Capitals Open Doors To One Another On Thanksgiving

The Capitals are making sure everyone is included on Thanksgiving day.

ARLINGTON, V.A. — Ryan Leonard may be living on his own and away from home for the first time, but the Washington Capitals are making sure he, along with his younger teammates, has somewhere to go for Thanksgiving.

Washington spent Thanksgiving morning at the rink, having a quick, light skate before spending time on the ice with family and friends. After that, the players went home to prepare dinner, as well as open their doors to their teammates.

For Leonard, he made sure to spend the afternoon FaceTiming with family back home before heading to Pierre-Luc Dubois’ home for turkey dinner.

“I’ve been away for a little bit now,” Leonard said, adding, “Everyone here is super welcoming. A lot of the guys offered to host me today, and it was really, really nice to see them reach out like that and give me a chance to go over there and spend time with their family on a day like today.”

The 20-year-old decided to go back to Dubois after how much fun he had staying with him before going to live on his own. He isn’t sure what Dubois is known for when it comes to Thanksgiving meals, but he’s looking forward to the stuffing.

Hendrix Lapierre’s girlfriend is in town, and though they got a lot of invites from teammates, the two were invited to spend the holiday at former Hershey teammate Garrett Roe’s house.

“I had two really fun years with Roesie, and I like him a lot as a person and as a teammate,” Lapierre, who recently moved out of Anthony Beauvillier’s house, said.

As for the rest of the team, plans aren’t necessarily concrete, as Brandon Duhaime, as of the morning, was either planning to stay home or go to a teammate’s house.

Either way, all doors are open on the holiday.