The Quest For The Cup Starts Here

71 players, two practice rinks, rookie and regular training camps, and six preseason games. It's the dawn of a new season. One that finds the Washington Capitals' expectations far exceed just getting to the next round.

Their hope is not only to battle for first in both their division and in their conference, but a team that can and will make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. This is a team that felt if they had different fortunes in a certain game seven, they would be the ones lifting a special banner this October. This is the Cup or bust season for the Capitals.

Not that any player would say such a thing, but read between the lines and you will notice this team finds its exit from the post season last spring a bit unsettling. They plan to fix that bad heartburn they had just 4 months ago.

And it all starts here, at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. 71 players will take to these two rinks atop the Ballston Commons parking garage to take on another grueling NHL season. Rookies will take the stage first, then veterans wander in a week later. And just ten days from now, the Caps will be playing in their first preseason game in Buffalo N.Y.

Here are a few interesting things you will see and want to keep an eye on this week at KCI.

Semyon Varlamov changed the spelling of his first name and has some new pads. He will also be on the ice for the rookie camp. Along with Braden Holtby and Micheal Neuvirth, the goaltenders will be battling for spots in Hershey and for the Capitals. Don't think that Varly the number one position in the bag. Jose Theodore is in the final year of his contract and I would expect that he will be playing top notch goaltending throughout camp and the preseason to retain his formally number one spot.

At this point the battle really comes down all three goaltenders, Theodore, Neuvirth and Varlamov for spots one and two on the Caps roster. And the competition looks fierce.

There will be some new goaltending faces at camp, like Jason Bacashihua. He was originally drafted by Dallas in '01, and played a game or two for the St. Louis Blues. He was signed as a UFA by Hershey/Capitals in July. Also Todd Ford, a tall goaltender at 6'4", who was originally a Toronto draft pick in '02. Ford has struggled being sent back and forth from the one minor team to the next, but found a nitch in the ECHL with Victoria where he had a .915 save percentage and 2.64 GAA.

Joe Finley is listed on the forwards side of the roster instead of defense. It is not that big of a surprise as the coaches made the switch at developing camp in July. It a lot of ways I can see what they are trying to get out of Finley, a big gritty forward that has size and isn't afraid to hit wearing down opposing defenders and playing a good two way game. Think of it as a David Steckel clone perhaps. Finley's move to the forward position has been one he has been told to work on all summer. Per Tarik on his blog:

"We told [Finley] we wanted to try him at forward and we wanted him to go back to North Dakota to practice as a forward," [Bruce] Boudreau said. "We want to see how much that has improved because I asked him on the last day [of development camp]. Now he's had a couple of months."

We will see how that little experiment goes.

Micheal Dubuc returns. He easily impressed the coaches in development camp and could fight for a spot on the squad. It will be easier to gain a grasp of what he is capable of when he is mixed in with the veterans, but he should be the one to watch for the rookie game and in intrasquad scrimmages. He just has a nose for finding the back of the net.

Some noticeable misses in the rookie camp roster are defenseman Patrick Wey, forward Greg Burke, center Phil DeSimone, goalie Dan Dunn, forward Andrew Glass, and defenseman Dmitri Orlov (all were at the summer development camp, but according to the list generated by the Caps media relations none of these names appear on the rookie or training camp rosters).

Battles for defense should be a good one. Black horse and underdog Karl Alzner could crack the opening night roster. So could Tyler Sloan, a popular choice of the coaches when the blue line was hurt last season, and also rookie John Carlson, who has done nothing but improve every time we see him. It will be a tough nut to crack because the Capitals did not lose a single starting defensemen in the off season. All will return and all will be looking to keep their spots with the big club.

The Capitals training camp practices are open to the public and start today at 10:30 am. Rookie Camp is first and ends on Friday with the rookie game against Philadelphia in Vorhees N.J. Then the Veterans report on Saturday, September 12th and training camp begins on Sunday with the first squad hitting the ice at 10 am, the second at 11:45 am and the third group at 2:15 pm. Times are subject to change. Schedule of all the caps training camp practices and schedules can be found on the Caps' website.

Hockey is back!

White Team Sweeps As Camp Closes

The Washington Capitals' Development Camp ended today with the third and final scrimmage. And team white swept all three games although they didn't dominate like they had in previous scrimmages. For the prospects it was a last ditch effort to impress management and coaches.

Michael Dubuc scored another two goals for seven goals total in three games. He had a tremendous camp. His contract is actually through Hershey, but that could change in a heartbeat. He scored 35 goals in 49 goals with South Carolina last season.

Others that impressed were Trevor Bruess, John Carlson, Dmitri Orlov and goaltender Braden Holtby.

Carlson felt he didn't have the best camp, but he has improved since last summer. He looked a bit human today with two bad turnovers. His overall performance was very good through camp. He looks like he can make a smooth transition into training camp by the end of August.

A player that made the switch from the white team to the blue one, Trevor Bruess also had an impressive camp. He is a hard working player, and it was apparent through out the scrimmages. Bruess had a couple of assists and worked well with the white team on a line with Andrew Glass and invitee Backman.

Another good defenseman was Dmitri Orlov who had some dynamite hits and handled himself well with the puck. He was usually partnered with Carlson and the duo played very well together. Orlov was considered a steal in the second round of the draft this year. He has the potential to go further and it would be interesting to see him with bigger faster players.

Braden Holtby had a good camp too. He had a great opening in the scrimmages when he posted a shut out in the 30 minutes he played. He came up with some good saves for his team and looked pretty good in net. He has filled out his pads from last summer, and looked much more confident in net.

A surprise to this years camp might be Garrett Zemlak, who played well in the final two scrimmages. He nearly posted a shut out in today's scrimmage, and he kept his blue team in it in the second scrimmage by stopping everything that came his way. Impressive considering the white team dominated the second game and eventually won the game on seven straight third period goals.

Those that might have come up on the disappointing side were some old hats. Like Francois Bouchard who didn't play bad, but didn't stand out either. Today he was a bit in and out of the play and only seemed to push his intensity button late in the third when he had a scoring chance that rang off the post.

Jake Hauswirth also had a so-so camp. After lighting the lamp five times in last summer's camp, he hardly made much noise this year. In the third scrimmage he was lined up with invitee Meyer and Joe Finley. The line was a big one and had their moments, but they couldn't get the puck in the net.

Finley played up as a forward in this game, and he did okay. There were moments where he was a little lost and his passes didn't connect, but he didn't do that badly. He admitted to reporters after the game that he was a bit uncomfortable at the position at first but if they wanted him to strap up as a goaltender he would do it.

All in all this was a good camp for the prospects. Injuries sidelined Stefan Della Rovere and Anton Gustafsson. It would have been nice to see them continue on but why chance hurting them any more. Della Rovere had a sprained shoulder that kept him from playing. Gustafsson sustained a concussion when he crashed into the post and cut his head. Both players were a bit disappointed in the way their camp ended, but both promised to come back healthy and ready in August.

Next up for the Capitals, training camp in August. Plus there might be a signing here or there to watch out for as GM George McPhee tinkers with his team.

I did a quick interview with Caps' prospect Garrett Mitchell as well and I will post that a little later tonight.

Caps Notes:

• The Caps traded Keith Seabrook, a prospect drafted in the '06 draft, was traded to the Calgary Flames for future considerations. Who knows what those considerations are, maybe it's more hot dogs in the visiting GM's box. Actually this might be a player thing as Seabrook is from the Calgary area and plays for the Hitmen.
  
• For more info on Development Camp, the Capitals have a page with videos and more at WashingtonCaps.com.