Washington Capitals

Washington Capitals

Aliaksei Protas already has his Washington Capitals coaches and teammates raving about him again, just two games into the 2025-26 season. After a career-best 2024-25 campaign saw him record 66 points (30g, 36a) in 76 games, Protas is right back to racking up points, posting three (2g, 1a) in a 4-2 win over the New York Islanders on Saturday night. The big Belarusian's efforts led the Capitals to their first victory of the year, and Protas is now the team's scoring leader with four points (2g, 2a) through two games.

The Washington Capitals open the 2025-26 NHL season on home ice against the Boston Bruins, Wednesday night. The team enters the season off the back of a 111-point 2024-25 campaign that saw them finish atop the Eastern Conference. After winning their first playoff series since their 2018 Stanley Cup victory, the Capitals were then eliminated in the second round by the Carolina Hurricanes in just five games.

Right this way to your Caps-Bruins season opening open thread... The 2025-26 season is upon us at last! The Caps kick off their 51st campaign at the new-look Capital One Arena, playing host to a team they got pretty familiar with in the preseason in the Boston Bruins. First, some admin stuff: Based on recent practices, here's what we're likely to see from tonight's lines and defensive pairs, with Logan Thompson protecting the net:

The Caps make their final waiver moves before rosters are due this evening, top waiver wire targets available and more in today's clips. Your savory breakfast links: The Washington Capitals placed goalie Clay Stevenson and forward Ethen Frank on waivers yesterday. [PuckPedia, WaPo, THN, RMNB] The Caps' waiver choices yesterday do send a message about the team's final roster, due today at 5 PM. [RMNB]

We got our first look at the full top unit of the Capitals' power play for the first time this fall, and I thought they created a few good looks. Alex Ovechkin looks set to play the full two minutes of every man-advantage again this year, which I'm still not too sure about. It feels like, at least to me, that opposing penalty kills would need to adapt on the fly more

The 25-year-old defenseman was placed on NHL waivers by the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday after failing to make the rebuilding squad's team out of camp. Alexeyev signed a one-year deal with the Penguins in July after the Capitals declined to extend him a qualifying offer. Per the Penguins, Alexeyev was one of 10 cuts on Saturday, which saw four players assigned to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, five placed on waivers, and another released from their PTO.

Over parts of nine seasons in the NHL, Konopka played 346 games for seven teams. He is the most recent player in league history to record more than 300 penalty minutes in a season, doing so in 2010-11 while with the New York Islanders. Konopka also played a total of 303 games in the AHL and was recently named part of the Syracuse Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2025 for his contributions to the Syracuse Crunch.

"Honestly, I think it started like last year," Cristall said. "I think Willy just like, I had some good flow going last year and Willy called me that one time and kind of stuck on with him."

Recaps and other assorted musings on last night's win in Columbus from Vogs, Caps video (recap), WaPo, THN, and RMNB. Prior to their fourth preseason game, the Caps made a small trim to the roster, which included sending last summer's first-round pick Terik Parascak to Juniors: Updates from yesterday's practice, where there's good news on the captain's injury. [Caps video (Carbery, Iorio), NHL] Unfortunately the battle to keep Monumental Sports Network on YouTube TV and Hulu+ has been lost, the streaming services officially dropping the network yesterday. So that's...fun. [Monumental]

Sportico, a leading resource for sports business news, presented its 2025 valuations of every team in the NHL on Wednesday, and the Caps are ranked ninth out of the 32 clubs. While that ranking may not sound impressive, the valuation certainly is. Sportico estimates the Capitals crossed the $2 billion mark for the first time and are worth $2.3 billion. The franchise's valuation has increased by 24 percent from the $1.86 billion valuation it received at the same time last year.

"aliaksei is smiling,"

"Today on the plane, I told the guys, 'If I score, I'm going to bring out the roar one more time for old time's sake,'" McMichael told RMNB's Ian Oland. The 24-year-old forward kept his word, going full grizzly mode after sniping home a shorthanded goal at the 1:07 mark of the third period. "I'm glad I got a chance to do it," McMichael added.

Smallman, 29, was re-signed to a two-year contract extension by the Capitals in April after playing his first season in Hershey. The 2024-25 campaign was a career-best for Smallman, as he recorded 34 points (10g, 24a) in 62 games for the Bears. The Prince Edward Island native was selected in the fifth round of the 2015 NHL Draft by the Carolina Hurricanes and has previously played in the Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche organizations.

"Yeah, it sucked, but it was part of it," he said. "Stay positive. And I knew I was eventually going to come back, so I just had to stay with it."

The Washington Capitals opened up their 2025 preseason schedule with a 5-2 win over the Boston Bruins on Sunday evening. The Capitals assembled a mixed roster of NHL veterans, AHL stars, and top prospects, with number-one goalie Logan Thompson playing half the game. Sonny Milano starred early, scoring twice in his first taste of NHL action since November of last season. Hendrix Lapierre, who fed Milano for one of his goals, also potted one into Boston's net.