Capitals winger Anthony Mantha has been out of action since suffering a shoulder injury against the Florida Panthers on November 4. The scoring winger had surgery the day after and was subsequently placed on long-term injured reserve in December.

Caps head coach Peter Laviolette has been a bit cagey when answering questions about Mantha’s status until early Wednesday morning during his radio spot with The Sports Junkies. Laviolette gave the most in-depth answer on Mantha we’ve had since the injury.

“I think maybe there’s a chance (he returns before the playoffs),” Laviolette said. “He’s moving along, progressing inside the room. He’s not out on the ice with us yet. I think we hope to see him this month out on the ice but then from there, I think there’s going to be a little bit of a process when he does step on the ice. I think we just gotta not get too excited about the fact you see him out on the ice. That would be a first step in a tough injury that he had and a long road back. So it’s gonna be a little bit. But I do think that there’s a chance that we’ll see him on the ice at some point here in February. And my guess is, yes, we would see him back before we play our first playoff game.”

That’s important news for multiple reasons on the ice and off of it. On the ice, Mantha was originally on the first power-play unit for the Capitals before his injury, and that special teams unit has had its long noted troubles this season. The team also only has four players with 10 or more goals this season and Alex Ovechkin being one of them is responsible for almost 20-percent of all Caps goals. Mantha, as a top-six winger, would hopefully alleviate some of that.

Off the ice, Mantha’s $5.7 million salary being on long-term injured reserve is the only reason the Capitals are salary cap compliant. It is also important when it comes to how active the team can be at this year’s trade deadline as if he will be ready prior to the playoffs, the team needs to be cognizant of how they use their space and may need to move contracts to other teams to make room. If not, the team can be more flexible.

One prime example of the long-term injured reserve being used to a team’s benefit even if the player in question potentially could have returned before the playoffs began is Nikita Kucherov with the Tampa Bay Lightning last season. Kucherov did not play a single regular-season game for the Lightning in 2020-21 and stayed on LTIR as the team loaded up for another Stanley Cup Run. He would return for their first playoff game, where the salary cap no longer mattered and ended up with 32 points total in 23 postseason games on the way to another Cup victory.

Mantha had two goals and six points in 10 games before hitting the shelf.

Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB