Alzner, Bourque and Laing assigned to Hershey; Opening night rosters set.

Just a quick update today; Karl Alzner, Chris Bourque and Quintin Laing were all sent to Hershey today, cutting the Capitals roster to 23 players. You can read more about it in Tarik's blog, but I will post a few excerpts of Bruce Boudreau's comments on the situation.

"They were the toughest cuts I've ever had to make. Because they did everything they could. It's just not in the cards right now, for whatever reason. We know they are going to play games for us."

"One of things we thought was Mike Green started down there [Hershey] and Jeff Schultz started down there and we didn't rush either one of them. We felt the same with Karl. He can develop playing 25, 27 minutes a night [for the Bears] and we know he'll be better for it. We believe he's going to have a great NHL future. But right now, at the start of the NHL season, it wasn't in the cards."

"I don't think anyone was shocked. They were all very professional. Chris said he did everything he could to make this team. He will play for the Washington Capitals. Karl Alzner did everything he could."

"Quintin, he was so proud to be a Washington Capital, he probably took it the hardest."

Here is how the roster will look for Opening Night in Atlanta.

Forwards
#  Player             Height  Weight  DOB           Age  Birthplace
19  Nicklas Backstrom 6' 0"   183     Nov 23, 1987  20   Gavle, SWE
10  Matt Bradley      6' 3"   201     Jun 13, 1978  30   Stittsville, ON, CAN
87  Donald Brashear   6' 3"   234     Jan 7, 1972   36   Bedford, IN, USA
17  Chris Clark(C)    6' 0"   196     Mar 8, 1976   32   South Windsor, CT, USA
91  Sergei Fedorov(A) 6' 2"   207     Dec 13, 1969  38   Pskov, RUS
14  Eric Fehr         6' 4"   212     Sep 7, 1985   23   Winkler, MB, CAN
14  Tomas Fleischmann 6' 1"   190     May 16, 1984  24   Koprivnice, CZE
15  Boyd Gordon       6' 0"   201     Oct 19, 1983  24   Unity, SK, CAN
25  Viktor Kozlov     6' 4"   232     Feb 14, 1975  33   Togliatti, RUS
21  Brooks Laich      6' 2"   210     Jun 23, 1983  25   Wawota, SK, CAN
92  Michael Nylander  6' 1"   195     Oct 3, 1972   36   Stockholm, SWE
8   Alex Ovechkin(A)  6' 2"   220     Sep 17, 1985  23   Moscow, RUS
28  Alexander Semin   6' 2"   205     Mar 3, 1984   24   Krasnojarsk, RUS
39  David Steckel     6' 5"   222     Mar 15, 1982  26   Milwaukee, WI, USA

Defensemen
#  Player             Height  Weight  DOB           Age  Birthplace
4   John Erskine      6' 4"   216     Jun 26, 1980  28   Kingston, ON, CAN
52  Mike Green        6' 2"   208     Oct 12, 1985  22   Calgary, AB, CAN
23  Milan Jurcina     6' 4"   233     Jun 7, 1983   25   Liptovsky, SVK
26  Shaone Morrisonn  6' 4"   210     Dec 23, 1982  25   Vancouver, BC, CAN
2   Brian Pothier     6' 0"   200     Apr 15, 1977  31   New Bedford, MA, USA
3   Tom Poti          6' 3"   210     Mar 22, 1977  31   Worcester, MA, USA
55  Jeff Schultz      6' 6"   221     Feb 25, 1986  22   Calgary, AB, CAN

Goalies
#  Player             Height  Weight  DOB           Age  Birthplace
1   Brent Johnson     6' 3"   199     Mar 12, 1977  31   Farmington, MI, USA
60  Jose Theodore     5' 11"  182     Sep 13, 1976  32   Laval, QC, CAN