ESTERO, Fla. — There was a strange backdrop to the first whiff of hockey for the Washington Capitals this fall, between the palm trees swaying outside Germain Arena and the steaming heat, thick enough to fog their helmet visors on the trek to the locker room. There were zero shots on goal for the first nine minutes of the 2015 Lightning Prospect Tournament, no stoppage whistles for the first 10 and a scoreboard that, after defenseman Connor Hobbs’ second-period strike, read 199-0.
Last September, after a five-day rookie camp at their Arlington facility, the Capitals dispatched their prospects to Voorhees, N.