Nicklas Backstrom and Michael Nylander were the last two players to leave the ice Thursday at Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington.
Nylander is expected to be a mentor for his countryman, and the pair of Swedes were getting in some extra skating work.
“He is a great guy,” Backstrom said. “I know him from before, and it is good to have a Swedish guy to talk to for advice or something like if I don’t know the word in English, I can ask him. He is a great player, too. When we skate together after practice, it can only be good for me.”
Backstrom, 19, has been working out with several current and future Washington Capitals at Kettler in an effort to enhance his North American hockey education. His first step was in July at the Caps’ summer development camp, a collection of the organization’s top young talent. Next up is the team’s rookie camp, which begins today at Kettler.
“You hope this helps him assimilate a little bit quicker rather than having his first day with the veterans playing on the smaller ice,” general manager George McPhee said. “He’s had a week in the summer plus the five days [at rookie camp] before camp to adjust to the quickness and the dimensions of the ice.”
Both camps offer the organization a chance to monitor its prospects and teach better training habits. Though Backstrom will be in Washington this season, many of the players practicing today will disperse to their junior teams or to the Caps’ minor league affiliates.
But this time spent with the Caps’ staff can be instrumental in their development.
“You get to skate with a lot of these guys, and the prospect camp is a good measuring stick to see where you are,” said forward Luke Lynes, the team’s fourth-round pick in 2006. “You can see if you are working hard enough or how hard you need to work.
“They’re really critical of the things you need to work on. [Team physiologist] Jack [Blatherwick] really helped me out with a lot of stuff. We spent a good half-hour together, and he really gave me some hand-on stuff on what I need to do and the training I need to do to work on my speed.”
The camp will end with Wednesday’s scrimmage against Philadelphia Flyers rookies in Voorhees, N.J. Backstrom is assured a spot in the team’s main camp, which opens Friday, but to promote competition there will be a few spots up for grabs over the next few days.
There will be 27 players at the camp. Defenseman Keith Seabrook will not be there because of a shoulder injury. Another defenseman, Viktor Dovgan, has signed a contract with CSKA Moscow of the Russian Super League and is skipping the camp. Dovgan has a contract with the Caps and played with South Carolina of the ECHL last season.
Three players — defensemen Karl Alzner and Josh Godfrey and goalie Simeon Varlamov — will not be on the ice today because they are participating in the Super Series, an eight-game event matching a team of Canadian prospects against a group from Russia. Varlamov was expected at Kettler but will join his RSL team once the series is over.
Alzner, Godfrey and Canada have swept the first six games of the series in convincing fashion. Game 7 was last night in Red Deer, Alberta.
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