The Washington Capitals made two roster moves ahead of the Edmonton Oilers game after learning their captain, Alex Ovechkin, was entering COVID-19 protocol.
Forward Brett Leason will jump up from the taxi squad to the main roster to replace Ovechkin while goaltender Pheonix Copley will head to the main roster with Vitek Vanecek’s upper-body injury appearing likely to hold him out of appearing in tonight’s Edmonton Oilers game.
ROSTER UPDATE: #Caps recall forward Brett Leason and goaltender Pheonix Copley from the taxi squad and re-assign Hunter Shepard to the Hershey Bears
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) February 2, 2022
In a corresponding move, the Capitals sent Hunter Shepard to the Hershey Bears.
Earlier in the day, the Capitals recalled Copley to its Taxi Squad.
Now we’ll see who starts between Copley and Ilya Samsonov.
Copley is 12-7-2 in Hershey this season with a .906 save percentage and two shutouts. He has not made a start in the NHL since the 2018-19 season when he was Braden Holtby’s full-time backup. In 29 appearances in the NHL, Copley is 16-8-3 with a .902 save percentage.
Headline photo: Cara Bahniuk/RMNB
