Practice: Jan. 31 / Farewell to DJ Stretch

Stretch gets his catch on during an '09 warmup.

The Capitals will be on ice for practice tonight at 5, certainly their weirdest practice time of the season, at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex as they prepare to host the Montreal Canadiens tomorrow night at Verizon Center.  The late practice time is due to the fact that Alex Ovechkin and Mike Green are traveling today and would have had to get up at an ungodly hour to make an early practice this morning.

As of now, all of the Caps are scheduled to take the skate, including the injured ones.  Alex Semin and Michal Neuvirth are still expected to make their return to the active roster tomorrow night, although we do not know if Neuvirth will be awarded the start in goal, especially given Varly's great game against the Habs earlier this season.  No updates on Tom Poti or Eric Fehr are available at this time.

The Capitals made one personnel move this morning, calling up Mathieu Perreault from AHL Hershey.  85 has struggled over the last month or so after his great first six weeks with the big club, and is currently mired in a nine-game point drought, during which period he has an ugly minus 6 rating.  The Caps did not call up Braden Holtby, which indicates that Neuvirth should be available tomorrow night.

Lastly, there is bittersweet news out of the Caps' media fraternity as superstar web producer and beloved Verizon Center in-house DJ Brett Leonhardt has taken a job with the NHL in Toronto. He will, obviously, no longer work for the Caps, and will no longer be their super-secret emergency backup weapon in goal. Farewell, Brett.  We will miss you, and wish you nothing but the best as you continue your career path.

More from practice later.