Rookie And Training Camp Rosters Released

Posted here, and cut and pasted from The Patriot News below.

Rookie Camp Roster:

Forwards: Jay Beagle, Francois Bouchard, Joel Broda, Stefan Dellarovere, Michael Dubuc, Anton Gustafsson, Dmitry Kugryshev, Maxime Lacroix, Brett Leffler, Travis Morin, Oskar Osala, Mathieu Perreault, Steve Pinizzotto, Justin Taylor

Defensemen: Karl Alzner, John Carlson, Sean Collins, Viktor Dovgan, Josh Godfrey, Patrick McNeill, Eric Mestery, Keith Seabrook, Craig Switzer

Goalies: Braden Holtby, Michal Neuvirth, Simeon Varlamov

Training Camp Roster:

Forwards: Keith Aucoin, Nicklas Backstrom, Chris Bourque, Matt Bradley, Donald Brashear, Chris Clark, Sergei Fedorov, Eric Fehr, Tomas Fleischmann, Alexandre Giroux, Andrew Gordon, Boyd Gordon, Andrew Joudrey, Viktor Kozlov, Brooks Laich, Quintin Laing, Tom Maxwell, Graham Mink, Michael Nylander, Alex Ovechkin, Darren Reid, Alexander Semin, Dave Steckel, Kyle Wilson

Defensemen: Greg Amadio, Dean Arsene, Jakub Cutta, John Erskine, Mike Green, Brian Helmer, Milan Jurcina, Sami Lepisto, Grant McNeill, Shaone Morrisonn, Sasha Pokulok, Brian Pothier, Tom Poti, Jeff Schultz, Tyler Sloan

Goalies: Brent Johnson, Daren Machesney, Jose Theodore

Cut Day: 19 Players Sent To Hershey

The Caps have assigned 19 players to Hershey (Dean Arsene, Scott Barney, Jay Beagle, Sean Collins, Andrew Gordon, Marty Guerin, Jamie Hunt, Andrew Joudrey, Quintin Laing, Sami Lepisto, Tommy Maxwell, Chris McAllister, Grant McNeill, Patrick McNeill, Jason Morgan, Travis Morin, Steve Pinizzotto, Grant Potulny, Steve Werner) and released Dan Kronick. The moves leave 20 forwards (including Eric Fehr), 12 defenseman and five goalies in camp.

Notably still in D.C. trying to make the team, then, are Chris Bourque, Tomas Fleischmann, Jakub Klepis, Joe Motzko, Dave Steckel, Kyle Wilson, Josef Boumedienne, Sasha Pokulok, Jame Pollock, Tyler Sloan and all three non-NHL goalies (Michal Neuvirth, Hershey starter Freddy Cassivi and the injured Daren Machesney).

Oh, and Nicklas Backstrom.

Saturday At K-Plex

On a gorgeous Fall day like this, one almost feels bad about spending time inside.

Almost.

Today's practice was highlighted by a scrimmage between Groups B (the Freddy Cassivi group) and C (the Olie Kolzig group), while Group A (the Brent Johnson group) practiced on the public rink.

While we all know that line training camp line combos are mostly meaningless, here are today's scrimmage lines, for what their worth (and because I know you want to know):

Group B (Blue Team)
Semin - Nylander - Fleischmann
Laich - Sutherby - Bradley
Werner - Joudrey - Barney
Sloan - Beagle - Guerin
Poti - Jurcina
Erskine - Green
Sloan - P. McNeill
Cassivi
Feyock

Group C (White Team)
Pettinger - Backstrom - Clark
B. Gordon - Perreault - Laing
Bourque - Morgan - Klepis
Kronick - Morin - Maxwell
Alzner - Godfrey
Pokulok - Boumedienne
Collins - G. McNeill
Kolzig
Moyette

A few notes from the scrimmage:

• The Blue Team won 4-2.
  
• Big day for grinders, as Brian Sutherby and Matt Bradley both looked good, each scoring goals (Sutherby on a mini-breakaway after Josef Boumedienne took a spill trying to turn around).
• Alex Semin had a couple of dazzling moves and seems to be in mid-season (read: not passing) form. He also left the ice after crashing into the boards while entangled with Matt Pettinger (see below). Though Semin was bleeding at the time, I was told later that it was nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, that's probably the last time we'll ever see Sasha back-checking.
  
• Tom Poti was generous with the puck, sharing it with players on both teams with great frequency. Paired with Milan Jurcina, the two made for an intimidating (looking) duo.
• Nicklas Backtrom pick-pocketed Andrew Joudrey to create a breakaway (the finish to which he rang off the iron). Backstrom also threw his body around a bit more than I expected him to.
• The Petttinger - Backstrom - Chris Clark line did a great job of puck possession and forechecking, and was rewarded with a lucky bounce that found its way onto Petty's stick and into the back of the net a split-second later.
  
• Though he was darting around like a waterbug out there, Mathieu Perreault was returned to Acadie-Bathurst of the Q after today's practice.
• Both Sutherby and Clark got a little fiesty at points during the scrimmage, which is always good to see.
• The ice didn't appear to be as good as you'd hope it would be in a $42 million building, with puddles still visible well into the second half of the scrimmage after the ice was resurfaced at "halftime." Whether or not that contributed to the Pettinger/Semin trainwreck, I don't know.
  

For more coverage from today, check out the usual suspects - Vogs, Tarik, Corey, OFB.

Finally, on the way out I got a shot of Brent Johnson in his new gear (including his new mask - click the pic to enlarge):

I could make a "two in, three not in - looks about right" joke... but I won't.

First two photos by Ken, last one by JP

Training Camp Primer: The Rookies You May Not Know

Yesterday the Caps released the rosters for rookie and training camps and while there are obviously plenty of familiar names, there are plenty of folks with whom you may not be as well acquainted (for example Dan "number 64 on the ice and number one in your hearts" Kronick). To help out, here's a rundown of who's who amongst the folks you might see out at Kettler over the next couple of weeks and not recognize.

First, the rookies (the vets will follow before training camp). Since you may not know much about anyone not named Backstrom or Alzner, this will be a comprehensive run-down of the kids that will be arriving later this week (including the guys you know). If a player is listed as drafted by the Caps, clicking on his name will take you to posts we've written here referencing that player (if there are any) and clicking on his draft info will take you to his hockeydb profile. Otherwise, clicking his name will take you straight to his profile.

Forwards

• Backstrom, Nicklas (drafted by the Caps in 2006)
• Beagle, Jay
• Bouchard, Francois (drafted by the Caps in 2006)
• Gordon, Andrew (drafted by the Caps in 2004)
• Guerin, Marty
• Joudrey, Andrew (drafted by the Caps in 2003)
• Kronick, Dan
• Lacroix, Maxime (drafted by the Caps in 2006)
• Leffler, Brett (drafted by the Caps in 2007)
• Lynes, Luke (drafted by the Caps in 2006)
• Maxwell, Tommy
• Morin, Travis (drafted by the Caps in 2004)
• Perreault, Mathieu (drafted by the Caps in 2006)
• Pinizzotto, Steve
• Taylor, Justin (drafted by the Caps in 2007)
• Werner, Steve (drafted by the Caps in 2003)
• Wilson, Kyle

Defensemen

• Alzner, Karl (drafted by the Caps in 2007)
• Collins, Sean
• Dovgan, Viktor (drafted by the Caps in 2005)
• Godfrey, Josh (drafted by the Caps in 2007)
• Hunt, Jamie
• Lepisto, Sami (drafted by the Caps in 2004)
• McNeill, Patrick (drafted by the Caps in 2005)
• Pokulok, Sasha (drafted by the Caps in 2005)
• Seabrook, Keith (drafted by the Caps in 2006)
• Sloan, Tyler

Goalies

• Machesney, Daren (drafted by the Caps in 2005)
• Neuvirth, Michal (drafted by the Caps in 2006)
• Varlamov, Simeon (drafted by the Caps in 2006)

Most noticeably absent are Joe Finley, Oskar Osala, Teddy Ruth and Phil DeSimone - the Caps' only top 100 overall picks of the last three drafts who won't be in town for rookie camp. Still, there's a lot of talent there and rookie camp should prove to be a nice appetizer for the main course a week later (though perhaps the main course won't be served until Opening Night and full camp is more a hearty soup after the salad of field greens that is rookie camp - choose your food metaphors carefully...).

UPDATE (9/5, 12:05 pm): Sk84fun's comment contained a lot of great additional information, so I figured I'd throw it in here verbatim (but note Sk8's disclaimer in the comments - since we don't proofread, I don't know why our commentors should feel the need to):

Along with those drafted by the Caps, I think clarification about free agents vs contracted players is useful.

Several of the players not drafted are under contract as they were signed as free agents.

Collins in the spring of 07.
Hunt in the spring of 06.
Pinizzotto in the spring of 07.
Wilson in the summer of 07.

2 free agents attending camp, Sloan and Maxwell, are not under contract with the Caps, but do have AHL contracts with the Hershey Bears for the 07-08 season.

The other 3 free agents all played NCAA hockey last season: Kronick, Guerin and Beagle. Beagle played for the ECHL championship Idaho Steelheads after leaving UAA last season. Beagle and Kronick both attended the Caps summer development camp and earned invites back to rookie camp. Kronick was a teammate of Andrew Gordon's at SCSU.

Other than Osala who is playing pro in Finland, the Caps draft picks that are not on the roster are players retaining their NCAA eligibility. It is important to make that point for those that may think there is reason to be concerned that those players are not attending...IMO, there is no reason to be concerned given USHL camps have started, college semesters have started, and the players would have to pay their own way because of the NCAA rules.

Training Camp Roster Announced

From the Caps:

"A total of 68 players will be on the ice at Kettler Capitals Iceplex in the upcoming weeks for the 2007 Washington Capitals rookie camp and training camp, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today.
"Thirty rookies will participate in rookie camp, which begins this Saturday, Sept. 8, and runs through Wednesday, Sept. 12, when the rookies travel to Philadelphia to scrimmage the Flyers’ rookies.

"Training camp begins Friday, Sept. 14 when 38 veterans – 24 of whom saw action for the Capitals last season – will join selected rookies to get ready for the upcoming 2007-08 NHL season. In between practices and off-ice workout sessions, the Capitals will play seven preseason games before camp wraps up with the Caps Care Golf Tournament on Monday, Oct. 1.

"The public is welcome to attend every practice, free of charge, beginning Saturday, Sept. 8."

The full rosters for the rookie and full camps can be found here (note that some rookies will be hanging around for the full camp, but are only listed under the rookie camp roster).