The Columbus Blue Jackets are doing battle with the Washington Capitals this evening at the Nationwide Arena.
Washington has aged rapidly this summer, with veterans in the lineup, but youth down the middle. Goaltenders Charlie Lindgren and Darcy Kuemper joined to form the new duo. Erik Gustaffson and former Blue Jacket Gabriel Carlsson join the defense. Connor Brown was acquired via trade from the Ottawa Senators. Dylan Strome and Henrik Borgstrom were left unqualified from Chicago to move.
Vitek Vancek was moved to New Jersey, while Ilya Samsonov was left unqualified to Toronto. Michael Kempny and Justin Schultz headed to Seattle. Phoenix Copley also moved to Los Angeles.
Projected Lineups
Washington Capitals
Anthony Mantha—Connor McMichael—Connor Brown
Marcus Johansson—Hendrix Lapierre—Brett Leason
Connor Sheary—Nic Dowd—Garnet Hathaway
Henrik Borgstorm—Aleksi Protas—Beck Malenstyn
Dmitry Orlov—Matt Irwin
Erik Gustafsson—Trevor van Reimsdyk
Gabriel Carlsson—Vincent Iorio
Charlie Lindgren
Zach Fucale
Spares— Garret Pilon, Dylan McIlrath
Columbus Blue Jackets
Gustav Nyquist—Jack Roslovic—Patrik Laine
Yegor Chinakov—Kent Johnson—Kirill Marchenko
Mathieu Oliver—Sean Kuraly—Justin Danforth
Trey Fix-Wolansky—Emil Bemstrom—Carson Meyer
Jake Bean—Adam Boqvist
Vladislav Gavrikov—David Jiricek
Jake Christiansen—Nick Blankenburg
Elvis Merzlikins
Pavel Cajan
Second Cuts
Both forwards James Malatesta and Jordan Dumais have returned to Halifax