Entering a season coming off a Stanley Cup victory, on a team with many familiar faces, Pheonix Copley was one of only a small number of new faces to earn an opening-night sweater for the Capitals with the departure of Philipp Grubauer in free agency to Colorado Avalanche. Copley was a player that the Capitals brass clearly coveted, as evidenced by the decision to bring him back to Washington from St. Louis in 2017 in the Kevin Shattenkirk deal, after having previously sent him to the Blues along with Troy Brouwer in exchange for T.