The Washington Capitals are soon to get one of their top centermen back into their lineup.
Pierre-Luc Dubois was a full participant in Thursday morning’s practice, a day before the team travels to play one of Dubois’ former teams, the Columbus Blue Jackets. Dubois had previously been skating in a light blue, no-contact jersey as he recovered from a lower-body injury.
Head coach Spencer Carbery revealed that Dubois will join the team on their upcoming trip to Columbus and could make his return to game action. Dubois has missed the past four games after suffering the injury against the New York Rangers on October 12.
“[Dubois] is going to travel,” Carbery said Thursday. “He is [a possibility to play tomorrow], yeah.”
At the skate, Dubois split line rush reps down the middle with Justin Sourdif, skating between Aliaksei Protas and Ryan Leonard on the team’s second line. If Dubois does return on Friday, the Capitals will need to make a corresponding roster move to activate him from injured reserve.
Ethen Frank can be freely sent back to the AHL’s Hershey Bears, as he already cleared waivers when he was cut from the Capitals’ training camp roster. However, Frank did keep his spot on the club’s fourth line at practice, with Sonny Milano serving as the lone extra forward.
The Capitals could also place defenseman Rasmus Sandin on injured reserve to free up a roster spot, depending on the severity of his upper-body injury. Sandin, listed as out day-to-day, did not practice on Thursday and won’t travel with the team.
In 10 career games against the Blue Jackets, who drafted him third overall in the 2016 NHL Draft, Dubois has recorded six points (3g, 3a). He had two assists in four games against Columbus in his first year with the Capitals last season.
Dubois has yet to record a point in the three games he has played in this season, averaging 17:22 of ice time.
