Connect with us

Washington Capitals

Capitals Camp Notebook: Changing Lines; Mantha Slims Down

Published

7 months ago

on

(Jared Serre/Washington Hockey Now)

ARLINGTON, Va. — Washington Capitals training camp kicked off at MedStar Capitals Iceplex Thursday, ushering in the start of more than seven months of hockey action.

Here are the key news and notes from Day 3.

Fresh Lines For Day 3

It didn’t take long for Spencer Carbery to change lines in training camp, especially with the team’s first preseason game coming Sunday.

Of note? Sonny Milano, Hendrix Lapierre and Anthony Mantha appeared to anchor the “top” line with Martin Fehervary and Vincent Iorio. Some guys also shuffled between groups.

Here were the lines for the first group on Saturday:

And the second group:

Mantha Cut Weight This Offseason

Anthony Mantha said Saturday that he has slimmed down to 236 pounds with the goal of trimming down two or three more.

“For my body type, it’s not that easy,” Mantha said. “You know, some people just lose weight easily. But that was my goal and I’m not too far from there right now.”

Arguably nobody on the roster will be under a greater microscope than Mantha this season, considering that he’s entering his contract year. He’s also struggled to meet expectations since being acquired by the Capitals in 2021.

“Over my career I played different levels of weight and I think 232 was my best year,” Mantha said, “so I wanted to get back there.”

Oshie: Easier To Learn With Up-Tempo Pace

He’s one of the most veteran players on the team, but TJ Oshie is still learning.

With Spencer Carbery leading an almost entierly new coaching staff, there’s progress to be made in learning the systems Carbery runs. But Oshie says it’s been going as well as it can be through the first three days of training camp.

“It’s been energetic, that’s for sure,” Oshie said. “It’s been very high paced. It’s been a lot of really good energy towards learning our systems, but also playing hockey and having fun and having a little bit of a competition element to it. A lot of times when you’re going through systems it can kind of get slow, it can get a little boring — some guys do it right, some guys don’t. This is a lot higher pace.

“There’s a competition level, and that that feels like you pick it up a little faster, like you would say in a game by making mistakes. You learn faster from those than going through things really slow. The other drills have been high-paced, they have energy, they have skill, they have speed. It’s been a great first couple days.”

Related Topics:

Jared Serre covers the Washington Capitals for Washington Hockey Now. He is a graduate of West Virginia University.