Washington Capitals: Lars Eller is day-to-day with upper-body injury

The Washington Capitals game group held a morning skate at MedStar Capitals Iceplex prior to their contest against the St. Louis Blues.

The Washington Capitals take on the St. Louis Blues tonight at Capital One Arena. You can read our game preview here. Read on to learn more about Lars Eller and how the Capitals will line up for this game.

Eller was originally supposed to play, having been listed to do so but wasn’t on the ice at morning skate. At his spot centering the third line was 2019 first round draft pick Connor McMichael. Beck Malenstyn skated on the fourth line.

The Caps listed Eller as day-to-day with an upper body injury and are taking precautionary measures with him. Capitals head coach Todd Reirden told the media after morning skate that Eller might play in the next preseason game so the injury doesn’t seem too serious after all.

The Capitals are hoping that Eller’s injury isn’t serious. The team is already facing a glaring hole at the center position to begin the regular season with Evgeny Kuzetsov serving a three-game suspension for “inappropriate conduct”. Eller was likely going to move up to the second line while Nicklas Backstrom takes over the first.

Lines:

Forwards
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Leason
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Hagelin-McMichael-Panik
Protas-Malenstyn-Riat
Defense
Fehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Gudas
Geisser-Hobbs
Goalies: Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov

Overall this should be a fun lineup to watch tonight. Capitals 2019 second round pick Brett Leason is skating on a line with the legends Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. We’ll see Kuznetsov make his preseason debut. T.J. Oshie returns to the ice. Jakub Vrana will play as well.

Sadly the Hagelin-Eller-Panik line will have to wait with Eller recovering from that upper body injury. McMichael will center that line next to Carl Hagelin and Richard Panik.

Ice Shavings

• Alex Ovechkin will receive the Wayne Gretzky International Award as part of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Induction Celebration on Thursday (via USA Hockey).
• The Washington Capitals and St. Louis Blues will face each other three times over the next 15 days.
• Richard Panik, one of Washington’s newest players who signed a  four-year deal at the start of free agency, will make his preseason debut tonight. Panik recorded 33 points (14 goals, 19 assists) in 75 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season, ranking sixth on the teami in points (via Game Notes)
• Radko Gudas will make his preseason debut tonight. He recorded 20 points (4 goals, 16 assists) in 77 games with the Philadelphia Flyers last season, his third season recording at least 20 points.

Once again, puck drop tonight is at 7 p.m. and you can catch the game on NBC Sports Washington.