With veteran forward TJ Oshie headed back onto the Capitals’ roster for Thursday night’s game against the Seattle Kraken, defenseman Rasmus Sandin has been placed on injured reserve to free up a roster spot. Sandin has not played in either of the team’s last two games and is currently listed as out day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Sandin was originally said to be out with an illness but his status was updated to injured during this week’s practices. The 23-year-old Swede plays on average the second-most minutes on the Capitals per game (22:06), behind only John Carlson (25:34).
Being on a team’s injured reserve means that player must miss at least seven days of action on the NHL schedule. With Sandin missing out since the Capitals played the Carolina Hurricanes on January 5, that means his return timeline can move up retroactively and he’ll be eligible to play as soon as Saturday against the New York Rangers.
However, Sandin has not been practicing with the team and is likely going to be out longer than just one week.
Oshie has been out since December 17 when he suffered an upper-body injury during warmups before that night’s game. That injury, which required a flight to Minnesota to receive treatment, kept Oshie out of the Capitals’ last 11 games. During a recent practice, head coach Spencer Carbery had Oshie lining up with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Max Pacioretty on the team’s second line.
Oshie has four total points (2g, 2a) in 21 games this season.
The Capitals’ transactions were found on the team’s roster on the NHL’s private media site and first reported by the Washington Post’s Bailey Johnson.
