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Capitals Rumors

Washington Capitals Activate Alexander Alexeyev

December 22, 2022 at 6:28 pm CDT | by John Gilroy Leave a Comment

According to NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti, the Washington Capitals have activated defenseman Alexander Alexeyev off of IR today. The defenseman is listed as a healthy scratch for tonight’s game against the Ottawa Senators. The Capitals haven’t formally announced the transaction, however Alexeyev is listed as healthy on the team’s roster page.

Alexeyev landed on IR back on December 11th with an upper-body injury, the recipient of an illegal hit from Jamie Oleksiak of the Seattle Kraken. Oleksiak was suspended three games for the hit.

The defenseman has played sparingly this season, having dealt with a pair of injuries, opening the season on IR. Alexeyev made his season debut on November 9th. He wouldn’t play again for nearly a month, but played four consecutive games prior to suffering this injury. In five NHL games this year, Alexeyev has one point, an assist, which was the first of his NHL career. The 24-year-old played four AHL games this season as well, recording an assist in the process there too.

Injury| NHL| Washington Capitals Alexander Alexeyev

0 comments

Tom Wilson Practices In Regular Jersey; Will Not Travel With Team

December 21, 2022 at 12:00 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 6 Comments

Despite a strong 7-2-1 run in their last ten, the Washington Capitals remain in sixth place in the tough Metro, four points out of a divisional playoff spot. As they chase down the teams ahead of them, though some reinforcements are coming. Tom Wilson donned a regular jersey at practice today and skated on a line with Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin, though the return for the first two is still a little way down the road. Wilson and Backstrom will not travel with the team to Ottawa according to Samantha Pell of the Washington Post, though Nic Dowd, Alex Alexeyev, and Darcy Kuemper will.

Wilson, 28, is one of the most unique players in the league, able to contribute at a high level offensively while still acting like a pseudo-enforcer on the ice. Racking up at least 93 penalty minutes in each of his nine NHL seasons, he had 24 goals and 52 points in 78 games last season. Since the Capitals never put him on long-term injured reserve, they can activate him without worrying about cap implications. Backstrom, whose $9.2MM cap hit has sat on LTIR all year, is a different story; the team will need to clear quite a bit to get him back on the roster.

Jon Cooper| Snapshots| Suspensions| Tampa Bay Lightning| Washington Capitals| Winnipeg Jets Arvid Holm| Connor Hellebuyck| Mikhail Sergachev| Nicklas Backstrom

6 comments

Washington Capitals Activate Darcy Kuemper

December 19, 2022 at 3:13 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 2 Comments

The Washington Capitals activated goalie Darcy Kuemper off injured reserve Monday afternoon, according to a team release. In corresponding transactions, they also returned netminders Zachary Fucale and Hunter Shepard to the AHL’s Hershey Bears.

Washington’s been without Kuemper since December 3, when he sustained an upper-body injury in a loss against the Calgary Flames. The 32-year-old has been inconsistent at times with the Capitals but still has strong numbers overall. Despite an 8-9-2 record, he’s still managed a respectable .916 save percentage, 2.56 goals against average, and two shutouts in 20 appearances.

Backup Charlie Lindgren started every game in Kuemper’s two-week absence and did not disappoint. Not including his relief appearance against Calgary, Lindgren helped get Washington solidly back into playoff contention with a .938 save percentage and a 6-1-0 record in his past seven games.

Some were excited to potentially see the 27-year-old Shepard get his first NHL start, but it wasn’t to be. He returns to Hershey, where he has yet to lose in regulation through eight games.

AHL| NHL| Transactions| Washington Capitals Darcy Kuemper

2 comments

Hershey Bears Recall Tyler Wall From ECHL In Wake Of Shepard, Fucale Recalls; Send Martin Has To ECHL

December 18, 2022 at 3:44 pm CDT | by John Gilroy 3 Comments

  • Many don’t necessarily think about when an NHL team chooses to recall a player from their affiliate, it could set off a chain reaction of needs within their system, and that’s just what happened with the Washington Capitals and their goaltenders. When Darcy Kuemper went down a couple of weeks ago, the team recalled Hunter Shepard, which Hershey was able to cope with by recalling Clay Stevenson from the ECHL. No problem. But, when Washington also recalled Zachary Fucale yesterday in the wake of Shepard’s upper-body injury, Hershey was forced to sign an emergency back-up to a PTO for their game last night. Today, the Bears were able to smooth things out in net prior to their game against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this afternoon, bringing up netminder Tyler Wall from the South Carolina Stingrays, Hershey and Washington’s ECHL affiliate. In a corresponding move, defenseman Martin Has has been sent to South Carolina. While this is a relatively minor move, it does give context for the transactions NHL teams make that sometimes seem to be done just for the sake of doing them.

AHL| Anaheim Ducks| Buffalo Sabres| CHL| Chicago Blackhawks| Dallas Stars| ECHL| Injury| NHL| NHLPA| Schedule| Seattle Kraken| Team Canada| Transactions| Utah Mammoth| Vegas Golden Knights| Washington Capitals Clay Stevenson| Dylan Guenther| Ethan Del Mastro| Ilya Lyubushkin| Jacob Bryson| Logan Stankoven| Mark Stone| Mattias Samuelsson| Owen Power| Rasmus Dahlin| Shane Wright| Team Canada| World Juniors

3 comments

T.J. Oshie Listed As Day-To-Day With Upper-Body Injury

December 18, 2022 at 12:19 pm CDT | by John Gilroy Leave a Comment

  • After Washington Capitals forward T.J. Oshie exited last night’s game, many wondered if the veteran had re-aggravated the injury that has forced him to miss fairly significant time this season and last. Though a clearer picture on his injury isn’t available, The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell reports that Oshie is now listed as day-to-day, perhaps a fortunate break for Washington. Oshie, who turns 36 in a few days, did not participate in the Capitals’ optional skate this morning, which might be expected even in a best-case scenario.

Injury| NHL| New York Islanders| Philadelphia Flyers| Washington Capitals Cal Clutterbuck| Kyle Palmieri| Lukas Sedlak| Semyon Varlamov| T.J. Oshie

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T.J. Oshie Exits Saturday's Game With Upper-Body Injury

December 17, 2022 at 9:08 pm CDT | by John Gilroy 6 Comments

  • Washington Capitals forward T.J. Oshie left tonight’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs with an upper-body injury and did not return, per a team announcement. According to the Capitals, Oshie will be re-evaluated tomorrow. What exactly happened to the veteran is unclear, however he did return to the Capitals bench, but declined to actually sit before later heading down the tunnel gingerly.

Injury| New York Islanders| Philadelphia Flyers| Snapshots| Washington Capitals Cal Clutterbuck| James van Riemsdyk| Kyle Palmieri| T.J. Oshie

6 comments

Nic Dowd, Hunter Shepard Ruled Out For Saturday

December 17, 2022 at 5:28 pm CDT | by John Gilroy Leave a Comment

  • Washington Capitals forward Nic Dowd will miss tonight’s game with a lower-body injury, reports The Athletics Tarik El-Bashir. It’s unclear what exactly is ailing Dowd or how serious the injury might be, however he did leave Thursday’s game a touch early, playing just 9:39 in the game, down from his season average of 13:03. Also of note, goaltender Hunter Shepard has been ruled out of tonight’s game with an upper-body injury, which would explain the team’s earlier recall of netminder Zachary Fucale.

Buffalo Sabres| Carolina Hurricanes| Injury| NHL| Players| Vancouver Canucks| Washington Capitals Brock Boeser| Elias Pettersson| Ilya Lyubushkin| Jacob Bryson| Jeff Skinner| Kyle Okposo| Nic Dowd| Owen Power

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Washington Capitals Recall Zachary Fucale

December 17, 2022 at 4:25 pm CDT | by John Gilroy 1 Comment

5:31 pm: According to Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic, Shephard has been ruled out of tonight’s game with an upper-body injury, necessitating the Fucale recall.

4:25 pm: The Washington Capitals announced late this afternoon that they’ve recalled goaltender Zachary Fucale from the Hershey
Bears, their AHL affiliate. Fucale will join the pairing of Charlie Lindgren and Hunter Shepard in net for Washington. Shepard had been recalled on an emergency basis in the wake of Darcy Kuemper’s injury and subsequent placement on IR back on December 3rd. No corresponding moves were announced.

Despite bringing Shepard up nearly two weeks ago, the Capitals haven’t played the netminder just yet, opting to have Lindgren shoulder the load. Lindgren, who Washington signed to a three-year deal this offseason to back up Kuemper, has had a solid start to the season, recording a .910 save-percentage and 2.76 goals-against average in 14 games, but has really stepped things up since Kuemper went down, posting five of his seven wins along with a .936 save-percentage, surrendering just 11 goals over the six games.

Shepard, 27, was off to a dominant start in the AHL with a .932 save-percentage and 1.83 goals-against in his first eight games, but along with Lindgren’s superb performance, Shepard simply has never played in the NHL and has spent the bulk of his professional career in the ECHL.

It’s unclear what Washington’s plan is with Fucale now that he’s been called up as well. Unlike Shepard, Fucale has struggled this season with Hershey, however he does have longer track record of professional hockey, dating back to 2015-16. At one point considered one of the more exciting goaltending prospects in the NHL, the former Montreal Canadiens draft pick has only recently made his NHL debut, getting into four games for the Capitals last season.

AHL| Injury| Washington Capitals Charlie Lindgren| Darcy Kuemper| Zach Fucale

1 comment

Nicklas Backstrom Cleared For Contact

December 17, 2022 at 3:57 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom took another important step back towards returning as NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti reports (Twitter link) that the veteran was in a regular sweater at their morning skate today which means that he has been cleared for contact.  Backstrom has yet to play this season after undergoing hip surgery back in June, one that had his availability to play in 2022-23 in question.  However, the fact he’s participating in full in team skates suggests that the 35-year-old should be able to return in the somewhat near future.  With the holiday break coming next week, it’s likely that Washington will wait to activate him until after that time but it appears that the Caps will have a key player back in the second half of the season.

The Capitals will need to create salary cap space to activate Backstrom once he’s ready but it’s worth noting that Tom Wilson, who has yet to play this year after undergoing knee surgery, is not currently on LTIR.  Once Backstrom is ready to return, Washington will move Wilson to LTIR, freeing up a good chunk of the room needed to bring the center back while other roster tweaks will get them into cap compliance.

Carolina Hurricanes| QMJHL| Washington Capitals Frederik Andersen| Nicklas Backstrom

0 comments

Washington Capitals Won't Rebuild During Alex Ovechkin's Record Chase

December 12, 2022 at 6:56 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 2 Comments

  • Speaking to reporters, including ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski, Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said the team won’t enter a rebuild while Alex Ovechkin is still chasing the NHL’s all-time goals record. Ovechkin has noted a desire to remain competitive while chasing the record, vying for team and individual success. Leonsis also noted that Wayne Gretzky himself will be in attendance for all Capitals games as Ovechkin inches toward his record of 894 career goals.

Calgary Flames| Injury| NHL| Ottawa Senators| Snapshots| Washington Capitals Alex Ovechkin| Elias Lindholm| MacKenzie Weegar| Salary Cap| Wayne Gretzky

2 comments
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