U.S. President Donald Trump has yet to officially invite the 2018 Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals to the White House for a traditional visit, but it appears most players would accept the offer when it comes, according to Samantha Pell of The Washington Post.

This comes roughly a week after Trump said he wouldn't invite the eventual NBA champion Golden State Warriors to the White House, and he canceled the Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles' invite after Nick Foles was reportedly the only player confirmed to go.

While some players declined to comment, Alex Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Matt Niskanen, Brooks Orpik, Jay Beagle, and Lars Eller all indicated that they would go.

"The time you actually spend with whoever is in office is about two minutes long," said Orpik, who visited the White House after winning the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009. "There's not much interaction with the president, at least from past experience ...

"Whether teams go or they don't go, for me, personally, and again a lot of people might disagree with this, it's not you endorsing whoever is in there or supporting whoever is in there. The White House is a very historical, special place in this country and I think it's an honor to go to the White House. That's my opinion and I'm not the one making that decision, whether or not we're going to. So we'll see."

Capitals head coach Barry Trotz cautioned that nothing has yet been decided on the subject, but said they will discuss the matter as a team.

"I have my opinion on that which is part of the process of being a championship team and other people have different opinions so I respect both," Trotz told The Post. "I haven't talked to the guys one way or the other. We haven't had any official team meetings, but I respect both sides, really I do. Whatever the group decides, we will do it. I don't know if it will be a full group, a half group, or no group, I have no idea. I think most guys have the tradition part down."

One player who surely won't be going is Devante Smith-Pelly, who made it quite clear before the Capitals even won the cup that he wouldn't accept an invitation from a "racist and sexist" President Trump.

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John Carlson, the top pending free-agent defenseman set to hit the open market on July 1, wants to stay in Washington, but admitted it's easier said than done.

"I love it here," he told reporters at the team's locker clean-out Wednesday, according to NBC Sports' Tarik El-Bashir. "I want to stay here, but there's more to it than that."

Related: How the Caps can keep Carlson and go for 2 in a row

Carlson led all NHL blue-liners with 68 points during the 2017-18 season, and added 20 more in 24 postseason games.

As a 28-year-old right-handed shooting defenseman, Carlson is bound for a nice payday. However, Washington would really have to circumvent the salary cap in order to match the offers Carlson would receive on the open market.

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The Detroit Red Wings have offered one- and two-year contracts to pending unrestricted free-agent defenseman Mike Green, according to The Athletic's Craig Custance.

The two sides are close on salary, too, Custance added.

Green will be 33 years old next season and has defensive flaws. But he's still the second-best blue-liner set to the hit open market, behind only Washington Capitals rearguard John Carlson.

Green recorded 33 points in 66 games during the 2017-18 campaign, a season that ended early for the veteran when he needed surgery on his cervical spine. The injury likely won't affect his availability for the start of next season.

“I anticipate whether he signs with us or someone else, he’ll be on the ice for the first day of training camp,” Red Wings general manager Ken Holland told Custance. “Everything, I’m told, he should be green-lighted for the first day.”

The Red Wings are clearly in rebuilding mode, and re-signing Green may not seem to fit that direction. However, Holland said Green was the team's "best defenseman," and some of Detroit's up-and-coming defensive prospects still aren't ready for prominent NHL roles.

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Wade Belak, Rick Rypien, Steve Montador, and Derek Boogaard are four examples of former NHL enforcers who suffered through depression and eventually took their own lives.

Another former NHL enforcer, Nick Boynton, revealed in an article with The Players' Tribune on Wednesday that he's dealt with some of the same issues as the aforementioned players, whom Boynton describes as "brothers."

While he claims he's feeling more hopeful and optimistic now than he has in a long time, he still won't let his 3-year-old son, who loves hockey, play the sport.

"I cannot, in good conscience, let him play the game of ice hockey until something changes and we start looking out for our players by taking the problems of head hits and concussions - and their potential impact on mental health - more seriously," he said.

"I've seen the damage that results from that stuff firsthand. I've lived it. And to say it's been a struggle for me would be putting it way too lightly."

Boynton chronicled one instance while playing for the Philadelphia Flyers, in which his concussion-caused drug addiction nearly led to his own death.

"At the tail end of my career, I really, genuinely thought that I was going to die one night during the season," he said. "It's hard to talk about, for sure, but ... I had stayed up late doing an obscene amount of coke and things just got out of control. After a while my heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. I couldn't get it to slow down. Nothing I did worked. It was probably the most scared I've ever been in my life."

Boynton said he needed to be at the rink a few hours later for the Flyers' morning skate and debated what to do: Go to the hospital and check in without anyone noticing or head to the arena and tell the trainer what had happened?

Earlier in Boynton's career, he had been traded less than a month after opening up about a painkiller addition to "some people with the team." He feared this could once again be the case if he opened up yet again.

"But I can tell you that, at the time, it (telling the team about cocaine use) was one of the hardest decisions I'd ever had to make," he said. "I agonized over it. Because I knew if I told the trainer, I was going to get in a ton of trouble."

Boynton, however, worked up the courage to tell the Flyers. Paul Holmgren, the team's general manager at the time, was completely supportive, sending him to rehab.

"And to this day, I honestly believe Paul saved my life back then," he said. "If I had been somewhere else, and they had just traded me away … I'd probably be dead."

Boynton played in 605 NHL games and even won a Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks, but says he would trade it all back in a "heartbeat" so he "wouldn't have had to experience all this pain and sorrow and anger and sadness."

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Former Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov has made it clear he'd like to return to the NHL, multiple sources told Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman on Tuesday.

Voynov was arrested for a domestic assault incident in October 2014 and has not played in the NHL since. He pleaded no-contest to a misdemeanor charge of corporal injury to a spouse and served two months in jail. He returned to Russia and has spent the last three years playing in the KHL.

The 28-year-old has an expungement hearing scheduled for July 2 in a California court to remove the no-contest plea from his record. If that request is granted, he will have no criminal record and can then apply for reinstatement into the NHL. It's worth noting that he has had a U.S. Visitors' Visa for at least a year, according to Friedman.

Prior to the domestic assault incident, Voynov was an anchor on the Kings' blue line, helping them win two Stanley Cups. He has continued his strong play overseas, winning a Gagarin Cup with SKA St. Petersburg in 2016-17 and helping the Olympic Athletes from Russia capture gold at the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang.

As a right-handed shooting rearguard, Voynov would surely help any team that's willing to overlook his past and deal with the ensuing controversy attached to such an acquisition.

Even though the Kings terminated Voynov's six-year, $25-million contract, they still hold his rights, so any team that wants to acquire him would have to make a deal with Los Angeles.

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Nicklas Backstrom and the Washington Capitals found the secret formula to winning the Stanley Cup, and apparently, it was in their back pockets the entire time.

"Finally, we started playing hockey like we can party," Backstrom said at the Capitals' Stanley Cup parade Tuesday, according to Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press. "So that's a good thing."

If this past week has been any indication, the Capitals' partying ability has reached elite status, much like their play on the ice throughout the postseason. They've been partying like nobody is watching, even though D.C. has had a front-row seat for the glorious show.

Related: Best moments from the Capitals' Stanley Cup parade

The only question is, why didn't the Caps figure out this winning recipe earlier? They could've been a dynasty by now.

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The prospect of pending unrestricted free agent Paul Stastny re-signing with the Winnipeg Jets is looking bleak.

"We've really had no discussions to date," the forward's agent, Matt Keator, told The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun. "There's plenty of time, so we'll see where it goes."

Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and Keator had a brief hello at the NHL scouting combine in Buffalo more than a week ago, but that's about it, LeBrun wrote.

Stastny tallied 53 points this past season, including 13 in 18 games after he was traded from the St. Louis Blues to the Jets at the trade deadline. He added 15 points in 17 playoff games.

As the second-best center set to hit free agency behind John Tavares, Stastny will be in high demand come July 1, so he could be in line for a nice payday.

That doesn't bode well for Cheveldayoff and the Jets, who have nine restricted free agents this year, including Connor Hellebuyck, Jacob Trouba, and Josh Morrissey. Moreover, Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor will be RFAs next season and are eligible for extensions July 1. So are Blake Wheeler and Tyler Myers, who are UFAs after next season.

It's safe to say Cheveldayoff has a lot on his plate this offseason, meaning re-signing Stastny might not sit too high on his priority list.

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The Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP was Alex Ovechkin's to lose.

After leading all players in postseason goals, the Washington Capitals captain received 13 of a possible 18 first-place votes, the Professional Hockey Writers Association revealed Tuesday.

Ovechkin's linemate and the playoffs' leading point producer, Evgeny Kuznetsov, received the other five first-place votes and 13 second-place votes.

Goaltender Braden Holtby was the consensus third-place choice, receiving 16 votes.

In a somewhat surprising development, Golden Knights netminder Marc-Andre Fleury received two third-place votes, despite posting an .853 save percentage in the Stanley Cup Final.

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Vancouver Canucks prospect Olli Juolevi will undergo a microdiscectomy procedure for a disc in his lower back, the team announced Monday.

The defenseman began experiencing discomfort during offseason training, and surgery was determined to be the best course of action after he consulted with the team's medical staff.

An update on his recovery time will be provided after the surgery.

Though he's still only 20 years old, Juolevi has failed to live up to the hype of a fifth overall pick so far. He's the only player chosen in the top 11 of the 2016 draft that has yet to appear in the NHL.

After a two-year OHL career with the London Knights, Juolevi spent this past season in Finland's top professional league, picking up 19 points in 38 games. If he's healthy by training camp, he should be in line to compete for a spot on Vancouver's blue line next season.

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Ilya Kovalchuk is California dreamin'.

The former Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy winner visited with the Los Angeles Kings on Friday and will meet with the San Jose Sharks on Sunday, according to TSN's Darren Dreger.

Both destinations seem like good fits for Kovalchuk. Each team is competitive and could use added scoring punch off the left wing.

Kovalchuk is 35 years old and five years removed from the NHL. But he scored 31 goals and added 32 assists in 53 games with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL this past season.

J.P. Barry, Kovalchuk's agent, reportedly intends to get a multi-year deal for his client.

Kovalchuk is free to negotiate and agree to terms on a contract anytime, but can't officially sign with a club until July 1.

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