Summer’s End – The Caps’ too long summer is over, and after three days of training camp practices and drills, they start their quartet of preseason tilts – and start a set of back-to-back games – late Sunday afternoon in Boston against the Bruins. These two teams hooked up the preseason opener for both teams last autumn in the same building one year ago Monday.
Sunday’s exhibition opener will give us our first look at a handful of players in Caps’ sweaters for the first time. Veteran NHL players Jonny Brodzinski, Vincent Desharnais, Josh Dunne, Justin Holl, Boone Jenner and Alex Tuch are all expected to don a Washington uniform for the first time on Sunday in Beantown.
Me And My Uncle – Following Saturday’s practice session at MedStar Capitals Iceplex, Desharnais spoke with reporters in person for the first time since his arrival in the area for training camp. For the first three days of camp – and for today’s game with Boston – Desharnais has been paired with 20-year-old Caps rookie defenseman Cole Hutson.
With San Jose last season, Desharnais was the most frequent blueline partner of then 19-year-old rookie Sharks blueliner Sam Dickinson, the 11th player chosen overall in the 2024 NHL Draft. We asked the 6-foot-7, 225-pound Desharnais about his experience in ushering along talented young defensemen.
“I think it's good,” Desharnais says. “I like to have the big brother role, or like the fun uncle. That's kind of how I see it, the fun uncle. But yeah, he's so talented. A few plays today, he just broke out the puck by himself or in the neutral zone. He's so talented.
“So, I just try to bring as much knowledge as I can. I know that [from the] blue line in is my specialty; that's my strength. I just try to help him out as much as I can on that that aspect of the game and just try to communicate as much as we can together, because I think that if we talk as a pairing, it's going to make our lives a lot easier.
“So yeah, I just try to bring as much knowledge as I can. I've been around for a little bit. I've been, in the [ECHL], AHL, NHL. You see a lot of things, you experience a lot of things, and if I can share that with him as much as I can and help him out, I know he's going to be a hell of a player.”
Both Dickinson and Hutson debuted as teenagers in the NHL, while the Desharnais route to The Show was much less direct. After a season of tier II junior hockey in the BCHL, Desharnais skated four seasons at Providence College. Edmonton wagered a seventh-round pick (183rd overall) on him in the 2016 NHL Draft, following his freshman season. He had just turned 20 and was in his final year of draft eligibility.
In his senior season at Providence, Desharnais was named the best defensive defenseman in Hockey East, but even with that accolade, he was behind a slew of higher pedigreed defensemen on the Edmonton depth chart, and he played more games (31) in the ECHL as a first-year pro than in the AHL (6).
He flipped that ratio the following season, and he finally signed his first NHL contract near the end of his third pro season at age 25, a two-year, two-way deal. Desharnais’ perseverance paid off in the first year of that pact; he made his NHL debut with the Oilers on Jan. 11, 2023 at Anaheim.
Desharnais hasn’t played a game in the minors since, and he saw action in 28 playoff games in his two seasons with the Oilers, as Edmonton advanced to the Stanley Cup Final in both seasons. Short stints in Vancouver, Pittsburgh and San Jose followed, before he signed a four-year deal with Washington on July 1.
“I think the biggest thing is that when you go through all those experiences, you just learn a lot,” says Desharnais. “And when you're in it, it feels like it's the end of the world, and you're not happy, you're uncomfortable. But every time you pass through those experiences and you learn, and you don't quit on them, and you keep working, and you just get out of the shit. Sorry for the expression, but that's what it is. You just it feels like you're in the shit, and there's no way out of it. And you just – on a daily basis – work and work and work to just get out of it.
“And that's life in general. Everyone has their own issues. Everyone has their bad days, their good days, and if you try to be as balanced as possible, as consistent as possible, with your habits, with your mindset, it really helps. And last season is probably the best season I've had in my career, and I didn't change much. But one thing I changed, I changed my mindset. Instead of always trying to be perfect, I just try to have fun.
“The reason why I'm here is because I worked hard and I had fun. So, my mindset is not going to change this season. And I think this is a team that fits right with this mindset: Hard work and have fun. And you can tell on the ice. It’s training camp, and I’ve never been part of a training camp where it’s so much fun. And we’re having a blast. It’s hard, we’re working hard, we’re battling against each other, we’re crushing each other, but we’re having fun doing it, off the ice and on the ice.”
Hutson goes from having two brothers playing pro hockey to now having two brothers plus a fun uncle playing pro hockey.
“I think he’s been exactly that so far,” says Hutson of fun uncle Vinny. “He’s a joy to be around, and he’s one of those guys that just walks into the room and everyone’s happy. He’s just really cool to learn from. Obviously, we play two different styles of game, and it’s good for him to guide me and for me to learn off him.”
We could all benefit from a fun uncle who is also more than adept at navigating “the shit.” Hutson is clearly in good hands.
In The Nets – Logan Thompson gets the net for Washington in Sunday’s preseason opener, and Mitchell Gibson is along on the trip as well. Caps coach Spencer Carbery did not indicate whether Thompson would go the distance or if the game would be split between the two netminders.
Thompson enters his third season as a Capital on the heels of consecutive 31-win seasons in Washington. Over the offseason, Caps goaltending coach Scotty Murray talked about how Thompson’s love of the game – and specifically, watching the game – helps fuel the goaltender’s success.
“He watches hockey,” states Murray. “I think he's watched hockey since he was a kid, and he still watches hockey. He's got a really good feel for the landscape of the League. He's watching the players. He knows the players, and he sees the game, and obviously he sees the goalies.
“I just think he's one of those old school kids that grew up watching hockey, and he keeps watching hockey. And he loves sitting down and watching a hockey game, not just highlights on Instagram or YouTube. He's watching the full game of hockey, but he also has a feel for the players that are playing the game, and not just the goalies. That's just how he's built. I don't think he's tried to study it. That’s just who he is. And he has just built that knowledge from those habits of watching hockey.
“Once the exhibition season starts, he’ll be watching hockey.”
And today, we’ll be watching Thompson.
Gibson, a fourth-round Washington pick (124th overall) in the 2018 NHL Draft, signed his first NHL contract in March, and he is currently penciled in as one of the two goaltenders expected to be playing at AHL Hershey this season.
During a brief callup to the Caps late last season, Gibson reflected on his journey through U.S. junior hockey, three seasons at Harvard and a pro career that heads into his fourth season this fall.
“I just feel super lucky,” said Gibson in April. “Also, the life of a goalie, right? I feel like that’s the position where you can get quick callups, down or up. So, I’m just trying to stay level-headed. But eight years is kind of a while, and I think for me, it’s just taking it day-by-day. I take little chunks our of my game and I’m continuously working on it. And for right now, that’s just been focusing on doing well in Hershey – that’s where I’ve been a majority of this year – and if I’m up here, I want to do well here. Wherever my feet are is where I want to make an impact.
“Always being team first really brings the best out, and everyone trying to push towards a bigger goal just keeps the focus. So yeah, you look at the eight years, but it’s a lot of little moments added up over those eight years. You’re not really sure where the end path is going to be, but everyone is different, too. If you look at [Thompson] and Chucky [Lindgren], there is no ‘copy and paste’ to any of this. Just focusing on what I have to do each day is the key.”
All Lined Up – Here’s how we believe the Caps might look when they take the ice for Sunday’s preseason opener in Boston and here also is a roster of Bruins, most of whom are expected to dress for the game:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
89-Tuch, 80-Dubois, 43-Wilson
22-Jenner, 34-Sourdif, 72-Beauvillier
63-Miroshnichenko, 40-Dunne, 76-Brodzinski
14-Lakovic, 66-Sikora, 87-Trineyev
Defense
6-Chychrun, 3-Roy
44-Hutson, 73-Desharnais
4-Holl, 52-McIlrath
Goaltenders
48-Thompson
78-Gibson
BOSTON
Forwards
21-Steeves
44-Hagens
47-Kastelic
49-Ivan
51-Poitras
52-Kuraly
53-Abate
62-Duran
71-Biasca
76-Reichel
82-Schmaltz
92-Khusnutdinov
93-Minten
Defense
6-Lohrei
20-Jokiharju
42-Brunet
43-Harris
45-Aspirot
67-Gallagher
73-McAvoy
Goaltenders
30-DiPietro
31-Patera
