Trouba, F – Kevin Hayes
2019-20 Preview:
The Winnipeg Jets will look different going into the 2019-20 NHL season due to the number of losses they suffered during the offseason. the only true addition the Jets did was with defenseman Neal Pionk who they acquired from the New York Rangers in the Jacob Trouba trade.
The Jets also lost key players in defensemen Tyler Myers and Ben Chiarot, and forwards Kevin Hayes and Branden Tanev. Plus with the need to re-sign restricted free agent forwards Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor the Jets will have some work to do going into the 2019-20 season.
Also the health of defenseman Dustin Byfuglien will also be key to the Jets success this season. After missing 40 games due to injuries last season, Byfuglien will look to bounce back and become a major contributer to the Jets again.
2018-19 Record: 11-5-0 22pts 3rd Place in the NWHL
Playoffs: Lost in First Round to Beauts
Key Additions: G – Lovisa Selander, G – Victoria Hanson, F – Alyssa Wohlfeiler
2019-20 Preview:
The Boston Pride heading into the 2019-20 season with the return of core players like Kaleigh Fratkin, Jillian Dempsey, McKenna Brand, Lexi Bender, Mallory Souliotis, and Mary Parker to lead the way as they look to bounce back to prominence after being bounced in the first round last season by the Buffalo Beauts. The Pride will also feature new players like forward Alyssa Wohlfeiler, who played for the Connecticut Whale in the inaugural season, and players like Marisa Raspa, Christina Putigna, and Jenna Rheault will be looked to contribute in the rookie campaigns.
One of the biggest changes for the Pride will be between the pipes as they will now have Victoria Hanson and Lovisa Selander guarding the net. A change from Brittney Ott who has been the number one goalie for the Pride their first four seasons. Who becomes the number one will remain to be seen, but both will compete and make head coach Paul Mara’s choice difficult.
The Capitals have placed Christian Djoos, Liam O'Brien and Michael Sgarbossa on waivers and have loaned Shane Gersich to Hershey. Updated roster: https://t.co/zcDG80VihR
With today’s moves the Capitals did what was originally predicted by us in regards to Christian Djoos after he was awarded $1.25mil in arbitration, and with the Capitals $1.3mil over the salary cap a big contract or two needed to be moved. Both Michael Sgarbossa and Liam O’Brien were not expected to make the Opening Night roster, but could be call ups later this season if injuries occur.
The Capitals are now carrying 14 forwards, 8 defensemen, and three goaltenders. Capitals will need to have their Opening Night roster submitted by Tuesday, October 1st by 5p ET.
After the Riveters new uniforms were unveiled the big question would be what will the Whale do as the past two seasons they have been wearing white as their primary color. With the Riveters now wearing white as their primary the Whale will need to change their jersey primary color. Friday afternoon the NWHL tweeted the following teaser:
The NWHL acknowledged that the Whale would be returning to green for the first time since season two. But how will they look? Well never fear because here they are!
NEWS: The @CTWhale_NWHL are going back to green this season. "Green just feels right.” – All-Star defender @SDoyle_6
The Whale are now doing a green version of the jersey they wore last season, and originally wore in the inaugural season. This style for the Whale is a long time fan favorite and one of the more artistically designed jerseys in the NWHL. This is a great look for the Whale for the 2019-20 Season.
Per the NWHL Press Release very little was said except for this quote from Whale defender Shannon Doyle:
2018-19 Record: 48-26-8 104pts. – – 1st Place in Metropolitan
Playoffs: Lost in First Round to Carolina
2019-20 Jersey Guide:
Key Additions: F – Garnet Hathawy, F – Brendan Leipsic, F – Richard Panik, D – Radko Gudas
Key Departures: F – Nathan Walker, D – Aaron Ness, F – Brett Connolly, F – Riley Barber, F – Jayson Megna, F – Andre Burakovsky, D – Brooks Orpik, D – Matt Niskanen
2019-20 Preview:
Going into the 2019 Offseason the Washington Capitals decided that their bottom six on offense needing some retooling. With the knowledge that forward Brett Connolly was in for a bigger payday on his next contract they allowed him to walk on July 1st where he would sign with the Florida Panthers. The Capitals would also trade Andre Burakovsky to the Colorado Avalanche after not living up to expectations, and becoming a consistent contributer to the team offensively.
The Capitals would go out and sign forwards Richard Panik (four years), Garnet Hathaway (four years), and Brendan Leipsic (one year) to help with their bottom six rebuild. However, this does put forwards Travis Boyd and Chandler Stephenson (who was recently awarded a one year $1.05mil contract in arbitration) on the outside looking in.
On defense the Capitals traded Matt Niskanen to the Philadelphia Flyers for Radko Gudas. With Brooks Orpik announcing his retirement a few days later it worked out well for the Capitals as Gudas will bring grit to the blue line and can fill in on the penalty kill as well.
Outside of some Cap issues that needs to be addressed, the Capitals should have themselves another solid season in front of them.
2018-19 Record: 43-32-7 93pts. – – 3rd Place in Pacific
Playoffs: Lost in First Round to San Jose
2019-20 Jersey Guide:
Key Additions: F – Jaycob Megna, GM – Kelly McCrimmon, G – Garret Sparks
Key Departures: F – Daniel Carr, F – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, G – Zachary Fucale, G – Maxime Legace, F – Ryan Carpenter, D – Colin Miller, F – Erik Haula, F – Nikita Gusev
2019-20 Preview:
The Vegas Golden Knights, entering their third season in the NHL, will be looking to maintain their consistency moving forward after using thier first two years in the League to build up their franchise. The Golden Knights re-signed key players in forward William Karlsson, and defenseman Deryk Engelland, and now have a prospect pool that they feel comfortable with in fighting for spots on the Vegas roster.
With said prospect pool in place it allowed the Golden Knights to move away from players like defenseman Colin Miller (traded to Buffalo), forward Erik Haula (traded to Carolina), and forwards Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Ryan Carpenter (both via Free agency).
This third season for the Golden Knights will also be telling as we see how the Golden Knights could be not just for the 2019-20 season, but for the following years to come.
Today the Washington Capitals trimmed their training camp roster to 28 before their final preseason game against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Sent to Hershey
#63 – Shane Gersich (F)
#22 – Lucas Johansen (D)
#47 – Beck Malenstyn (F)
#64 – Brian Pinho (F)
#30 – Vitek Vanecek (G)
#38 – Colby Williams (D)
The Capitals have loaned Shane Gersich, Lucas Johansen, Beck Malenstyn, Brian Pinho, Vitek Vanecek and Colby Williams to Hershey. Updated Training Camp roster: https://t.co/E8l6uMtxxN
With today’s roster cuts the Capitals sent a total of three forwards, two defensemen, and a goaltender down to the Hershey Bears of the AHL. The Capitals are now carrying 16 forwards, nine defensemen, and three goaltenders, and will need to have their roster submitted by 5p ET on Tuesday, October 1st.
Today the Washington Capitals topped off their refurbishing of the Ridge Road Recreational Park Rink in Germantown, MD with a ribbon cutting ceremony and clinic with Montgomery County Parks and Rec.
Per the Capitals release earlier this week the team had the following to say about Ridge Road Recreational Park:
“Ridge Road is an existing rink refurbished by the Capitals. The old boards were removed, and the existing metal frame was used. The bench area and doors were adjusted to be ADA compliant by Riley Manufacturing, who then installed their board system. A new Daktronics scoreboard and Mateflex flooring system was installed featuring the Capitals logo.”
– Capitals PR
The ribbon cutting ceremony began at 10:15 am and went for about twelve minutes long. During the ceremony we heard John Nissel (Deputy Director of Operations), Andrew Friedson (District 1 Council Member), Natali Fani-Gonzalez (Vice Chair, Montgomery County Planning Board), Peter Robinson (Director of Youth Hockey, Washington Capitals), and a few others. To see the full ribbon cutting ceremony please watch the video below.
[wpvideo 2Jmo3UFU]
After the ribbon cutting ceremony the rink will split up into three sections and the children will split into three groups to participate in the clinics that the Capitals Youth Hockey Department had set up. There were also some fun little scrimmages amongst the kids that everyone in attendance enjoyed watching.
During the event I was able to speak with some of the key people that helped make today possible, and here are our interviews with them.
Andrew Friedson (District 1 Council Member)
Natali Fani-Gonzalez (Vice Chair, Montgomery County Planning Board)
Peter Robinson (Director of Youth Hockey, Washington Capitals)
After the event was over I grabbed my stick and a ball and I did a little stick and shoot at the newly refurbished rink with my friend Erik Tavenner, and we were greatly impressed with the job that was done with the rink. It felt great to run on it, and being able to stickhandle and do some wristers and slappers on the new surface felt really great.
As a long time resident of Germantown, MD, I would like to thank the Washington Capitals for their generosity in refurbishing this rink that I have played and practiced at for many years.
TXHT would like to thank Melissa Chotiner, Staci Gorden, and Jordan Gray of Montgomery County Parks and Recreations for all of their assistance with today’s event, and we’d like to thank Andrew Friedson, Natali Fani-Gonzalez, Peter Robinson, John Nissel, and everyone else involved to make today happen.
*All Photos, Video, and Audio were done by Michael Lindenbaum.
