The Capitals must submit their opening night roster on Monday by 5 p.m. ET.
WASHINGTON — For Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery, the next 48 hours are going to be challenging, as he and the coaching staff have to piece together their final team and trim the roster to 23 skaters by the Monday deadline.
The challenge comes from the fact that he'll have to not only choose who to keep around to open the season, but will have to part ways with a few names that have taken the initiative to stand out and try to make the team.
"We're going to have to get to 23, and there's some waiver stuff that potentially comes into play," Carbery said. "So yeah, difficult decisions. It's hard this time of year... it always sucks."
For Washington, the biggest battle is between forwards.
On Saturday, Andrew Cristall got the call over the likes of Jakub Vrana, Ivan Miroshnichenko and even regular Sonny Milano to play in the final preseason game and get a last look. He was solid again, getting a number of chances, breaking away and using his speed to his advantage while staying tenacious on pucks.
"There's some things for being a smaller guy (where he's) bumped off the puck a little bit, puck battle stuff, but then you see (his) breakaway. Had another good chance in the first period. He does a lot of good things," Carbery said of Cristall. "He's around the puck... he's earned and proven that he deserves to be here right until the bitter end."
Cristall could get nine games up at the NHL level before the team decides whether or not to return him to juniors, but the team has to decide on a) how many forwards they want to keep on the roster or b) if Vrana did enough on his PTO to earn a contract or c) if Miroshnichenko should start the season at the NHL level.
Also, Carbery has to decide whether or not he wants to carry eight defensemen, which will impact that number of extra forwards. Right now, Alex Alexeyev and Dylan McIlrath both remain on the roster, and Carbery has been high on McIlrath's performance through camp.
Washington has the day off on Sunday but will have to make some cuts on Sunday since some going down to the AHL's Hershey Bears — like Hunter Shepard (Washington is set with Charlie Lindgren and Logan Thompson) — require waivers.
The final roster must be submitted by 5 p.m. ET on Monday, and as Carbery pointed out, it will be a fight "right until the bitter end."
