In dollars and common sense, Jason Chimera's two-year extension worth $3.5 million that the Washington Capitals announced Thursday isn't on par with deals signed by Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom or even Brooks Laich.
Michal Neuvirth was the man.
Braden Holtby knows that — barring injury — he has no chance to start the season in the NHL. In a strange way, that might be a good thing for him.
BALTIMORE | Tuesday night was not just another exhibition game for the Washington Capitals. Usually, the first game of the preseason is a chance for veteran NHL players to get up to speed after a summer away and for younger guys to impress coaches and fight for roster spots.
From the perspective of the Capitals' organization and the city of Baltimore, there was a lot of buildup for Tuesday night's Baltimore Hockey Classic. This is a chance to expand a fan base further into Maryland, providing something of a novelty by playing at 1st Mariner Arena.
Training camp is barely a couple of days old, so the line combinations that Bruce Boudreau throws out there for the Washington Capitals aren't set.
Jeff Halpern's happy to be back in training camp with his hometown Capitals, but that wasn't anywhere near his mind when he got to the rink. He and his teammates knew what was coming: a grueling, timed conditioning test on the first day of training camp.
Roman Hamrlik has been through this once or twice or 18 times before. The 38-year-old defenseman is used to training camp from his long NHL career.
