Martin Fehervary became the latest Capitals player to suffer what appears to be a significant injury in the team’s 5-2 loss to the Calgary Flames on Saturday.
Fehervary was injured in the second period of the game after a Milan Lucic bodycheck. Fehervary’s arm absorbed the brunt of the hit and he was seen sporting a sling on that arm postgame.
If Fehervary is out longterm, who exactly will the team choose to fill in for him? Let’s take a closer look at some of the options they have currently in their organization.
Matt Irwin / Alex Alexeyev
The most obvious and immediate parts of the answer come in the form of two players already on the Capitals’ 23-man NHL roster. Both Matt Irwin, who has already gotten into 16 games as an injury fill-in, and Alex Alexeyev have skated on the same left side this season that Fehervary normally also occupies.
The challenge will be deciding which one is given the bigger assignment in the top four next to either Nick Jensen or John Carlson. Alexeyev would appear to be the better fit there in terms of a similar playstyle to Fehervary, but Irwin obviously has the edge in terms of age and experience.
Bobby Nardella
Irwin and Alexeyev are already up with the Capitals so their inclusion in the lineup together means there would still be an open spot on the roster should Fehervary need to go on some sort of injured reserve. Currently, in Hershey, typical first defensive call-up Lucas Johansen has not been skating due to a lower-body injury of his own. The same goes for NHL veteran Gabriel Carlsson. Bears head coach Todd Nelson does expect both back soon but they will likely need time to get back up to game speed.
The next best option could be deemed to be Bobby Nardella. Nardella has played in 106 career games with the Bears over four seasons since being signed out of Notre Dame by the Capitals. Nardella is a left-shooting, fleet-of-foot, offensive-leaning blueliner that has been looking for his opportunity to crack the Caps roster for some time now.
He leads the Bears in scoring by a defenseman this season with 11 points (2g, 9a) in 19 games. He is also one of their power-play quarterbacks.
Vincent Iorio
One of the unorthodox options would be to recall 2021 second-round draft selection, Vinny Iorio. Iorio is having a fantastic rookie professional season and already has the frame to play in the NHL, standing at six-foot-four and weighing over 200 pounds.
Iorio, however, is a right-shooting defender so that would not be a like-for-like substitution for Fehervary if he were needed to be called upon. The Caps may also not want to risk stunting his development as he and the Bears are in a groove that sees them one point off from being the top team in the entire AHL.
AHL veteran
Lastly, if the team doesn’t want to upset the seasons of the prospects listed above by having them sit out for a long stretch at the NHL level, they could turn to some of the AHL veterans on the Bears. Namely, Dylan McIlrath or Aaron Ness.
McIlrath is another right-shot defenseman that has 66 games of prior NHL experience under his belt. He is the current captain of the Bears and is already signed to a two-way deal. That is not the case for Ness who would need to be signed to an NHL contract if he were the chosen option. Ness is the more familiar of the two with the organization given he has played 18 games for the Caps in the past.
Head coach Peter Laviolette said postgame that he did not have any sort of update on Fehervary’s status. We will likely get more news as he is re-evaluated before practice on Sunday.
What would you do if you were Laviolette and Brian MacLellan?
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
