The Washington Capitals practiced today without Joe Snively and Carl Hagelin. To make matters worse, Ilya Samsonov left the ice early. It was the second time this week after he left warmups in Philadelphia against the Flyers after getting hit by a puck but came back in.
With those guys being out and no extra forwards enter Daniel Sprong and…. Anthony Mantha?
Here were the lines at practice via Tom Gulitti of NHL.com. Peep how Mantha was on the second line:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Mantha-Backstrom-Oshie
McMichael-Eller-Sprong
Sheary-Dowd-Hathaway
Fehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
TvR-Schultz
Kempny-Irwin
Here were the power play units:
PP1: Carlson, Ovechkin, Oshie, Backstrom
PP2: Orlov, Schultz, Sheary, Mantha
Hagelin took a stick to the face and ended up getting eye surgery. He’ll be out an extended period of time. Samsonov was still being evaluated and the Caps will see where he’s at tomorrow. Snively is week to week with an upper body injury.
Mantha had shoulder surgery in November but has made progress practicing with the team. Capitals Coach Peter Laviolette wouldn’t say anything as to whether or not Mantha could play tomorrow night against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Also, Laviolette wouldn't say Mantha (shoulder surgery) is definitely not going to play tomorrow.
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) March 2, 2022
Mantha was still on the ice at the time. But in past, Laviolette has said he's not near ready and that was not the case today.
Laviolette said this on Mantha:
"“We’re going through that right now. He’s looking good. He’s looking better every day, and that’s why we’ve got to go in and talk and see where everything is at. I haven’t talked to him to see how he came out of today and where he’s at.”"
Capitals General Manager Brian MacLellan also spoke to the media. He said Hagelin had surgery on his eye last night and is seeing another doctor this afternoon to determine what’s next:
"“The vision part is the biggest concern. We were really worried last night. I don’t know, it’s sort of positive news that the examination went in the right direction. But it’s still to be determined on what the next steps are and what effect it’ll have on him.”"
The Caps are back in action tomorrow night against the Carolina Hurricanes and it is possible Anthony Mantha will be back in the lineup. They might not have a choice at this point.