After a long summer, a very, very long summer, an uncharacteristically long summer.

Hockey is finally back, and J.J. Regan, we now know the Caps' opening night roster.

There's going to be some roster shenanigans to get compliant, but at least for opening night,

we know who's in there,

and there's some interesting choices by Todd Reardon. Yeah, there's about 47 forwards left and about

18 defensemen and 16 goalies left on the roster. Yeah, they're definitely getting creative with

their cap choices here, but hey, any way to get under, and as long as the NHL doesn't care, then do what you can. Do what you can. It's not illegal unless you get caught. A new voice on the Capitol's Talk podcast is Michael Jenkins. Hello, everyone. Hey. Hey, how you guys doing? Jenks, this is not the Stanley Cup hangover. This is a team that desperately wants what they once had back.

Yeah, and, you know, they're close. I feel like we go through this every year, right? We have those regular pieces that we've had for years and years and years. Now we have new free agents. But is it too early to say, even though we've been saying this for years, that the window's closing a little bit? like now is the time when you talk about Ovi and Baxter, these guys, especially with Baxter

and Hopi being in a contract year. So it's time to get it done now.

You butcher. the window's closing a little bit. Like now is the time when you talk about Ovi and Baxter and Baxter, especially with Baxter and Hopi being in a contract year. So it's time to get it done now. You bite your tongue on that window closing. I'm Rob Carlin. The Capitals Talk podcast starts now. So it's Tom Wilson back trying to create an odd man rush. Wilson fires it scores. A BB off the post. One of the prettiest goals you're going to see. I'd like to save that for the regular season. What's up, Capps fans? It is time for another edition of the Capitals Talk podcast and a bit of a new sound as we welcome in Michael Jenkins, a regular now on the Capitals Talk podcast. I want to build off what you were just saying.

Yeah.

Because I was talking with Ben Rabi from Capitals Radio earlier.

And we were saying like, well, at some, he was saying, at some point, you know, when does Ovi?

I was like, blah, blah, blah, blah, but until he gets, until he gets either where the body can't do it anymore or he decides to walk away,

he has given me nothing to think that he is anywhere close to slowing down.

So when you say the window's closing, they've got the Holtby situation that's going to have to play out.

Yes.

They are getting older technically, but if you're telling me that OV and Baxter are any slower than they were four or five years ago, you're just wrong. Well, it's not necessarily that they're slower and that their production is decreasing. We haven't seen that at all. We've projected that for years, right? Ovi's not going to be the guy he once was. He continues to do that. I'm saying with the core the way it is, if potentially they lose backstrom, if potentially they lose.

Which they're not losing back. Okay. But hoping they could very happen, I know they have Copley, you know, waiting to take over. But I'm saying as the team is currently constructed, if they have losses, the window as we know it with these core guys could possibly put us in a situation where they're not as good. It's not necessarily

the age. It's the group of players that they have. Fair enough. I just think the way Ovechkin played last year, you know, the year beforehand, I could see the argument, well, he's destined to fall because, you know, seven of those goals came in the first two games of the season, tapered off a little bit. Last year, he was pretty consistent the entire year, and he was great in the playoffs.

Yeah. And even though that entire team ran out of gas, he didn't seem to at all. So, you know, father time is undefeated. He's going to slow down at some point, but he came in earlier. He came in leaner. I think this is a guy who understands that he needs to change

what he does and how he trains in the off season to continue to play at a high level.

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