Matt Roy did not join the rest of his Washington Capitals teammates on the ice for practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Monday morning. The 29-year-old rearguard left Saturday night’s loss to the New Jersey Devils early in the second period with a lower-body injury and did not return.
Per RMNB’s Katie Adler, the Capitals announced Monday that Roy is officially “day-to-day” with his injury. However, head coach Spencer Carbery was less confident about Roy’s availability moving forward.
“Definitely not ideal, to lose him in the first game for the game itself and the foreseeable future,” Carbery said. “That’s why we have eight D here and, hopefully, opportunity for some guys to step up. Not only coming into the lineup but TVR will play a few more minutes. Unfortunately, it’s probably going to put more stress on John but we’ll have to manage it. I don’t think [he’ll be out] crazy long but he’s going to miss a decent amount of time.”
Roy played just 8:39 of ice time against the Devils before departing to the home team’s locker room. There was no obvious play in which he was injured, but he did awkwardly stumble during his first shift of the second period and then took just one more shift after that. He recorded two shots on goal, one hit, and was a minus-2 in his Capitals debut.
The right-handed shooting defender signed a six-year, $34.5 million deal with Washington this summer in free agency. He has been paired with Martin Fehervary on the club’s second pairing throughout the preseason and was playing with the young Slovakian against New Jersey.
Roy played in 81 games for the Los Angeles Kings last season and recorded 25 points (5g, 20a). Over the past two seasons, he has missed just one game due to injury.
Monday’s skate is the team’s only practice before they host the Vegas Golden Knights at Capital One Arena on Tuesday night. If needed, Dylan McIlrath would be the most likely replacement for Roy in Washington’s lineup against Vegas as a fellow right-handed shot. Alex Alexeyev is the team’s other reserve blueliner.
