September 24 vs. Buffalo Sabres at Capital One Arena
Time: 2 p.m.
TV: Monumental Network, NHL Network
Radio: Capitals Radio 24/7
Buffalo Sabres (0-0-0)
Washington Capitals (0-0-0)
Three days after the opening of their 2023 training camp, the Caps take to the ice for the first of a six-pack of exhibition contests when they host the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday afternoon at Capital One Arena. Washington’s pre-season slate consists of home-and-home sets with both Detroit and Columbus, a road tilt in Boston, and Sunday’s opener against Buffalo.
First-year Caps bench boss Spencer Carbery and a trio of new assistant coaches have brought some energy and excitement to Washington’s training camp, and the early days of the Carbery era have been characterized by high tempo practices and some fun competition. Carbery wants his team to play with pace, and his drills and practice schemes are designed to accentuate that element of the Caps’ game.
Washington’s camp roster consists of 64 players (37 forwards, 20 defensemen and seven goaltenders) split into three separate practice groups. It’s made for some long days for the coaching staff, and that’s typical for the first week or so of camp.
“It’s a lot, the first few days,” says Carbery of the early days of camp. “Obviously the first few days with the multiple groups and the meetings and everything, it’s a lot. But we’re grinding through it. It’s been a tough first couple of days, not only physically but mentally. We’re throwing a lot of stuff at them, but it’s stuff that we’ve got to get on top of real early.
“And especially playing on Sunday; we’d like to be somewhat organized for that game on Sunday, so there are quite a few areas that we’d like to make sure that everybody that’s playing in that game understands. I know it’s not going to be perfect, but we’re trying to get as much as we can.”
Washington’s game roster for Sunday has had three full days of practice, and the game group spent some time working on special teams during Saturday’s practice session.
As is typically the case for the exhibition opener, the Caps will be dressing a youthful lineup with only a sprinkling of NHL regulars for Sunday’s match with the Sabres. Fans can expect to see the likes of Dylan Strome, Anthony Mantha, Sonny Milano, Nicolas Aube-Kubel up front for Washington, and the Caps’ blueline will feature Trevor van Riemsdyk, Martin Fehervary and Alex Alexeyev on Sunday against Buffalo.
Months after helping to lead the AHL Hershey to the storied franchise’s 12th Calder Cup championship in June, goaltender Hunter Shepard is expected to get the start for the Caps in Sunday’s exhibition opener against the Sabres. Ahead of his sophomore season in the pros, Clay Stevenson will suit up as Washington’s second netminder on Sunday.
Early preseason games can look and feel sloppy and disjointed; there are typically few veterans in the first exhibition or two and teams have only had a few training camp practices. With dozens of players in camp, teams may not have delved deeply on every aspect of their system and special teams in practice by the time the exhibition opener rolls around.
“It’s obviously our first preseason game,” says Carbery of Sunday’s game. “It’s going to be a young lineup; I’m assuming Buffalo will send the same type of lineup – like a rookie tournament-esque, with the eight NHL veterans required.
“What I’m looking for specifically – especially with those young guys – is to show what your skill set is. What do you do well? What is your game? If you described your game in three sentences, show me that. And then the second thing is we want to see – it’s not going to be perfect – but we would like to see some of the structure and the things that we’ve talked about over the first three days show up in that game. And then we’d like to see players that can demonstrate that, and then we can point that out.”
The forlorn fans of the Sabres have endured a lot of misery over the last dozen years; their squad has missed the playoffs every season while spinning through a series of coaches, GMs and players over that span. But after Buffalo’s 2022-23 season, Sabres fans likely can see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Sabres GM Kevyn Adams has accumulated and assembled an admirable stable of young talent, coach Don Granato is entering his third full season, the longest tenure of any of the half dozen coaches the Sabres have employed since Lindy Ruff departed just over a decade ago. For the first time in years, Buffalo played meaningful hockey late in the 2022-23 season, finishing with 91 points, its highest total since 2010-11.
Buffalo seems stacked up the middle with a quartet of young and talented pivots led by Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens, both of whom eclipsed the 30-goal level last season. All four Buffalo centers were first-round draft choices, and each is still under 25 years of age.
With one of the best pairs of young defensemen – Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power – to go along with the four centermen, the Sabres have many of the foundational pieces necessary for sustained team success in the AHL, and they’ll likely go as far as their netminding will take them.
Rookie Devon Levi is expected to seize the starting job in goal in 2023-24. The 21-year-old native of Quebec made the late season leap from Northeastern University to the Buffalo crease, winning five of seven starts for the Sabres. In just two seasons at NU, Levi piled up 16 shutouts.
