Washington Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette spoke about narrowing the roster earlier in the day. Those decisions were announced Tuesday afternoon.

Five players have been sent back to their respective teams. The transactions leave the current roster at a total of 49 — 44 skaters and five goaltenders.

#Caps have reduced their training camp roster to 49 players.

Garin Bjorklund, Haakon Hanelt, Martin Has, Bear Hughes and Dru Krebs have been assigned to their respective teams.

Click here for the updated training camp roster: https://t.co/24ZL2k373t

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) September 28, 2021

Garin Bjorklund is a 2020 sixth-round pick and will be returning to the Western Hockey League’s Medicine Hat Tigers. Bjorklund is slated to be the Tigers’ starting goaltender this season and was a part of Team Canada’s National Junior Team Summer Showcase this past July/August with fellow Caps prospects Hendrix Lapierre and Vincent Iorio.

Haakon Hanelt is the Capitals’ fifth-round pick from the most recent draft and will be sent to the Gatineau Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, after spending a season with the Berlin Polar Bears in the top hockey league in Germany. Hanelt will look to make Germany’s World Junior Championship team this year.

Martin Has, who played in the Capitals’ first preseason game, is a 2019 fifth-round pick who will be sent to the Kitchener Rangers in the Ontario Hockey League.

Bear Hughes is a 2020 fifth-round pick, set to rejoin the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League after he spent last season playing for the Fargo Force in the USHL due to the pandemic’s effect on the WHL.

Dru Krebs, brother of highly touted Vegas prospect Peyton Krebs, will join Bjorklund on his way back to the Medicine Hat Tigers of the WHL.

More cuts are to come as camp carries on and the team gets closer to the start of the regular season in mid-October.

Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB