Back In The Saddle Again – After three days of training camp, the Capitals wade into the preseason waters on Sunday afternoon when they host the Buffalo Sabres at Capital One Arena. The game is the first of six tune-up tilts for the Caps this fall, and the first of seven for the Sabres.
“It'll be good to be at home, and to have some fans in the building,” says Caps’ defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk. “It's always exciting to kick off a new year, and you’re always excited to see all if all the work you put in over the summer pays off.”
First-year Caps head coach and a trio of new assistants have opened up the windows and let in some fresh air at Washington’s 2023 training camp. The early days of camp have been long and arduous, but there are typically more smiles than grimaces at day’s end.
“Carbs has come in with a lot of energy, and with some minor tweaks to tactics and stuff like that,” says van Riemsdyk. “It’ll be exciting to see the differences in our team. We have a lot to prove, but we’ve got a lot of guys who know what it takes to be successful. I think we’re all very excited to see what we’re capable of.”
Old Flame – Washington didn’t make many offseason moves to its roster, but one of its under-the-radar free agent signings will make his debut in a Caps’ sweater this afternoon against the Sabres. Matthew Phillips is a 25-year-old forward who was Calgary’s sixth-round choice (166th overall) in the 2016 NHL Draft.
Following an offensively prolific junior career with the WHL’s Victoria Royals, Phillips spent his first five seasons in the Calgary organization, playing 265 games for its AHL affiliates in Stockton and later in Calgary when the franchise shifted. Over the same time frame, he skated in three NHL games with the Flames.
Phillips broke out with consecutive 30-goal seasons in 2021-22 with Stockton and ’22-23 with the AHL Calgary Wranglers, totaling 67 goals and 144 points in 131 games over that stretch. Phillips’ head coach in each of those last two seasons is none other than Mitch Love, one of the new assistant coaches on Washington’s staff this season. Love provided us with a bit of a scouting report on Phillips.
“Outside of [goaltender] Dustin Wolf,” begins Love, “the last couple of years in Calgary and Stockton, he's been our best player many nights. The best way for me to describe him is he's a gamer. This kid's 150 pounds, 5-foot-7 on a heavy and a tall day, but he goes to the hard areas, which is not something you see every day.
“He’s got 30 goals in back-to-back seasons, and I would say probably 25 of them or 20 of them each season are within 10 feet of the net. He's intelligent, he sees the game, he's got a high level of hockey IQ. And he's a competitor and I think that's why you've seen the success he's had at the American Hockey League level. Obviously, I was a little biased and happy that he took a chance at a different organization. He wants to make the National Hockey League; he wants a push for a job. I think he's really excited to come here and showcase his talents and what he can provide, and I'm excited to see him here again and see how he looks here in camp.”
Phillips is expected to man the right side of a line with Aliaksei Protas on the left and Dylan Strome in the middle on Sunday against the Sabres.
In The Nets – Hunter Shepard is the expected starter for Washington in Sunday’s preseason opener. Last season – his first full AHL campaign – the U. of Minnesota-Duluth product rolled up a 20-8-5 record to go along with a 2.18 GAA and a .916 save pct. In the Calder Cup Playoffs, Shepard was 14-6-0 with a 2.27 GAA and a .914 save pct., earning the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the MVP of the Calder Cup Playoffs. Shepard is the first goalie to earn the honor in over a decade, since Binghamton’s Robin Lehner in 2010-11.
Beginning with his final season of junior hockey with the NAHL Bismarck Bobcats in 2015-16, Shepard has now strung together eight straight seasons with a save pct. of .916 or better.
For Buffalo, we are expecting to see Eric Comrie between the pipes at game’s outset. One of a quartet of goaltenders to see action in the Sabres’ nets last season, Comrie matched a career high by getting into 19 games. He went 9-9-1 with a shutout, a 3.67 GAA and an .886 save pct.
Originally Winnipeg’s second-round (59th overall) choice in the 2013 NHL Draft, Comrie has also seen NHL duty with the Jets, Red Wings and Devils.
Here is how we believe the Capitals might line up, and here also is the Sabres’ roster for Sunday’s exhibition opener:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
21-Protas, 17-Strome, 45-Phillips
15-Milano, 29-Lapierre, 39-Mantha
95-Karabela, 61-Sutter, 96-Aube-Kubel
14-Suzdalev, 84-Hofer, 58-Rybinski
Defensemen
27-Alexeyev, 57-van Riemsdyk
42-Fehervary, 2-Iorio
46-Johansen, 25-McIlrath
Goaltenders
31-Shepard
33-Stevenson
BUFFALO
Forwards
9-Zach Benson
12-Jordan Greenway
13-Lukas Rousek
15-Brandon Biro
17-Tyson Jost
19-Peyton Krebs
20-Jiri Kulich
48-Tyson Kozak
49-Filip Cederqvist
63-Isak Rosen
65-Linus Weissbach
67-Graham Slaggert
77-J.J. Peterka
Defensemen
4-Jeremy Davies
33-Ryan Johnson
38-Kale Clague
61-Riley Stillman
73-Zach Metsa
78-Jacob Bryson
91-Nikita Novikov
Goaltenders
31-Eric Comrie
32-Michael Houser
40-Dustin Tokarski
