The Washington Capitals were back on the ice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Friday before they’re set to do battle with the Columbus Blue Jackets at home on Saturday. Before the active roster walked out for their skate, injured defender Martin Fehervary took a spin in a light blue, non-contact jersey.

Fehervary has been out of action since he suffered a lower-body injury during the Capitals’ 4-2 win over the New Jersey Devils last week. The Capitals placed the 24-year-old blueliner on injured reserve the next day and Friday is the first time he’s been back on the ice.

Fehervary would be eligible to come off of IR and play against Columbus but given he is not fully practicing yet and still in just a non-contact sweater, that would be very unlikely.

“I would say next week hopefully he’s back on the ice,” head coach Spencer Carbery said Wednesday.

Fehervary was skating on the team’s top defense pairing next to John Carlson before he got injured. That spot is now being occupied by rookie defender Lucas Johansen as the Capitals are still additionally without Trevor van Riemsdyk and Joel Edmundson for the time being.

Young defensemen like Johansen, Alex Alexeyev, and Hardy Haman Aktell have been thrust into larger roles due to those early season injury issues.

“Those guys aren’t being sheltered from the Jack Eichels, William Karlssons, and Mark Stones of the world,” Carbery said. “They’re going right up against them. There’s a lot of value in those experiences playing in those tight games, playing on the road, having to kill a penalty late with a one goal lead. There’s a lot of valuable experience.”

Friday also saw forward Max Pacioretty get another skate in as he works his way back from an Achilles tendon surgery that has kept him on LTIR to start the year. Pacioretty is still in his own non-contact jersey and not practicing with the rest of his teammates yet.

Pacioretty has now skated five-plus times as he ramps up his rehab process. The veteran free-agent acquisition has mentioned in recent weeks that he has a return date in mind planned.

“I do, personally,” Pacioretty said. “Internally, I haven’t shared that with anyone other than my family. I’ve been through this before. It’s circled in pencil around a couple days where I want to be. Ultimately, that’s out of my control. I haven’t talked to the team about that but it’s something that would be pretty special to me.”

The Capitals play Columbus on Saturday and then have another three days off for their injured players to recover before they take on the Buffalo Sabres at home on Wednesday. The team has their annual California road trip coming up at the end of the month.

Update (12:15 pm): Carbery gave a short update on Fehervary’s status after practice on Friday.

“I would say he’s probably going to be a next week return to practice,” Carbery said. “We’ll see where that goes game wise.”

Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB