Brian Dumoulin took the ice with his teammates for Thursday's pre-game skate at PPG Paints Arena.
Whether Dumoulin will play in tonight's season opener against the defending Stanley Cup champion -- still hard to say -- Capitals, remains to be seen. But the fact that he is partaking is a fair indiction that he will indeed play.
Following the morning skate, Mike Sullivan updated the veteran defenseman's condition following today's skate, saying that "Dumo is good. He'll be a game-time decision."
During Wednesday's penultimate practice, he started out in a gray non-contact jersey but was upgraded to black. Dumoulin, who suffered an upper body injury in last Friday's preseason finale in Columbus, reported no problems afterward.
Also not taking part in Thursday's skate were Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel, Kris Letang and Justin Schultz.
Sullivan said the message to his team for tonight is not about last season's second-round elimination to the Capitals or Tom Wilson's 20-game suspension. He says tonight is about playing to their identity as much and as soon as possible.
"It's Game 1, Game 1 is always exciting for all teams. Our team is no different," the coach said. "We're excited for the regular season to start. We're excited to start the process of trying to become the team we think we're capable of becoming that can contend for our ultimate goal. It's not different in that regard."