Caps Race the Clock in the NHL's Shortest Full Training Camp
Washington opened training camp Thursday with an NHL-heavy group as a shortened CBA-mandated schedule leaves Spencer Carbery just four exhibition games to find line chemistry.
The Capitals hit the ice Thursday at MedStar Capitals Iceplex for what the club described as the shortest non-abridged training camp in NHL history: four exhibition games crammed into 13 days, with veterans capped at two of them under the new collective bargaining agreement.
So Spencer Carbery skipped the usual slow build. Washington opened with 52 players in two groups instead of the three groups and close to 70 bodies that had been routine for decades. Group A looked very much like an opening night roster. Group B looked like Hershey's.
"I think you saw one of the changes out there today; it's basically our NHL group," Carbery said, noting it's something he hasn't done in his time in Washington. He expects other clubs to follow the same format given how little practice time the new calendar allows.
The compressed schedule shows up elsewhere. The Caps have already reassigned all four of their 2026 draft picks, and Hershey opens its own camp days after Washington rather than a week or more later.
Carbery's stated priority is line chemistry, because none of the combinations he rolled out on day one have played together for any real stretch. He can fall back on Pierre-Luc Dubois with Tom Wilson and Aliaksei Protas, or Anthony Beauvillier with Dylan Strome and Alex Ovechkin, but says those players are all in different spots now.
"A lot of times, the chemistry just isn't there with the lines," Carbery said. "So now you're going to have to pivot quickly."
Strome thinks it sorts itself out. "I feel like it's a really tight team, and the chemistry just forms naturally," he said, crediting the couple of weeks of captain's practices before camp and the two-on-ones and three-on-twos that dominated day one.
The squeeze also moves up roster decisions. GM Chris Patrick admitted he never cracked the timing of waivers under the old calendar. "It always felt like no matter when you were doing it, you were crossing your fingers for 24 hours."
Thursday also happened to be Ovechkin's 41st birthday. Washington opens the regular season in Carolina on Oct. 1, with Hershey starting Oct. 3 against Charlotte.
