Mike Knuble, Tom Poti, and Alexander Ovechkin make the rounds on the first day of Caps training camp. Photo by photopete.

There was no lack of big names on the ice for the start of Capitals training camp Sunday, but everyone was talking about the one guy who wasn’t skating — veteran center Tomas Fleischmann, who spent all last season with the Capitals after yo-yoing on and off their roster for the previous three. Fleishmann was diagnosed with a blood clot in his leg (a deep vein thrombosis) this summer, and is out of contact workouts until the first week of the regular season.

Boudreau said Fleischmann will continue to skate by himself — which he told Boudreau he actually prefers while conditioning — and hopefully return to practice the first week of October.

“We’re actually pleasantly surprised that he’s going to be able to compete with us the first week of the season,” Boudreau said. “We thought it might be a lot longer.”

Boudreau said that the Czech’s absence did open up opportunities for other individuals to fill the gap — when ex-Hershey Bears players Chris Bourque and Alexandre Giroux’s names were mentioned, the boss said they were good candidates. He also tossed out a reminder that newly-acquired forward Brendan Morrison played left wing last year.

“As much as we miss Fleish, I think we have options,” Boudreau said.