The Washington Capitals were without a number of big names at practice on Tuesday. Alex Ovechkin missed out for another maintenance day while both Rasmus Sandin and Tom Wilson also did not skate due to respective upper-body injuries.
Sandin has missed the team’s last two games with what was previously described as an “illness.” Now, his absence is termed an upper-body injury.
Wilson did feature in Sunday afternoon’s victory over the Los Angeles Kings but missed a large portion of the third period after being bloodied by an errant stick/fist combination.
Sandin had played in all 36 games this season until recently coming out of the lineup. The young Swede has recorded 11 points (11a) and is skating on average the second most amount of minutes per game (22:06) on the team behind only John Carlson (25:34).
The Capitals have not been forced to make a recall on the backend to replace Sandin due to their mid-season signing of Ethan Bear. Bear has soaked up some of Sandin’s even strength minutes while also deputizing him on the second power-play unit.
Head coach Spencer Carbery did not explicitly give an update on Sandin. However, Carbery did mention that he believes Wilson will be fine to play against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.
“I think so,” Carbery said. “He took today off, pretty sore. I think he’ll be able to practice tomorrow and that would be our indicator for whether he’s available for Seattle.”
Wilson skated 15:13 of ice time against LA and fired four shots on goal. He was taken out of action for almost nine and half minutes of the third period after Kings forward Alex Laferriere inadvertently gave him a hard shot to the face with both the butt end of his stick and his gloved fist.
The Capitals’ locker room leader’s nose was visibly swollen and bloodied during the team’s postgame celebrations.
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— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 7, 2024
Sonny Milano skated on Tuesday in a non-contact sweater but Carbery said post practice that the 27-year-old is progressing well and could be out of that non-contact jersey as soon as Wednesday. Milano, who has not played since December 10, has been on injured reserve with his own upper-body injury since December 14.
The Capitals’ Sonny Milano Chia Pet giveaway is just two days away. Milano could potentially not play in that game as Carbery mentioned he would be leery of putting him right back in the lineup after just one, full practice.
The final injury update from Tuesday came regarding goaltender Charlie Lindgren. Lindgren has not dressed for the club as starter or backup since getting hurt early in December 29’s ugly loss to the New York Islanders.
“Looks like Charlie, as long as I get clearance that he was good through practice today, should be ready and available,” Carbery said.
The Capitals still have Hunter Shepard up from the AHL’s Hershey Bears. Lindgren is still on injured reserve and the team would need to send Shepard back down to activate him.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
