MedStar Capitals Iceplex

Thursday was the 41st birthday of the grade eight, the greatest player in Washington Capitals history, maybe the greatest athlete in Washington, D.C. area sports history, winger Alex Ovechkin.

And Thursday also was day one of 2026 Washington Capitals training camp, which is taking place at MedStar Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia.

The Caps on Thursday held their media day.

And yes, Thursday also ended up being a day during which a big topic was Ovechkin, who, of course, is Russian, having appeared in a video for the political party of Russia President Vladimir Putin.

As for the team on the ice, sessions free and open to the public.

at MedStar Capitals Iceplex in Boston today, tomorrow, and Saturday.

And then it's the Capitals in a Boston Bruins preseason game number one coming up at 445 from Massachusetts.

You can hear the game exclusively on Sunday on the NHL app.

Caps Media Day is For 2026, Washington Capitals training camp will take place this Thursday.

It will take place at MedStar Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia.

The Caps just held their 2026 rookie camp.

That took place from this past Sunday through Tuesday.

We're at a very cool practice facility though for the Washington Capitals.

This is the MedStar Capitals Iceplex.

And Zach, I'll tell you, I came in here yesterday to do, uh, an interview with, uh, with Vinny Desharnais.

A little bit later on I'll be talking to Spencer Carbery for the, uh, The Lifers podcast.

I mean, you know, not making the playoffs is not something that happens around here very much.

And I think there was a feeling in, you know, I'm at MedStar Capitals Iceplex right now, there was a feeling in this building that, you know, you know, that wasn't good enough and they had to double down and they had to find a way, particularly with, you know, I think the feeling towards the end of the year was Alex Ovechkin was coming back, you know, let's make sure we're putting a good team around the guy who, you know, has been our franchise for more than two decades.

And, um, You know, I said it, but, you know, it was trading potential for a proven performance.

And that's what I see with the Cairo move.

But in this episode, we'll talk about the big picture question and why I think this roster was specifically built around what Alex Ovechkin can still do at 41, and why Alex Tuck could be the piece that changes the entire top six.

A bit later, we'll talk about these informal skates at MedStar Capitals Iceplex, who's back, what the vibe has been like, and the latest on Rasmus Sandin.

But where we will start in today's episode is the Caps have almost no time to figure this out.

So that's what we're talking about in this Friday edition of Locked On Capitals, is that if you are a young player, Looking for a roster spot in 2026-2027, you have little to no time to prove yourself.