What a difference a year makes. One year ago at this time, Washington Capitals forward Matt Hendricks was fighting through development camp, simply trying to make the team. Now, just a year later, he is addressing the media at Capitals Fan Fest, talking about the new acquisitions of the Caps and of that anxious time at Kettler Capitals Iceplex just 12 months ago. Via 106.7 the Fan DC, full audio of the Hendricks video can be found here, but a few highlights:
Regarding losing his linemates from a year ago, Matt Bradley and Boyd Gordon:
I hate to see some of the guys go, you know, my linemates in particular, I got to be real close with them. But you look at the additions, and, our team's moved forward for sure.
On his new teammates Joel Ward, Troy Brouwer, Roman Hamrlik and Jeff Halpern:
They're gritty players. They work hard, they play the game the right way and I think they'll only gonna benefit our team for sure.
And finally, on what a difference a year makes at development camp:
Not as nervous, that's for certain, not as much anxiety, it's a good feeling knowing that you're gonna have a paycheck and a contract. But, you know, training camp's always a nervous time no matter if you have a job or if you don't because there's gonna be a lot of young players here, a lot of great, talented players, and everyone's fighting for jobs.