The Washington Capitals will be without assistant coach Scott Allen when they take the ice against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.
The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir reports that Allen is in the NHL’s COVID protocol The Massachusetts native is normally in charge of the team’s forward group and penalty kill.
By Chris Cerullo 5 months ago
The Capitals’ optional practice on Wednesday saw a host of injured players skate before the team is set to take on the Ottawa Senators at home on Thursday.
One player notably absent was Nicklas Backstrom, who has been a regular at practices of late.
Backstrom did not have a setback in his recovery from offseason hip surgery. The team told The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir that the Swedish pivot is in COVID protocol.
By Chris Cerullo 5 months ago
The NHL and NHLPA announced their COVID-19 protocol for the upcoming 2022-23 campaign, Tuesday. This is the first big update we’ve received from the league in regard to COVID-19 since they ended their enhanced protocol regulations last February.
The two parties make sure to mention that this round of regulations takes into consideration the high vaccination rate in the league, the very high positivity rate that was witnessed among players last winter, and the “continuing COVID-19 shift from a pandemic to an endemic state.”
By Chris Cerullo 10 months ago
The Washington Capitals will be without Lars Eller for an unknown period of time after the Danish center landed in COVID-19 protocol on Monday.
The Capitals announced the news on social media.
By Ian Oland 1 year ago
Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin hit the road on Tuesday and called an away game in person for the first time since a pre-pandemic Capitals-Sabres matchup on March 9, 2020.
The NBC Sports Washington commentary duo threw on their headsets and called the Capitals’ 4-1 victory over the Nashville Predators from the top of Bridgestone Arena. The span between calling live road games was 708 days.
It was a big moment for the crew.
By Ian Oland 1 year ago
Monumental Sports and Entertainment announced on Tuesday morning that it will be rolling back two of its biggest pandemic protections at Capital One Arena over the next 15 days.
Capitals fans will no longer be required to verify their vaccination status (beginning February 15) or wear masks (March 1) while attending games.
The move follows Mayor Muriel Bowser’s announcements during a press conference the day prior rolling back the mandates for DC businesses. Bowser did say businesses had the option of continuing the requirements if they wanted to.
Alex Ovechkin tested positive for COVID-19 a week ago and was forced to miss Washington’s game against the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday and the 2022 All-Star Game over the weekend. Now, he’s back from protocol.
According to The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell, the Caps captain passed his tests this week and has been cleared to resume full team activities.
The team takes on the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight at 7 PM.
By Chris Cerullo 1 year ago
Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin was the only player on the team remaining to play all 46 games of the season. That streak will end tonight.
Wednesday afternoon, the Capitals announced that Ovechkin had entered COVID-19 protocol and will miss both the Oilers game tonight and the NHL All-Star Game on Saturday.
By Ian Oland 1 year ago
The NHL and NHLPA have shifted their COVID-19 protocol policies again as we approach the All-Star break. After a rapid surge in cases forced the league to pause, adopt stricter, enhanced protocols, and reimplement taxi squads the league is reverting back to how they started the season policy wise with some exceptions.
The revised protocol will come into effect for each team immediately following that team’s last game before the All-Star break.
By Chris Cerullo 1 year ago
The Washington Capitals announced Friday afternoon that defenseman Michal Kempny has entered COVID protocol. Taking his roster spot and playing in his second career NHL game will be taxi squad recall Joe Snively.
The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell reports that Kempny took part in a “good chunk” of this morning’s optional skate in Dallas before leaving the ice. Head coach Peter Laviolette told the media after the skate that the Caps were “going through some things in the room.”
By Chris Cerullo 1 year ago
