After taking Monday off, the Caps were back on the ice Tuesday at MedStar Capitals Iceplex where the immediate good news was that captain Alex Ovechkin (lower body injury) took some early morning twirls ahead of his teammates as he seeks to get on the ice for the first time in training camp.
“It’s the first step in getting back into practices,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery.
Camp opened last Thursday and Tuesday marked the fifth day of on-ice activity. Ovechkin has not participated in any of the on-ice practices or drills as of yet, but with opening night still more than two weeks away, there is no great concern over his absence at this point.
“We’ll see,” responds Carbery, when asked if the captain might practice on Wednesday. “I have to talk to [director of sports medicine and head athletic trainer Jason Serbus] and see what the plan is. But back on the ice is a good thing.
“There is still plenty of runway in training camp with a decent amount of time for him to get back, get a bunch of practices under his belt, and potentially get into some preseason games.”
Additionally, stalwart blueliner Martin Fehervary was clad in a regular, full-contact jersey for Tuesday’s session after undergoing knee surgery in April. And forward Justin Sourdif (illness) also shed the baby blue non-contact sweater for a full contact sweater on Tuesday. Carbery pronounced both Fehervary and Sourdif as possibilities to suit up for Washington’s next preseason contest, a Thursday night date with the Philadelphia Flyers at Giant Center in Hershey, Pa.
“I’m glad to see you guys, and to be back on the ice,” says Fehervary. “It feels really good. Obviously, it’s ups and downs with that that knee, but I’m happy to be in a regular jersey and ready to make some progress.”
Fehervary suffered his injury in the Caps’ penultimate regular season game last season, an April 15 game on Long Island. He actually returned to that game, but he underwent surgery days later and was lost to the team throughout the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“It was good in the beginning,” says Fehervary of the surgery and healing process. “And then I got to a point where I couldn’t really move from running or anything like that; it was just painful and I was a little bit stuck there. But we are here right now and I’m glad I can skate and do most of the stuff I did before.”
Midway through his rehab, the Caps and Fehervary agreed to a seven-year, $42 million contract extension. Fehervary is every bit as happy to be in DC for the long haul as the Caps are to have him here for that term.
“I couldn’t be more happy and more excited for it,” he says. “Washington overall – not just the organization, but the city the people here – I just love it here. It’s like a second home and I couldn’t really imagine to spend the rest of my career here. Obviously, hockey is a tough business; you never know what is going to happen. But I just love it here, and I couldn’t be more excited and more happy.”
Finally, Washington also made its first training camp roster cuts on Tuesday, trimming down to two groups by assigning seven players (forwards Grant Cruikshank, Justin Nachbaur, Dalton Smith and Luke Toporowski, defensemen Nick Leivermann and Jon McDonald and goaltender Seth Eisele) to AHL Hershey, and returning forwards Miroslav Satan and Maxim Schafer to their junior teams.
With the subtraction of those nine players, the Caps have 53 players remaining on the camp roster, including injured forward Zac Funk and goaltender Antoine Keller, who is absent because of visa issues.