No surprises

Tarik El-Bashir notes in the Capitals Insider that the Caps have made some cuts...

Nineteen players were assigned to Hershey, where the Bears' training camp opens on Thursday.

Here's the list: 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. The Caps also released Dan Kronick.

He's right -- there aren't any surprises there. Which leaves, by my reckoning...

Forwards:

Alex Ovechkin
Alexander Semin
Viktor Kozlov
Michael Nylander
Chris Clark
Brian Sutherby
Matt Pettinger
Boyd Gordon
Matt Bradley
Ben Clymer
Chris Bourque
Tomas Fleischmann
Jakub Klepis
Joe Motzko
Dave Steckel
Kyle Wilson
Nicklas Backstrom
Eric Fehr
Donald Brashear
Brooks Laich

Defensemen:

Shaone Morrisonn
Tom Poti
Milan Jurcina
Steve Eminger
Mike Green
Jeff Schultz
John Erskine
Brian Pothier
Josef Boumedienne
Sasha Pokulok
Jame Pollock
Tyler Sloan

Goaltenders:

Olaf Kolzig
Brent Johnson
Frederic Cassivi
Daren Machesney
Michal Neuvirth

It's early, and we might not be entirely accurate here...corrections are welcome.

If you look at that list, it seems pretty to get down to 13 forwards and 6 defensemen, plus the goalies. But getting there leaves the matter of where Tomas Fleischmann and Jakub Klepis go (they're not in my 13 forwards; Ben Clymer -- who is the subject of Tarik's feature this morning in the Post, is in that group), and where Mike Green and Jeff Schultz end up (they're not in my six defensemen). That might end up being the longest running drama of camp.

Interesting that there are fewer players here this morning, but it feels more crowded.