The Washington Capitals announced Tuesday morning that defenseman Alex Alexeyev has been recalled from his conditioning loan with the AHL’s Hershey Bears.
Alexeyev was loaned to Hershey in late October as he continues to recover from offseason shoulder surgery. He played in four games for the Bears and tallied one assist.
The team made sure to specify that he still remains on the long-term injured list.
#Caps recall defenseman Alexander Alexeyev from conditioning loan. He remains on long-term injury list.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) November 8, 2022
Although he does remain on LTIR, the Washington Post’s Samantha Pell reports that he was an active participant in Tuesday’s optional practice. He was not wearing any sort of non-contact jersey.
The Capitals’ 23-man roster is full. That means a few things once the defender is removed from LTIR. Either someone needs to be traded to make room for Alexeyev, Alexeyev needs to be risked on waivers like Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and Brett Leason were, or someone else on the roster needs to be sent to Hershey. The main candidates for the latter option would likely be Connor McMichael (waivers exempt) or Joe Snively (waiver eligible) as neither is currently playing regularly for the Caps in the NHL.
Given the recent losses of young talent with nothing coming back in return (AJF, Leason, Ilya Samsonov), the Caps will likely be careful not to go through that same process with their first-round draft selection from 2018.
The Russian blueliner made his NHL debut last season but spent most of the year with the Bears, appearing in 68 AHL games and recording 19 points (1g, 18a).
The Caps’ next game comes Wednesday at home against their rival Pittsburgh Penguins.
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB
