Sammi’s Daily: Capitals Raise Bar At Informal Skates, Top Prospects In D.C.

ARLINGTON, V.A. — Despite the busy NHLPA Rookie Showcase happening at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Tuesday, the Washington Capitals treated Tuesday as business as usual, as their informal skates grew in intensity.

The practices went from having just a few Capitals to 15-20 players, including prospects and veterans. Taking that into account, the skates have picked up in intensity, with John Carlson serving as one of the leaders. Now, there are scrimmages, different drills and gruelling back-and-forth skates to get ready for training camp in the coming weeks.

All the while, Juraj Slafkovsky and Shane Wright, along with other top prospects, were posing for trading card pictures around the rink.

In other NHL news, teams are gearing up for the season, and free agency is still very much in full swing.

Here are the latest news and notes from D.C. and across the NHL:

Washington Capitals Links

• Nic Dowd and more Capitals have joined the group for informal skates, which were action-packed on Tuesday. (WHN)
• Hendrix Lapierre was part of the NHLPA Rookie Showcase and is on a mission to get a trading card with his face on it. (WHN)
• If you bet $5 on NFL Week 1, you could win $200 on DraftKings. (WHN)

NHL Links

• Slafkovsky got to don the full Canadiens uniform on Tuesday and shared his thoughts on the summer and his goals going forward. Montreal Canadiens (MHN)
• Although Ilya Sorokin is the surefire starter, don’t count out former Washington netminder Semyon Varlamov as an X-Factor next season on the Island. New York Islanders (NYIHN)
• J.T. Miller had his first press conference since re-signing long-term with the Canucks following an offseason of trade rumors. Vancouver Canucks (VHN)

Sammi’s Top Shelf Takes

• Lapierre is in great shape and has been looking like an NHL-caliber player. There’s little vacancy this season at the forward lines, but don’t count him out at camp.
• Speaking of prospects, seeing Matty Beniers and Wright skate together on Tuesday should have Seattle Kraken fans excited. Those two bounce off each other and are surely going to make a lot of noise for this franchise.
• There are Darcy Kuemper (35) days left until the start of a new season.