Tomorrow: game on. Today: bus tickets for some, bubbly for others. The WaPo discusses the added punch Petr Sykora will bring to the Caps second line (playing alongside Andy Cassels and Jeff Friesen), believes that Nolan Yonkman will make the team and notes Max Ouellet's awful preseason numbers.

Nothing new in the WTimes on the Caps, but that's likely because Dave Fay was putting together a nice season preview of sorts.

News & Notes:

• The Baltimore Sun discusses the difficulty of selling hockey in the south. The Sun covers hockey?
• The Preds signed face-off specialist Yanic Perrault.
• The Ducks sent Craig Adams back to Carolina for defenseman Bruno St. Jacques.
• Russians: who needs 'em? According to Russian Hockey Digest, two of the NHL's preseason favorites (Calgary and Philly) will start the year without any former Soviets on the roster, and Ottawa, San Jose and Detroit will have only one each. Anaheim will enter the regular season with five CCCPers on the squad, the most of any NHL team.
• Speaking of Russians, Ilya Kovalchuk has taken his issues with the Thrashers to another level. The sniper will be in the U.S. on Wednesday not to play hockey but to see his girlfriend and new daughter. His daughter's name? Carolina. Reports that if the couple had had twins the other child would have been named Tampa are unconfirmed.

Updates:

• The Sabres acquired goalie Michael Leighton from the Hawks for wing Milan Bartovic. Is Buffalo finally getting ready to trade Marty Biron?
• The Blue Jackets have claimed defenseman Andy Delmore off waiver from Detroit.
• Minny claimed Randy Robitaille off waivers from Nashville.
• The Caps "have assigned defensemen Jakub Cutta, Mike Green and Lawrence Nycholat and forward Miroslav Zalesak to their Hershey farm club in the AHL. Washington also claimed goaltender Brent Johnson off waivers from the Vancouver Canucks and placed right wing Chris Clark on injured reserve."

Stay tuned to the Rink for the long-awaited Washington Capitals Team Preview later today and season predictions coming tomorrow!