Spencer Carbery puts together first forward lines and defense pairings with Capitals’ 23-man roster
The NHL preseason is officially over as teams have just a handful of hours before they need to finalize their 23-man rosters. While puck drop on the new season begins Tuesday, the Washington Capitals must wait until Friday to get their campaign underway.
During his first regular-season practice with the team’s 23-man roster, new head coach Spencer Carbery debuted his new forward lines and defense pairings.
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
McMichael-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Milano-Strome-Phillips
Malenstyn-Dowd-Protas
Extra: Mantha
Sandin-Carlson
Johansen-Jensen
Fehervary-TVR
Alexeyev-Haman Aktell
Carbery warned that there could be some change in this unit though. The team will announce its final roster on Wednesday at 9 am. Carbery told the media that while there could be movement and paper moves before the Home Opener on Friday, Matthew Phillips and Lucas Johansen have officially made the team.
“We’ve got some things to work through, salary cap-wise and some roster movement-wise,” Carbery said. “So we’ll be able to sort of share that after all of the things that we need to do on Wednesday.”
Much of the current lineup, including the entire forward group, is the same as what the Caps took to the ice with for their preseason finale against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night. Anthony Mantha remains an extra skater.
The current top forward line, which has a combined age of 109 years old, played one preseason game together but have extensive history sharing the ice together. Over the past three seasons, which have been injury plagued for both Nicklas Backstrom and TJ Oshie, the trio has played just over 146 minutes together at five-on-five and struggled.
In those minutes the Caps have amassed just 48.3 percent of the shot attempts, 44.1 percent of the expected goals, 41.4 percent of the scoring chances, and 38.1 percent of the high-danger chances. Carbery is betting on a healthy return-to-form for both Backstrom and Oshie. To his credit, the line did work wonders in their small sample size against Columbus last weekend. The Caps held positive differentials in shot attempts (+9), scoring chances (+6), and high-danger chances (+3) with them on the ice at five-on-five.
On the second line, Connor McMichael is set to start what should be his second, full-time season in the NHL after playing just six games at the top level last year. McMichael, who the Caps have said should see some time at center this season, will start as one of the defensively-responsible wings sandwiched around Evgeny Kuznetsov.
“I think it was the best camp I’ve ever had since I’ve been drafted here,” McMichael said last week. “I think I started to flash what I can do in this league and showed my confidence. I was making plays. I thought I was pretty good overall.”
The other half of that equation on the wing is Tom Wilson, fresh off a full, healthy summer and a new contract extension. The line as a whole showed very encouraging results in the preseason in their half hour of five-on-five minutes together. The Caps saw 67.4 percent of the shot attempts, 81.6 percent of the expected goals, 67.4 percent of the scoring chances, and 87.3 percent of the high-danger chances with them on the ice.
Phillips won an NHL roster spot out of Training Camp for the first time in his career and beat out Mantha for a role on the Caps’ third line. Phillips’ found quick chemistry with Dylan Strome and Sonny Milano. Strome finished the preseason as the team’s top scorer with five points (1g, 4a) and the three as a unit combined for 11 total points.
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 1, 2023
The team’s checking line sees Nic Dowd sharing time with two 2023 Calder Cup champions in Beck Malenstyn and Aliaksei Protas. Malenstyn is the like-for-like substitution for the departed Garnet Hathaway and Protas and Dowd already have a tested, tried, and true connection formed over the past two years. At five-on-five with those two on the ice the past two seasons, the Caps have seen 53.6 percent of the shot attempts, 58.5 percent of the expected goals, 56.7 percent of the scoring chances, and 58.2 percent of the high-danger chances.
Rasmus Sandin and John Carlson have skated together as the team’s top defense pairing from the start of Training Camp and that appears unlikely to change heading into Friday’s opening matchup with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Carbery has pointed out that he realizes matching the two up is putting his two big offensive weapons on the blueline in the same basket.
“I’ve talked to them about that, of having more of an offensive flair to a pair,” Carbery said. “I think there’s something to be said for giving a look to two guys that see the game at a real high level offensively and playing them together.
“As long as they’re responsible, back each other up, read when one guy’s activated, read when one guy’s down in the offensive zone, and they can do that at a high level. I think there’s an added bonus there, of being able to start them in the offensive zone and have a five-man unit that can really be dangerous.”
The rest of the defense group is harder to read as the players involved have interchanged across the preseason and even during Monday’s skate. Lucas Johansen, Alex Alexeyev, and Hardy Haman Aktell remain as veteran rearguard Joel Edmundson remains out of action recovering from a fractured hand. All three young defenders were just three of five Caps players to get into five of the team’s six preseason games.
“It’s what these guys want, right?” Carbery said earlier in camp. “They want to prove that they’re an everyday NHL player on a good team. So it’s right there, I love that. I mean, not for Joel’s case — but for guys that are just waiting for that one break to be able to get into the lineup. And sometimes it comes in another person’s misfortune.”
On the flip side, Nick Jensen and Martin Fehervary were two of the more lighly-used NHL regulars in the preseason, skating in just two games. Jensen missed part of the preseason due to personal reasons. Trevor van Riemsdyk had an early injury scare but did not miss any time after leaving a game due to blocking a shot with his arm/wrist.
The Caps will begin play than most teams against the Pens on October 13. The Home Opener is scheduled for a 7:30 pm puck drop.
Headline photo: Katie Adler/RMNB
