Washington Capitals last practiced on Saturday before taking off for the bubble in Toronto.
Capitals head coach Todd Reirden contained two forwards, Hershey Bears players Shane Gersich and Garrett Pilon, according to Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic. They appear to be the final cuts of the team.
It appears that Gersich and Pilon have been eliminated as the team peaks at 31 players for the bubble. #Caps https://t.co/gTe0QOhFlS
– Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) July 25, 2020
At the end of practice, Reirden gathered the players on the ice to make an announcement.
There are 31 players on the ice for the final #Caps practice this morning. Reirden simply called the group together and made an announcement to hit the players’ punches.
– Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) July 25, 2020
The final list of Capitals will be announced on Sunday, but this is how it will look.
“The way I understand the rules right now is that we have 52 people who have been dispatched and the NHL will launch it tomorrow night,” Reirden said after practice.
The lines will also have a very familiar feel to the regular season.
Based on this morning’s scrimmage, the #Caps lines are exactly what we thought they were going to be. (Today, Boyd is skating for Oshie, who is not practicing.) Pic.twitter.com/NEiwwLiY17
– Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) July 18, 2020
Reirden admitted that if Ilya Samsonov hadn’t been injured, the team would have brought four goalkeepers to Toronto.
“I would probably say we would have taken four goalkeepers,” Reirden said. “I feel really good about Pheonix Copley and I feel really good about Vitek Vanecek. I want to have them close. That is the position that you have to protect yourself in that situation. Unfortunately, we have an injured player. He is a player who had a great impact on our team this first year and is going to have a great impact on our team for many years to come. ”
Headline photo: Cara Bahniuk / RMNB
