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.
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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.
2018-19 Record: 35-36-11 81pts. – – 5th Place in Pacific
Playoffs: Missed
2019-20 Jersey Guide:
Key Additions: F – Micheal Ferland, F – Justin Bailey, F – Tyler Graovac, D – Oscar Fantenberg, D – Tyler Myers, D – Jordie Benn, F – JT Miller
Key Departures: F – Markus Granlund, D – Derrick Pouliot, F – Brendan Guance, D – Luke Schenn, F – Tom Pyatt, G – Marek Mazanec, F – Ryan Spooner
2019-20 Preview:
Entering their golden year, the Vancouver Canucks look to have a memorable 2019-20 season. Along with some new threads for the 50th year of the team, along with the return of the beautiful Black Skate jersey, the Canucks also did some retooling to their roster.
The Canucks retooled half of their defense with the free agent signings of Tyler Myers, Jordie Benn, and Oscar Fantenberg. The Canucks also traded for JT Miller from the Tampa Bay Lightning, and signed free agent forward Micheal Ferland. With the additions of Ferland, Benn, Myers, and Miller the Canucks added size, experience, toughness, and scoring to a team that ranked 26th last season in the latter department.
The Canucks need to create some Cap space so they can re-sign restricted free agent forward Brock Boeser, but they also need to deal with forward Loui Eriksson who no longer wants to be in Vancouver. Could a trade or buyout of Eriksson help the case of signing Boeser, or could something else come into play to get Boeser signed to a new contract? One way or another the two are tied to eachother in this certain situation.
2018-19 Record: 46-28-8 10pts. – – 3rd Place in Atlantic
Playoffs: Lost in First Round to Boston
2019-20 Jersey Guide:
Key Additions: F – Kenny Agostino, F – Nick Shore, D – Tyson Barrie, F – Alexander Kerfoot, D – Cody Ceci, D – Ben Harpur, F – Jason Spezza, F – Pontus Aberg, D – Jordan Schmaltz
Key Departures: F – Tyler Ennis, D – Calle Rosen, F – Connor Brown, D – Nikita Zaitsev, F – Nazem Kadri, D – Ron Hainsey, F – Patrick Marleau, F – Josh Jooris, D – Igor Ozhiganov, D – Andreas Borgman, G – Garret Sparks
2019-20 Preview:
For the Toronto Maple Leafs the continued journey to make it past the first round of the playoffs and deep into the playoffs for a chance at the Stanley Cup would be addressed with a pair of trades that saw the Maple Leafs send forward Nazem Kadri and defenseman Calle Rosen to the Colorado Avalanche for defenseman Tyson Barrie and forward Alexander Kerfoot. Then they would do a big six person trade that would see the Maple Leafs aqcuire defensemen Cody Ceci and Ben Harpur from the Ottawa Senators.
The Maple Leafs would also trade forward Patrick Marleau to the Carolina Hurricanes, whould buy him out five days later, and then sign forward Jason Spezza to keep some veteran depth on the team.
The Maple Leafs, however, have a much bigger concern and that is with restricted free agent forward Mitch Marner who could go the route of William Nylander, but actually miss the entire season instead of signing at the 11th hour. Last season Nylander set a very dangerous precedent for Toronto’s top restricted free agents, and we will see a repeat performance from Marner as the days move closer to the start of the 2019-20 NHL season.
Today the Washington Capitals announced their 2019-20 third jersey schedule, which will see them wear the retro red, white, and blue jerseys in 12 homes games this season.
The Capitals will wear their third jerseys in the following games this season with our jersey tracking to show the respective matchups:
Nov. 11th – v. Arizona Coyotes
Dec. 9th – v Columbus Blue Jackets
Dec. 27th – v. Columbus Blue Jackets
Dec. 31st – v. New York Islanders
Jan. 11th – v. New Jersey Devils
Jan. 16th – v. New Jersey Devils
Feb. 2nd – v. Pittsburgh Penguins
Feb. 8th – v. Philadelphia Flyers
Feb. 10th – v. New York Islanders
Feb. 23rd – v. Pittsburgh Penguins
Mar. 4th – v. Philadelphia Flyers
Mar. 26th – v. New York Rangers
As seen the Capitals will wear their thirds against the Devils, Islanders, Blue Jackets, Penguins, and Flyers twice, and the Rangers and Coyotes once. Interestingly the Capitals will not be wearing their thirds against their other Metropolitan Division Rival Carolina Hurricanes who will wear their thirds against the Capitals on January 3rd in Raleigh, NC.
It is very cool to know that the Capitals will be wearing their thirds against the Coyotes in November, and the Coyotes will do the same when they wear their Kachina jerseys in February against the Capitals, but I think it would be even cooler if the two teams wore their respective thirds in the same game against each other.
2018-19 Record: 62-16-4 128pts. – – 1st Place in Atlantic and NHL
Playoffs: Lost in First Round to Columbus
2019-20 Jersey Guide:
Key Additions: G – Curtis McElhinney, D – Luke Witkowski, G – Scott Wedgewood, D – Luke Schenn, G – Marek Mazanec, G – Mike Condon, D – Kevin Shattenkirk
Key Departures: D – Anton Stralman, F – Andy Andreoff, F – JT Miller, F – Ryan Callahan, D – Dan Girardi
2019-20 Preview:
Going into the 2019 Offseason the Tampa Bay Lightning were looking for answers after their shocking defeat at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets in four games. Given the salary cap space they had to work with the Lightning only made small depth moves instead of any larger moves.
The Lightning would sign goalie Curtis McElhinney and defensemen Luke Schenn and Luke Witkowski, and then trade injured forward Ryan Callahan to Ottawa for goaltender Mike Condon. The trade being an obvious move to dump salary so they can re-sign restricted free agent forward Brayden Point.
The Lightning will still be a dominant force this upcoming season, but will they coast through the season like they did last season, or will they hit some speed bumps along the way and force them to battle adversity? That will be the key to how the Lightning do during the 2019-20 regular season and playoffs.
Ladies and Gentlemen the TXHT podcast is back a whole new episode as we are joined by former Washington Capitals player Steve Seftel.
Audio:
We speak with Seftel on a number topics including his hockey career, his time with the Washington Capitals, why he decided to write the book “Shattered Ice”, and why he felt that it was important to become an advocate for Mental Health.
To Purchase “Shattered Ice” please click the picture of the book below.
Today the Washington Capitals have announced that they have trimmed their training camp roster to 34 before heading into the second half of the preseason.
Sent to Hershey
#27 – Alexander Alexeyev (D)
This would be the Capitals lone roster cut before heading to Chicago for their three game road trip to finish the preseason.
The Capitals are now carrying 19 forwards, 11 defensemen, and four goaltenders going into tonights preseason game against Chicago.
