The Washington Capitals took the ice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex Thursday morning for their first of two full practices before hosting the Florida Panthers Saturday afternoon.
Martin Fehervary, however, did not join his teammates. The Capitals announced that the Slovak defender would not be practicing as he sat out for “maintenance.”
Without an extra defenseman on the roster, Ethen Frank skated with Timothy Liljegren on the team’s second pairing at practice.
Capitals lines at 11/5 practice
Fehervary was absent after receiving 18:02 of ice time in Washington’s 6-5 loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night. The 27-year-old defender is averaging 21:34 of ice time per game this season, second-most on the club.
The Capitals have seen several of their defensemen sit out of recent skates for what the team has called maintenance-related reasons. Fehervary is the latest, after Liljegren didn’t skate Monday and Jakob Chychrun missed practice early last week.
Washington is operating with a bare-minimum blueline, carrying just six defenders, which means they can’t risk injury on the backend without needing to make a recall from the AHL’s Hershey Bears. The Capitals currently have two extra forwards, Frank and Ivan Miroshnichenko, and one extra goalie, Remi Poirier, on their active roster.
The Capitals are still without both Vincent Desharnais and Rasmus Sandin due to injury, although the latter appears to be making progress toward a return. Sandin practiced with the team on Thursday in a light blue no-contact jersey and again left the skate early after completing a few light drills.
Desharnais has yet to return to the ice after undergoing an appendectomy late last month. He is not expected back for at least a couple more weeks.
