When the Washington Capitals jumped on the ice for practice on Monday after their day off post victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets, they were without two lineup regulars.
Veteran defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk and top-six center Evgeny Kuznetsov were not present with the rest of their teammates. TvR is still nursing the lower-body injury that took him out of action against Columbus, while Kuznetsov is out with an illness.
TvR played just 1:34 against Columbus before exiting due to injury and is now listed as day-to-day by the team. The 32-year-old, right-shot defender did not return to the game and the Capitals played the rest of it with just five defensemen.
#ALLCAPS This is what happened to Trevor Van Riemsdyk pic.twitter.com/LQhFq6sR2U
— Capitals Replays (@capsreplays) November 5, 2023
Monumental Sports Network showed a replay where it appears van Riemsdyk got hurt on Saturday. As TvR skated wide behind the net trying to defend Blues Jackets’ forward Justin Danforth, his legs awkwardly collided with the end boards causing his left skate to catch a rut in the ice. The blow left van Riemsdyk holding up his left leg at the knee and grimacing in pain.
Head coach Spencer Carbery revealed during his appearance on DC101’s Elliot In The Morning on Monday that van Riemsdyk is still being evaluated to determine the severity of his injury. The Capitals are currently carrying two extra defenseman and have Joel Edmundson expected to come off long-term injured reserve in the not-so-distant future.
Both John Carlson (28:30) and Rasmus Sandin (24:19) saw their ice time totals shoot up after TvR went back into the locker room. Alex Alexeyev also saw his role boosted, skating a season-high 16 minutes.
Kuznetsov played the most of any Capitals forward (21:34) in the 2-1 win over Columbus. The Capitals will play next on Wednesday as the Florida Panthers come to town. If Kuznetsov is not feeling better by then, the team may have to recall a forward to play a full four lines.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
