The Washington Capitals have recalled forward Joe Snively from their AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, according to a team announcement.
With three games left in the Capitals’ season and making the playoffs out of the picture, Snively now gets the chance to play in his first NHL game since March 14th, when he played 11 and a half minutes in a 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers.
NBC Sports Washington’s Matt Weyrich relays word from Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette that veteran forward T.J. Oshie is being shut down for the season, so it’s likely that this recall was made now that the possibility of Oshie returning to the lineup has been scuttled.
On the status of Oshie, Laviolette also said that he can’t at the moment give an “accurate answer” on whether Oshie’s injury will require surgery, but noted that it’s something that has bothered the 36-year-old for a while. Oshie is under contract through 2025 at a $5.75MM cap hit, and ranks third on the Capitals with 19 goals this season.
Snively, 27, first truly popped up on scout’s radars during his freshman season at Yale University, where he led the team with 28 points in 32 games and captured ECAC Rookie of the Year honors. Snively ended up having an illustrious collegiate career, finishing with 58 goals and 139 points in 129 games.
He was named an ECAC Second-Team All-Star as a junior and First-Team ECAC All-Star as a senior, and after wrapping up his NCAA career Snively signed with the Capitals, who play their home games about 25 miles away from Herndon, Virginia, where Snively is from.
After a hot nine-game start to his pro career and two more years developing in Hershey, Snively made his NHL debut last season. He played quite a bit above expectation, scoring four goals and seven points in 12 games.
He managed to give the middle of the Capitals’ lineup some life for the brief time he spent on their active roster, highlighted by a game against the Montreal Canadiens where he scored a goal on an impressive individual effort and finished with three points.
In March of last season, after the impressive February run he went on, the Capitals re-signed Snively to a two-year $800k AAV contract, which will expire at the end of next season. While he hasn’t made as much of an NHL impact this season (three points in nine games) he’s remained a quality AHL scorer and a reliable depth player. Over the past two AHL campaigns Snively has scored 63 points in 66 games, and has been a first-line winger for the Bears when healthy.
While there isn’t much left for the Capitals to play for this season, they can deal a blow to the playoff hopes of a division rival, the New York Islanders, by winning tonight. Now on their NHL roster, Snively will have a chance to help in the Capitals’ effort to do so.