Washington Capitals Pregame Notes: Lars Eller out to COVID protocol

The Washington Capitals begin their west coast road trip tonight in Anaheim against the Ducks. They are already banged up and now Lars Eller won’t be in the lineup. Thankfully it’s not due to injury it’s due to COVID-19 protocol, per the Caps. Eller was not present at the Caps morning skate.

In other news, T.J. Oshie was on the ice ahead of the Capitals morning skate in a dark blue jersey. He hasn’t played since Oct. 27 against Detroit as he’s been on injured reserve with a lower body injury.

Nic Dowd, who was just signed to a three year contract extension, was also on the ice in a dark blue jersey as he’s recovering from a lower body injury. If healthy, he’s eligible to come off IR for the game tonight.

Here were the lines per Samantha Pell of The Washington Post:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Shary-McMichael-Sprong
AJF-Pilon-Hathaway
Hagelin-Protas-Leason

Fehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
TvR-Schultz

The Caps power play units looked like this:

First unit: Ovechkin, Carlson, Kuznetsov, Wilson, Sheary

Second unit: Orlov, Schultz, Sprong, McMichael, Pilon

In other news fans aren’t required to wear masks to Caps home games anymore effective Nov. 22 whether or not they’re vaccinated.

Caps head coach Peter Laviolette said that T.J. Oshie and Nic Dowd both skated yesterday for about 30-40 minutes in addition to participating in morning skate. These are positive signs. They also skated on the ice after the morning skate was over.

Laviolette said this about their progress:

"“They are on the trip — that is a positive sign — and they looked really good out there today.”"

The Caps were fully vaccinated before the start of the season. Eller being on COVID protocol is alarming but if it’s just him maybe that’s a good thing as it means the rest of the team is safe.

Replacing Eller will likely be Garrett Pilon.