On Sunday, Capitals skaters Jakub Vrana and Madison Bowey appeared on the AHL’s transactions page.
Both players, according to the minor league’s official website, have been loaned to the Hershey Bears. The Capitals don’t play again until Tuesday the 19th while Hershey is off until Wednesday.
The Capitals PR has not announced any roster moves.
As of right now, it’s unknown why the Capitals made these transactions. Injured forward TJ Oshie is still on the Capitals roster and not on injured reserve, therefore corresponding roster moves do not need to happen for him to play again. The Capitals have no other injured players. Meanwhile, Vrana and Bowey are both regulars in the everyday lineup.
The moves may be related to the NHL’s annual holiday roster freeze which runs from December 19 through 27. We are not experts at the salary cap, but the Capitals could be making a paper transaction (i.e. the players are loaned to Hershey, but don’t actually play there) to bank money for later in the season.
According to CapFriendly, Vrana and Bowey are both waiver exempt players so they can be sent down to Hershey as many times as necessary.
As long as the players are returned to their NHL team by Monday night, Vrana and Bowey can play for the Capitals through the holidays as if nothing happened.
We’ve reached out to the Capitals PR for comment.
4:36 PM Update: According to a Capitals spokesman, the Caps are making a paper transaction. Vrana and Bowey will not appear in a Hershey game and will be present at the Capitals practice tomorrow.
