Every sport takes their break but in the world of NHL hockey it's a different kind of break around Christmas. While it's tragic there won't be any Washington Capitals hockey except in the form of tickets and/or merch under our tree, it's a league wide thing. Not only is there no game action but no roster movment is allowed.
Without further ado welcome to the NHL Roster Freeze. From Dec. 24 through the 26th the NHL is on their Christmas break and there are no scheduled practices or games, allowing players to spend time with their families. On Dec. 19 at 11:59 p.m. local ime to Dec. 28 at 12:01 local time is the NHL Holiday Roster Freeze where there isn't roster movement. Further breakdown coming up.
Per NHL Public Relations, the freeze halts all trades, loans and waiver activity for "all players on an NHL active roster, injured reserve, or with non roster and injured non roster satus... with repect to waivers, rades, and loans subject to exceptons provided for in CBA Article 16.5 (d)."
The Capitals sent Henrik Rybinski back to the Hershey Bears which is totally fine during the freeze since he remains within the organization and gets further playing time if need be. He was loaned to the Hershey Bears follwing the conclusion of Monday night's loss to the Boston Bruins.
The 23 year old has recorded 20 points with six goals and 14 assists in 28 games with Herhsey this season, his third season with the Bears. The six foot one, 187 pound forward has already established career highs in goals, assists and points. He previously scored five goals, 13 assists for 18 points in 51 games played in 2022-23.
Rybinski, who averaged 0.31 points per game in 2023-24, has a points per game rate of 0.71 this season. He ranks second on Hershey in assists, second in plus/minus with a plus nine and third in points. The Capitals signed him to a three year entry level contract on March 1, 2022.
The Capitals will be back in action on Friday morning with a practice in Arlington, VA at MedStar Capitals Iceplex at 10:30 a.m. We should know more on the health and status of Alex Ovechkin by then. From there the Caps head to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs on Saturday night at 7 p.m. on NHL Network and Monumental Sports Network 2.