Washington Capitals Lockout Update
A new weekly (Sunday) feature in which we track the update of the locked-out Caps players.
Joey Crabb: The Caps’ first free agency acquisition returned to his home state to sign with the ECHL’s Alaska Aces. He makes his preseason debut tomorrow against the Las Vegas Wranglers. His regular season debut will come on October 12 against the Colorado Eagles.
Brooks Laich: Just over a week after signing with the Swiss National League A’s Kloten Flyers, Laich has been very impressive in Europe. Laich has points in each of his four games, totaling three goals and five assists. He also is +8. We all want Brooksie back in DC, but at least we know he is playing well.
Michal Neuvirth: This was going to be a big year for Michal Neuvirth. He was either going to step up and become a full-time NHL starter, or drop to become Braden Holtby’s backup. Instead, he finds himself with the Czech Extraliga’s Sparta Praha. Through five games, he has posted a 3.26 goals against average and .910 save percentage.
Alex Ovechkin: The Caps captain signed with his hometown, childhood team Dynamo Moscow. It’s taken a while for him to adjust, but the Russian 27-year-old now has three goals and five assists for eight points in seven games, and his Dynamo now lead the KHL’s Western Conference. ESPN will be streaming KHL games starting this week. Ovi makes his return to the North American screens on Tuesday at 1PM on ESPN 2 and ESPN 3, as his Dynamo take on league newcomers Lev Praha.
Wojtek Wolski: One of the steals of 2012 free agency, $600,000-man Wojtek Wolski has returned to his native Poland to play for HC Sokol in the Polska Liga Hokejoka. He will be ready to play on October 14.
Stanislav Galiev, Braden Holtby, Tomas Kundratek, Dmitry Orlov, and Mattias Sjögren will play for the AHL’s Hershey Bears.
Karl Alzner, Nicklas Bäckström, Jay Beagle, Troy Brouwer, John Carlson, Jason Chimera, John Erskine, Mike Green, Roman Hamrlik, Matt Hendricks, Jack Hillen, Marcus Johansson, Mathieu Perreault, Mike Ribeiro, Jeff Schultz, and Joel Ward have yet to sign.
Tom Poti is injured.
