Caps trim roster to 42, host Sabres at Verizon
Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin will make his first appearance of the preseason tonight when his team hosts the Buffalo Sabres at Verizon Center at 7 p.m.
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Teammate Alex Semin also will see ice time and goalie Jose Theodore is expected to get his first start. None of the three played during Washington’s first two preseason contests — a 4-3 overtime win last Thursday against Buffalo and another 3-2 overtime win on Saturday night against Chicago.
Meanwhile, the Caps have trimmed the training camp roster down to 42 players with just one week left before the final 23-man roster must be submitted to the NHL.
There were no notable surprises amongst those cuts — although 2008 first-round draft pick Anton Gustafsson is headed to training camp with AHL affiliate Hershey. The Bears’ camp began on Sunday. Gustafsson, 19, is playing in North America for the first time after spending an injury-plagued season in Sweden’s second division.
Joe Finley also was cut on Sunday afternoon. The 22-year-old is making the switch from defenseman, which he played for four years at North Dakota, to forward. In all, the Caps cut 15 players. Washington has remaining preseason games left against Chicago on Wednesday and at the New York Rangers on Thursday before a rematch with the Rangers to close it out Sunday afternoon at Verizon Center.
The NHL regular season starts Oct. 1 when the Caps travel to Boston for a nationally televised game against the Bruins, who finished with the most points in the Eastern Conference last season.
