Training camp started last week for the Capitals. It’s already nearly over.
Such is life now in the NHL. The new collective bargaining agreement has brought a new schedule — a longer regular season, with 84 games up from the classic 82, which comes with a shorter training camp and shorter preseason. For a team like the Capitals, who made several big acquisitions over the summer, that leaves a relatively brief window to integrate a bunch of new talent and make some tough roster calls.
“There’s some big decisions that are going to come that we just have not had a lot of game action to evaluate,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery told reporters on Wednesday. “That’s the landscape we’re in now with the new CBA. … You just have to make the best decision possible with the information that you have, but it’s more difficult, no doubt.”
In previous years, NHL teams generally had three weeks of training camp with six preseason games. Now, that’s down to two weeks of camp and four preseason games, with restrictions on game action for veteran players. (Anyone with 100 or more career NHL games can now appear in only two preseason games.) That means less time for player evaluation and fewer opportunities to see those players in action. Around the league, teams have adjusted by inviting fewer players to camp and making cuts more quickly. The groups that hit the ice on Day 1 of training camp have generally been the same groups that will make the final rosters for their squads on Opening Night.
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The Capitals will have a few roster decisions to make around the fringes of their depth chart. But their core is already clear — which means their main challenge in this shortened training camp is building team chemistry. After missing the playoffs last year, Washington used the summer to shore up its roster. The front office acquired three forwards: Alex Tuch, Jordan Kyrou and Boone Jenner, and a defenseman, Vincent Desharnais, all of whom are projected to be key contributors.
“With camp being so short, you want to get that chemistry right away,” said Jenner, who spent the first 13 seasons of his career with the Columbus Blue Jackets. “It’s a little different, for sure.”
Much of the team got an early start on that process. It’s no longer common for players to roll into town immediately before the start of camp — many come early for optional summer training and informal group skates. “I think most guys were here the last couple of weeks to try to build some chemistry,” Capitals center Dylan Strome said on the first day of camp. “And to see all the guys and the new faces.”
The beginning of training camp is simply the end of a lengthy offseason prep window.
“There’s no more old-school, drink-beers-in-the-summer-and-show-up-out-of-shape,” said Capitals forward Tom Wilson. “You hit the ground running.”
But no matter how much work the players do individually and in small groups, there is no substitute for playing actual games, even if only preseason games. Particularly for a team attempting to integrate several new players.
Carbery specifically called out the line combination of Tuch and Wilson with Pierre-Luc Dubois as one to watch more closely.
“I need more viewings of that,” Carbery said. “Especially in game action.”
The Capitals acquired Tuch from the Sabres in a sign-and-trade deal in June, agreeing to an eight-year, $84 million contract. He’s spent much of his NHL career playing right wing. But on a roster with several established options, Carbery has started out putting Tuch on the left, where he forms a physically imposing line with Dubois at center and Wilson on the right. (All three players are 6’4”.) They saw their first game action together in the Capitals’ preseason loss to the Bruins last Sunday.
“They’re just getting used to each other,” Carbery said. “They’re trying to read off of one another, and sometimes that happens very, very quickly, and sometimes it takes a little bit more time to learn that.”
They will get some more preseason work this weekend. (The Capitals rematch with the Bruins on Friday before facing the Flyers on Saturday.) If the line isn’t clicking the way they hope, “We’d ideally like to find that out sooner than later,” Carbery said, though he added that he does not want to read too much into limited action.
“I’m going to give those guys an opportunity to see if there’s something there,” Carbery said. “This isn’t like a one-game trial for the line and then blow it up.”
And the window for preseason trials of any length is closing either way. They begin the regular season in just seven days.
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