The Washington Capitals are slowly (at a sloth’s pace) getting back to full health.

On Saturday, Lars Eller, one of the Capitals’ top three centers, returned, shedding his blue non-contact jersey. Eller skated on the second line with Richard Panik and Daniel Carr. The Capitals are now without only one regular center, Evgeny Kuznetsov, who remains on the COVID-19 Unavailability List.

The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell has the full lines and news from practice today. They were a little whacky due to TJ Oshie and Jakub Vrana taking a maintenance day.

Capitals lines at Saturday practice:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Panik-Eller-Carr
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway
Maillet-Sgarbossa-Sprong

Chara-Carlson
Dillon-TvR
Orlov-Jensen

Vanecek
Anderson

*No Sheary, Kuznetsov, Oshie, Vrana, Schultz, Samsonov. Eller back. Pinho, non-contact jersey

— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) February 6, 2021

Capitals power play units:

PP1: Ovechkin, Carlson, Wilson, Eller, Backstrom

PP2: Orlov, Chara, Maillet, Sprong, Panik

— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) February 6, 2021

Capitals are practicing today. T.J. Oshie and Jakub Vrana are not on the ice. They are both taking a maintenance day, per Caps. Officially listed as “day-to-day.”

— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) February 6, 2021

While Eller returned, the Capitals are still without five players: Justin Schultz (upper-body injury), Conor Sheary (lower-body injury), Brian Pinho (unknown), Evgeny Kuznetsov (COVID-19 list), and Ilya Samsonov (COVID-19 list).

Likely conversation:

Laviolette: “Can you play 30 tomorrow?”

Ovechkin: “No problem” pic.twitter.com/U7hfzERUFi

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) February 6, 2021

Eller was originally injured on January 26 against the Buffalo Sabres. Eller was boarded by Leo Komarov headfirst into the boards.

Leo Komarov gets a five minute major penalty for boarding Lars Eller, who has left the game. Sees numbers entire way and doesn't let up or try and avoid hit. @NHLPlayerSafety should probably be reviewing this one.. pic.twitter.com/Ve1AYwPott

— NHL Safety Watch (@NHLSafetyWatch) January 27, 2021

Headline photo: Cara Bahniuk/RMNB