Capitals’ injury nightmare won’t end: $35 million on IR as 3 more join list

Just when it seemed the Capitals’ injury situation couldn’t get any worse, it did.

On Wednesday, forwards T.J. Oshie and Beck Malenstyn and defenseman John Carlson were placed on injured reserve. 

Oshie remains out indefinitely after suffering a lower-body injury in Nashville on Saturday; Carlson is day-to-day having also sustained a lower-body injury against the Predators; and Malenstyn left Tuesday’s 3-2 shootout loss to Vegas with an upper-body injury resulting from a blocked shot.

“There’s never an exact number on these things,” coach Peter Laviolette explained during his weekly spot on 106.7 The Fan, referring to injury timelines. “If somebody is going to miss three days or four days or five days, we’ll just call it ‘day-to-day.’ If someone is going to be out for two weeks, we’ll call it ‘week-to-week.’

“If someone goes out indefinitely,” Laviolette added, “that means we’re not even sure where this lays just yet.”

The latest round of injuries forced GM Brian MacLellan to call up reinforcements from AHL Hershey prior to the Caps departing for Detroit, where they’ll face Dylan Larkin and the Red Wings on Thursday. 

Promoted were forwards Sonny Milano and Garrett Pilon and defenseman Lucas Johansen.

The headliner among that trio, of course, is Milano.

The flashy 26-year-old winger recorded a career-best 34 points (14 goals and 20 assists) last season in Anaheim but did not receive a qualifying offer because the Ducks’ decision-makers were worried that he might be awarded a higher salary in arbitration than they’d be comfortable paying. Milano eventually signed a professional tryout (PTO) contract with the Flames and attended their training camp. After going pointless in four exhibition games, though, he was released.  

On Oct. 15, Washington inked the former first-round pick to a one-year, one-way contract worth a league-minimum $750,000 to replenish the organizational depth it lost when Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and Brett Leason were claimed off waivers at the final roster cutdown. That organizational depth is now being tested — big time. And Milano, who has two goals and an assist in five games for the Bears, figures to get another crack at the NHL in D.C.

“I’ve got to prove that I can play some defense, that I can play hard, help the team win games and that I’m not just someone that can score goals in easy games,” Milano told The Athletic in Hershey, Pa., after the Bears’ loss to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday night. “I felt like I proved myself to be a bonafide NHLer, everydayer. But the summer took a weird turn, and now I’m back (in the AHL).”

(For more on Milano and his “tough” offseason, you can read my feature on him here.)

The Caps did not practice Wednesday as they made their way to the Motor City, so it’s not entirely clear how — or even if — Milano will be deployed against the Wings. The roster currently shows 14 available forwards.

If Milano gets a sweater, though, the hope would be that he’d provide a spark for a depleted Washington team that isn’t scoring as much as it did a year ago. In fact, the Caps are averaging 2.91 goals per game through 11 contests, down from 3.36 during the same period in 2021-22. (They have also collected two fewer standings points.)

On an Anaheim team that finished 23rd last season, Milano was a solid complementary playmaker, particularly when skating with higher-end talent, ranking top-five on the Ducks in offensive-zone passes, possession time and slot passes, as well as zone entries, per Sportlogiq’s analytics. He was less effective at generating his own looks, however.

-Minimum of 500 minutes

Pilon’s role is also unclear. But here’s what we do know: The 24-year-old has a goal and four assists in seven games for Hershey while lining up as first-line right wing and on the Bears’ top power-play unit. MacLellan liked Pilon’s camp in Washington but there simply was no room for him on the 23-man opening night roster.  

Johansen, meantime, was one of the final cuts in training camp. With the 24-year-old 2016 first rounder on board, the Caps’ roster shows seven available defensemen.

As for the slew of injuries that have besieged Washington, a few veterans acknowledged after the Vegas game that they don’t recall anything like it.

To recap: Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson, Carl Hagelin, Connor Brown were already out and are now joined by Oshie, Carlson and Malenstyn. (Carlson, Oshie, Wilson and Malenstyn are on normal IR, per CapFriendly, while Backstrom, Brown and Hagelin are on LTIR.)

In all, that’s $35 million in salaries on the shelf.

The Caps have already lost 44 man-games, one of the highest totals in the NHL — and the season is just three weeks old.

“It’s tough,” Laviolette conceded.

Said Dylan Strome: “It’s a lot obviously. I try not to think about it too much, and try to go out there and stay healthy as best you can, knock on wood. It sucks to see.”

“It’s definitely hurting us a little bit,” Marcus Johansson added. “We’re missing some good, key pieces to this team.”

(Photo of John Carlson: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)