Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette announced on Thursday that forward Anthony Mantha has been placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.

It’s unclear when or how exactly Mantha suffered the injury but he left halfway through Tuesday’s loss to the Detroit Red Wings and did not return.

Mantha’s move to the IR has freed up the Caps to activate Alex Ovechkin from the NHL’s non-roster list.

Mantha played just 8:18 of ice time in the game against Detroit before departing to the locker room. There was no obvious spot of bother during the matchup which could mean this has been a lingering thing for the big winger.

He did get into a fight with Carolina’s Jordan Martinook during the Caps’ lopsided loss in the 2023 Stadium Series game.

Laviolette has previously stated to The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir that Mantha is “day-to-day”. He also briefly talked about the situation with 106.7 The Fan’s Sports Junkies during his weekly spot.

“Hopefully Anthony is not too long with what he’s dealing with and what’s going on with him,” Laviolette said. “I talked to him last night and we’ll assess things with him this morning.”

Mantha has missed several games after the calendar flipped over to 2023. He was a healthy scratch for four of those games over a six-game period in mid-January. He has also skated on the team’s fourth line on a couple of occasions.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily the points and goals that (Laviolette is) mad about,” Mantha said then. “It’s more the rest of (my) game.

“Just my work ethic,” he continued. “Right now that’s what I need to do if I want to get back in the lineup, and I’ll have to show them.”

Mantha has not scored a goal in fifteen straight games. In 54 total games this season, he has recorded 24 points (9g, 15a).

With the NHL’s trade deadline quickly approaching on March 3 and the Caps possibly positioned as sellers, it would not be a surprise to see Mantha’s name pop up in those sorts of conversations again. He has one more season (2023-24) earning $5.7 million against the salary cap left on his current contract.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman threw Mantha’s name out in trade talks surrounding Vancouver’s Brock Boeser back in December. At the time, Friedman said that the discussion was just his opinion and not based on any concrete sourcing.

Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB