The Peerless Prognosticator: Washington Capitals Training Camp 2014 -- Day One

Washington Capitals Training Camp 2014 got underway yesterday at Kettler Capitals Iceplex, and Day One was the kind of affair that could not be held to just one squad or just a single rink. Three squads – Blue, White, and Red in that order – on both the Arlington and Capitals rinks made for a busy day for new head coach Barry Trotz, his staff, and the 60-odd players invited to participate.

Before Team Blue kicked off the first session at 9:30, however, there was goaltenders coach Mitch Korn on the ice with Braden Holtby and Pheonix Copley going through some drills. Korn started working with Holtby, the first player on the ice for this year’s camp, going through what looked like puck handling drills that focused on the goalie’s footwork and body positioning when moving the puck along either side.

Copley joined in for some work in moving back and forth, up and down in the crease. Then it was time for the ol’ medicine ball, one of many props that Korn uses for effect and to keep things interesting. There were two drills involving this prop. First, the goalies held the ball to their chest while maneuvering back and forth across the crease. Then, while clutching the medicine ball to their chest, Holtby and Copley started at the goal line at one wall, then pushed off their skate down the length of the goal line to the opposite wall. We were sore just watching them.

As this drill was underway, the skaters took the ice, and if there was a word to describe them as a group, it would be “business like.” There wasn’t a smile among them, no chatting as they skated, no joking. If you are looking for good (if trivial) signs about this team, there’s one. They were down to business from the first blow of the whistle from Trotz.

Trotz wasted no time in pitting players against one another. Using various combinations – one on one, two on two, and a series of odd man combinations – he had the players going against one another in long skate confrontations and in tight space situations starting in the faceoff circles. Except for the occasional player sidling up to a coach for a question, the only sounds you heard on the ice were Trotz’ gravelly shouts and what seems to be a signature effect, his banging his stick on the ice to get players to step up the pace and hustle back into line after finishing a rush.

Because you might be wondering, for what it’s worth, watching Brooks Laich do end-to-end skates in the first half of the morning session, he looked pretty smooth out there.

Team Blue spent 45 minutes on the Arlington Rink before heading across the hall to the Capitals rink to complete their session, a series of end to end long skates to test endurance. There were a few noteworthy things in that session. Jay Beagle was consistently ahead of his group from end to end. Alex Ovechkin was, well… he was not. Dmitry Orlov and Aaron Volpatti wore the yellow (no contact) jerseys in doing the endurance skates.

Then there was Marcus Johansson. We did not see what happened, but we did see him face down on the ice in front of the players’ bench, then get up to considerable distress to take his place on the bench. After some limping around and being bent over the back of the bench, he headed off to the locker room.

Team White was next up on the Arlington Rink at the 11 o’clock hour. Trotz took the group through the same drills, emphasizing player-versus-player contact and a fast pace. And, there was the stick banging. Just like the group the preceded them, there was not much player-player chattering on the ice. Trotz appears to run a very disciplined, very ordered ship. Some other things we took note of in Day One (with pictures).

-- A quiet moment between teacher and pupil before the fun begins…