The Washington Capitals are struggling thanks in large parts to injuries. It was bad enough T.J. Oshie and John Carlson got banged up. It looks like Beck Malenstyn could miss some time too. It’s worse without Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson and it is a huge bummer that Connor Brown also got hurt.
Oshie, Carlson and Malenstyn are all on injured reserve. Brown got placed on long term injured reserve.
Brown will be out six to eight months after he underwent reconstructive surgery to repair a torn ACL in his right knee. He was injured Oct. 17 on a hit from Vancouver Canucks defenseman Noah Juulsen in a game the Caps came back and won 6-4.
He had no points in four games but he had a chance to make an impact on the top line with Wilson’s absence. Sadly we never got to see that impact and only saw him for split second.
Brown has 216 career points in 448 games played. He was acquired from the Ottawa Senators over the summer. Wilson tore his ACL and Brown suffered the same fate which is both tragic and ironic.
Brown was skating on the top line with the likes of Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov with Dylan Strome also getting a look at centering the top line as well.
At the end of the season Brown will become an unrestricted free agent or UFA and carries a cap hit of $3.5 million.
After Tuesday’s game, Strome said this:
"“It’s kind of the next-man-up mentality. Lots of great players getting hurt, and it is never good to see. Those are the players that you battle with every day, day in and day out and guys that are playing well, too. It sucks to see.”"
The Capitals take on the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow night. The team called up a trio of prospects as they continue to “work through some things in the room.”