The Washington Capitals don’t plan on getting Sonny Milano back from his upper-body injury anytime soon. As part of their flurry of roster moves on Wednesday morning, Milano was moved from regular injured reserve to long-term injured reserve.
Milano did not travel on the team’s recent three-game road trip and has not played since November 6 against the Nashville Predators. To qualify for LTIR, a player must be expected to miss at least 10 NHL Games and 24 days of the NHL season. Milano has already missed six games and two full weeks with his injury.
Washington placing Milano on LTIR secures them cap savings. After recalling Ivan Miroshnichenko, the team had under $500k in cap space, leaving them vulnerable if another injury recall becomes necessary in the near future. Per Puckpedia, with Milano now on LTIR, they have over $1.6 million in room.
The 28-year-old Milano has played just three games this season, spending much of the fall as a healthy scratch. He had just drawn back into the lineup for two games before suffering his injury.
“I feel terrible for Sonny,” head coach Spencer Carbery said last week. “It’s not the start to the season that he probably drew up in his mind, and neither did we as a coaching staff, myself. It sucks. Sucks for him to be out of the lineup and now to be battling injury and trying to get back in.
“It’s just been a tough start for him. So you always feel bad when a player hasn’t been able to do the things that they envisioned happening, and frankly [that], as a coach, I envisioned for him happening.”
Milano has not been back on the ice with the Capitals since the game against Nashville. He was initially placed on regular IR on November 9.
