What appeared to be another blow to an already depleted Washington Capitals team turned out to be a false positive. Michael Sgarbossa, was placed into the league’s COVID-19 protocols just prior to last night’s game against the Los Angeles Kings but has since been removed from protocol and has rejoined the team.
It was a false positive. https://t.co/vhSqE8UdMl
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) December 20, 2021
Sgarbossa has contributed to a depleted roster, appearing in 7 games thus far in 2021-2022 and adding two goals and an assist.
As the NHL grapples with it’s worst COVID-outbreak since the pandemic rocked the world back in early 2020, the Capitals are trying to mitigate their own outbreak. Star players, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie are all currently in protocol. Recently, they’ve been without the likes of Lars Eller, Trevor van Reimsdyk, Garnet Hathaway and Nic Dowd due to COVID-19 protocols.
Peter Laviolette has certainly made himself a Jack Adams candidate as he’s led a Capitals team to a league-best 43 standings points despite the fact they have yet to play one game this year with their top-six forward group intact. Laviolette had this to say about the team when they had to place Oshie in protocol.
"“Obviously, it’s not what you want,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “You’re [missing] Backstrom and Kuznetsov and Oshie and lots of guys on your power play and top six guys. But it is what it is. We’ve got to move forward here and we’ll see what we have available."
If Laviolette manages to keep the Capitals atop the standings and gets their struggling power play rolling, he is the coach of the year, no questions asked. For now, it continues to be next man up for the Capitals as they await the return of their regular players.
That wasn’t the only transaction the Caps made as they sent both Brett Leason and Beck Malenstyn back to the Hershey Bears.