Washington Capitals: Stanley Cup banner raising to be nationally televised
Washington Capitals to have their day in the sun with their Stanley Cup banner-raising ceremony nationally televised.
To all Washington Capitals fans’ delight, it looks like the entire country will have the opportunity to view the Opening Night festivities that will take part at the Capital One Arena. The Capitals Stanley Cup banner-raising ceremony is set to be nationally televised on NBCSN’s new Wednesday Night Hockey programming.
As their verified account announced June 20th on Twitter, the Caps are set to raise their newly minted Stanley Cup Championship banner to the rafters on Oct. 3, 2018, when they will face-off against the Boston Bruins in their home opener.
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The defending champs will be a heavily featured act for national audiences for the 2018-2019 campaign. They’ll be seen for a total of eight times on NBCSN’s Wednesday night offering alone. In total, they will have 18 appearances on the NBC’s entire media platform for this upcoming regular season.
This is well deserved for the team that was finally able to get over the hump and exorcise the demons of their past seasons’ attempts.
Supporters of the hockey club should be greeted with some familiar faces as the team managed to maintain a major portion of their core.
Armed with new contracts, John Carlson, Tom Wilson, Devante Smith-Pelly, Michal Kempny, and Brooks Orpik are each returning after brilliant playoff performances. Capitals General Manager Brian MacLellan has been busy getting those guys signed this summer.
While some may question the length and dollar amount for some of the contracts that were handed out, it’s hard to argue the value each of these players had in Washington’s ability to etch their name on Lord Stanley’s trophy.
Some key Capitals’ Stanley Cup contributors that will be missing this coming home opener include former head coach Barry Trotz, now the New York Islanders head coach, fourth-line center Jay Beagle, who signed a four-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks, and Philipp Grubauer, who was traded to the Colorado Avalanche.
Roster and front offices changes aside, as of July 20th, the odds experts over at OddsShark.com still have the Capitals as the sixth most likely team to raise the cup in this upcoming season in a repeat effort. They are behind the Toronto Maple Leafs (favored), Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins, Nashville Predators, and Vegas Golden Knights, respectively.
Judging by captain Alex Ovechkin‘s propensity to sleeping with the storied silver and nickel alloy idol this summer, it’s safe to assume he will have something to say about that.
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The Capitals have had a summer to remember, partying like no Stanley Cup champions have before. It will be interesting to see if they will suffer from not just a Stanley Cup hangover, but actually hangovers as well. Fans will get to see if that’s the case on Opening Night.