Ivan Miroshnichenko is set for his first NHL game of the 2025-26 season against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday afternoon.
The Washington Capitals recalled their 2022 first-round pick from the AHL’s Hershey Bears on Friday night, sending Bogdan Trineyev in the other direction. Miroshnichenko has played in 12 games for the Bears this season, recording nine points (4g, 5a).
“Miro will go in with Bogdan going down,” head coach Spencer Carbery said Saturday morning. “Miro has done a really good job down in Hershey thus far this year. We’ve sort of been following him from all the reports that we’ve gotten from the coaches down there.
“He’s been competing extremely hard. Details getting better in his game. He’s gotten off to a real good start, so we’ve sort of been tracking that and looking for an opportunity to get him up and get him into our lineup at some point.”
Miroshnichenko has played in 39 career NHL games, all under Carbery’s watch the past two years, recording 10 points (3g, 7a). He was one of the team’s final cuts out of training camp this fall and suffered an upper-body injury early in his stint with the Bears that kept him out for just over a month.
Miroshnichenko will fill the right-wing spot on the Capitals’ fourth line that Trineyev leaves next to Nic Dowd and Brandon Duhaime. Hendrix Lapierre will remain out of the team’s lineup as a healthy scratch, while rookie forward Ryan Leonard is not yet ready to come off injured reserve.
Capitals projected lineup for 12/20 game against Red Wings
“We’re going to start [Miroshnichenko] there,” Carbery said. “He’s played with Dowder and Dewey before. I don’t know, I’m throwing this out there, but I’m going to guess around 10, maybe 15 games with them. I’ve said this before, for a call-up player, it’s a really good line to play on.
“Even though you may say, ‘Geez, fourth line, that’s it?’ Well, they play more fourth-line minutes than the majority of fourth lines in the league. Dowd and Dewey are very, very helpful players to play with. They communicate a ton. They’re always in the right spots. I think it’s a good starting point for Miro, and we’ll see where it goes.”
Carbery announced no other lineup changes, meaning Trevor van Riemsdyk and Dylan McIlrath will serve as the extra defensemen.
Logan Thompson will start in net for the Capitals, leaving Sunday’s game to backup Charlie Lindgren. Thompson is 2-1 in his career against the Red Wings, with a 2.35 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage.
The Red Wings come into Saturday as the leaders of the NHL’s Atlantic Division with their 19-13-3 record. They lost their last game 4-1 to the Utah Mammoth on Wednesday night.
