The Capitals will welcome back part of their goalie tandem tonight against Pittsburgh. The team announced that they have activated Charlie Lindgren off injured reserve and assigned Hunter Shepard to AHL Hershey.
The move effectively reverses the one made last weekend. At that time, Lindgren had just suffered an upper-body injury and the placement meant he’d miss at least a week. Fortunately for Washington, he’ll wind up only missing the minimum amount of time though he’ll serve as the backup and not the starter tonight.
Lindgren has been in a platoon with Logan Thompson this season and had a decent first half. Through his first 21 starts, he has a 2.65 GAA (down slightly from last year) along with a .900 SV%, numbers that are better than the NHL average. The 31-year-old is in the final season of his contract, one that carries a bargain $1.1MM price tag. He’s well-positioned to more than double that on the open market this summer barring a significant collapse in the second half.
As for Shepard, he didn’t see any action with Washington while on recall with Thompson shouldering the workload in Lindgren’s absence. The 29-year-old made his first NHL appearances last season, getting into four games while winning the Most Outstanding Goaltender award in the AHL. However, he didn’t play to that same level in the first half of this season as Shepard has a 2.68 GAA and a .898 SV% in 23 outings with the Bears so far.