The Washington Capitals recalled Ivan Miroshnichenko from the Hershey Bears on Monday morning with uncertainty facing their lineup ahead of a back-to-back Monday and Tuesday nights. The Capitals play the Ottawa Senators at home before jetting to Michigan afterward to face the Detroit Red Wings.
TJ Oshie was placed on injured reserve earlier in the day while Anthony Mantha is officially a game-time decision against the Senators due to a lower-body injury — though Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said the winger has a “good chance” of playing.
Miroshnichenko joins the Capitals as the team already has several Hershey Bears regulars in the lineup or on the roster. Forwards Michael Sgarbossa, Pierrick Dubé, and Hendrix Lapierre have all been recalled due to absences from Evgeny Kuznetsov, TJ Oshie, and Nic Dowd. Washington lost players in four straight games, with defensemen Martin Fehervary (lower body, week-to-week) and Nick Jensen (lower body, game-time decision) also injured.
The Capitals’ 2022 first-round pick participated in the Capitals’ morning skate on Monday, joining in on the scratches’ skate afterward.
Ivan Miroshnichenko was on the ice for morning skate today after his recent call-up from Hershey. pic.twitter.com/FQhwOTJFgy
— Katie Adler (@katieEadler) February 26, 2024
Miroshnichenko scored 8 goals and 15 points in the first 26 games of his rookie season, but has cooled off recently, tallying one goal in his last 23 games — an Ovechkinesque strike via a one-timer on the power play.
“I know you’d probably point to the lack of production and say he hasn’t done much in the last whatever in Hershey, but he’s been up here, played games for us,” Carbery said when asked by RMNB’s Katie Adler about the decision making behind the recall. “We thought in this situation with a probably not going into the lineup we wanted to bring up someone that had been up here before this year. So I know there’s options with Ethen Frank and Joe Snively, but (we) decided to go with Miro.”
Reading between the lines, the Capitals passing over Frank also makes sense because the forward has not played since February 9 due to a lower-body injury.
Despite being unlikely to play, the recall has its benefits for the Russian forward. It gives Miroshnichenko, who is passionate about playing in the NHL as soon as possible, a chance to be around the Capitals again during a week off in Hershey. Hershey doesn’t play its next game until March 2 against Utica at home.
Miroshnichenko also idolizes Alex Ovechkin — he plays the same position and has some of the same characteristics in his game — and the team has a larger contingent of Russian speaking players and support staff, who can further help his development.
