The Washington Capitals are without top-four defensemen Matt Roy and Jakob Chychrun. Roy has been out of action since suffering a lower-body injury in the first game of the season against the New Jersey Devils, and Chychrun sustained an upper-body injury in the team’s last game against the New York Rangers.
While neither will skate in Washington’s game against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, the two defenders got some on-ice work ahead of the club’s morning skate, donning the team’s customary light blue, non-contact jerseys.
After playing Montreal, the Capitals have back-to-back games against the Columbus Blue Jackets and Carolina Hurricanes this weekend. Head coach Spencer Carbery did not know if either player would make his lineup for those games.
“We’ll see,” Carbery said. “Yeah, not sure. Not sure, but we’ll get an update after practice, and then we’ll go from there.”
Roy played just 8:39 of ice time in his Capitals debut against the Devils before heading to the locker room and not returning. Washington signed him to a six-year, $34.5 million deal in free agency this past summer.
Chychrun played just 1:49 of ice time against the Rangers before leaving for the locker room. The 26-year-old rearguard, acquired from Ottawa in July, has combined tremendously with John Carlson on Washington’s top defense pairing and leaves the lineup after recording four points (2g, 2a) in eight games.
Dylan McIlrath has filled in well for Roy over the last seven games, and now Alex Alexeyev will get his first sweater of the year in place of Chychrun against the Canadiens. Martin Fehervary and Rasmus Sandin are also slotted for increased roles.
The Capitals are 6-2-0 through their first eight games, and their points percentage (.750) is the joint-best in the Eastern Conference. Carolina, who they’ll play in Raleigh on Sunday, has an identical record.
