Oct. 4 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets at Capital One Arena
Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV: MNMT
Radio: 106.7 THE FAN/Caps Radio Network
Columbus Blue Jackets (2-4-0)
Washington Capitals (4-1-0)
The Caps conclude their six-pack of preseason tune-ups on Saturday night when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets at Capital One Arena. The Caps prevailed over Columbus earlier in the week, taking a 4-3 decision in Ohio’s capital city on Tuesday night.
Most recently, the Caps suffered their first setback of the preseason, a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Boston Bruins in DC on Thursday night. Ryan Leonard started the scoring midway through the first period with his second goal of the preseason, but the Caps couldn’t capitalize on several strong scoring chances thereafter.
Boston netminder Joonas Korpisalo was strong between the pipes, making 33 saves on the night. Twenty-three of those saves came before the Bruins broke out for a pair of goals in the final four minutes of the middle period, which was all the offense Korpisalo needed.
When the Caps reconvened for one of their last few practices of training camp on Friday, their roster was a bit lighter, and they are now down to a single practice group. Washington loaned forwards Andrew Cristall, Eriks Mateiko and Ilya Protas and defensemen Ryan Chesley and Leon Muggli to AHL Hershey. All five players are embarking upon their first seasons as pros in North America in 2025-26. Additionally, the Caps placed forward Sheldon Rempal on waivers for the purpose of loaning him to Hershey.
All six players acquitted themselves well throughout training camp, and it would not be a stretch to see any of them appear in Washington at some point this season, should the need arise. Friday’s roster parings leave the Capitals with 27 players on their training camp roster (15 forwards, nine defensemen and three goaltenders). They’ll need to trim four more players between now and Monday’s 5 pm deadline for the submission of official opening night rosters.
Caps coach Spencer Carbery spoke glowingly of Chesley after Thursday’s game, and he was also highly impressed with Rempal’s camp, as he reiterated after Friday morning’s practice session, in the context of assessing the organization’s growth in depth from Carbery’s first training camp in 2023 to his third camp this fall.
“Matty Phillips made [the opening night roster] my first year, and there was some competition,” Carbery recalls. “But this year just feels different. It feels like there’s five or six guys that are right there, that you’re splitting hairs when you’re making decisions, and they’re not easy. And I think that speaks to the quality of depth inside of our organization, and how many NHL quality players we have that are right there, that might not start the year in the NHL.
“I’ll give you a prime example, in Rempal, who we put on waivers today. There’s a guy in camp – I’ve never really seen him play, other than film – and he was tremendous in training camp. I thought he was outstanding in the practices and both exhibition games.
“We had him slated to play one exhibition game. We changed that plan because of the way he played in Columbus; [he had] seven shots, he was all around the puck, and I thought he was good again [Thursday] night as well. There’s a really good example of someone who is going down to play – if he clears waivers – in the American Hockey League. And he has every argument to say that that he could be in an opening night [lineup] and play in the NHL tomorrow.”
In Rempal’s two preseason games, he logged 25:47 in ice time, all of it at 5-on-5. He squeezed off a remarkable 10 shot attempts in that span, getting a dozen of them on net, including some looks from in tight. As a guy who scored at least 25 goals in each of his last three AHL seasons and netted 31 for Ufa Salavat Yuleyev in the KHL last season, he clearly has a nose for the net.
According to naturalstattrick,com, both Rempal (14-1, 93.33%) and Cristall (13-1, 92.86%) had gaudy shares of high danger scoring chances while on the ice at 5-on-5, albeit in the small, skewed sample size that is the preseason. Most of those numbers were combined while the two played together, because Rempal played 82 percent of his preseason minutes with Cristall. It will be interesting to see how they mesh if they play together at Hershey.
Cristall was the Caps’ second-round choice in the 2023 NHL Draft and Protas was a third-rounder in the 2024 Draft. Both have the look of future NHL players, but some AHL seasoning between now and then will do them good.
“It’ll be huge,” says Carbery. “For him and [Ilya Protas]. “You never want to count anybody out. But the path for them to make the opening night roster was a difficult one. Because at that age and experience level, to come in and to beat out the likes of Ethen Frank and [Ivan] Miroshnichenko, these guys have been at it for a long time, so it was a tall, tall ask, and I thought both guys had really good camps.
“But it’s a process to play and develop at this level, and it’s the best League in the world for a reason, and it is not easy. I don’t care if your were drafted in the first round, or top 10 pick, or second round, it doesn’t matter. Or had the most successful junior season or college season; it’s a hard League. [Spending] some time in the American League for both of those guys will be a huge benefit for their long-term development and for their careers, and their success one day in the NHL.”
In their first day of practice with a single group, the Caps altered their line combinations a bit, returning to a couple of top six staples from last season: Aliaksei Protas and Alex Ovechkin with Dylan Strome, and Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson with P-L Dubois. McMichael had been centering the Caps’ third line during most of camp, but Hendrix Lapierre’s strong and assertive camp has him poised to potentially occupy that slot on opening night. Lapierre centered for Anthony Beauvillier and Ryan Leonard at Friday’s sesson.
“He’s a big part of it, no doubt,” says Carbery of Lapierre being the reason for the alterations. “My confidence level in him playing the middle and potentially earning that third-line center role has made us consider some different options.
“And like I’ve said all along with Mikey playing the middle, we’re flexible with it. Mikey is a unique talent of where you can be flexible, and it enables me and our staff to be flexible with our lineup, because he is so comfortable moving back and forth between the wing and center.”
