The 2023-24 NHL season kicked off Tuesday night, but the Capitals will wait until Friday to open their season with a home game against the Penguins.
Have no fear, though, because you'll be hearing from the head Cap each week – head coach Spencer Carbery will be joining the Junkies every Wednesday, courtesy of the Centers for Advanced Orthopedics, and in his first hit of the season this week, well, after some commiserating over JP's rolled ankle from trail running this weekend, Carbery gave an update on how the team has been handling this week's team bonding and practices out on the Eastern Shore, which have included…a lot of golf?
"I talked to Ovi yesterday, and he said, 'I lose interest after five holes,'" Carbery laughed. "But Oshie is really good, Anthony Manta is a great player, and Rasmus Sandin and Nik Backstrom are really good!"
We'll have to wait until next week to see what the Junks picked as Carbs' intro music, as he laid out his eclectic palate – but we'll alsoh ave to wait to see who is on the Opening Night roster, because the Caps have a little extra time before the deadline due to their opener being Friday.
"We're a little bit later because we've got some flexibility here with three days before we play, so essentially we'll be set today, I think by 5 p.m. we'll have all of our transactions done, salary cap-wise," coach said. "So we'll be sort of naming our opening night roster."
That squad will have an opener against a Pens team that has already begun the season, as they played the Blackhawks Tuesday night – but whose advantage is that to?
"We've honestly beat that up all summer, how we best prepare with the added days and how we want to get into game mode, "For me, I would like to get playing, so if you gave me the choice, I'd want to have played last night or tonight, just because camp goes on for a while; so, now, there's just this anticipation where it's like let's get going here and playing, where we've got to sit a little bit longer. I'd rather just get after it."
The Caps will have some tape on the Pens from last night, though, which they can watch to see them function at true game speed and pace, although the coaches did watch the game live (while the video coaches were getting edited take ready), and they'll start to amend practice to work in some things to counter what they saw.
"What we do from a pre-scout standpoint is we'll build some things into practice today that'll relate to the Pens and some things to be aware of – thinks we think we can do to implement your game plan and you can use some practice reps," Carbery said. "I thought (Tuesday) was an interesting game, because they controlled play early and then Chicago just hung around, and you wondered if they were gonna find a way. The first half of the game was all Pittsburgh, but they just kind of let Chicago hang around, and credit to them, that's a big win."
Take a listen to Carbs' entire appearance above, which also includes some thoughts on the Caps' veterans, some potential down-roster decisions, the assistant coaching experience on his staff and more!
