The Washington Capitals made a flurry of roster moves before the start of their game against the New York Islanders on Saturday.

The first development came during warmups when the Capitals called up defenseman Michal Kempny from their taxi squad to the main roster on Saturday. The move came as John Carlson and Conor Sheary did not initially join the team out on the ice.

According to The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell, the Caps were waiting on COVID-19 test results to come back on the two players.

#Caps recall defenseman Michal Kempny from the taxi squad

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 15, 2022

Minutes later, the Capitals announced that Carlson will play but Sheary would not due to COVID protocol.

#Caps forward Conor Sheary is unavailable due to the NHL's COVID-19 protocol. Defenseman John Carlson is cleared and will be in the lineup vs NYI.

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 15, 2022

Kempny was called up by the Caps in late December as they were dealing with a large COVID outbreak. He ended up skating in three games, recording an assist, and taking one minor penalty.

The 31-year-old Czech defenseman has spent the majority of this season in Hershey. He has played 24 games for the Bears, playing at all strengths and recording seven assists.

Pell also reports that Alex Ovechkin did take warmups after he was an injury doubt with an upper-body injury that caused him to miss multiple days of practice.

Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB Cara Bahniuk/RMNB