Capitals place Brown on IR, may face surgery originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Capitals placed winger Connor Brown on injured reserve Wednesday with the expectation that their offseason trade acquisition will miss an extended period of time after he suffered a lower-body injury against the Vancouver Canucks on Monday. Surgery is on the table for Brown but doctors are still determining next steps.
“Any time you hear somebody’s out long term it’s not good,” head coach Peter Laviolette said in his press conference at practice Wednesday. “We were really excited to have him here and be part of our organization. Disappointing for us, disappointing for him. It’s unfortunate.”
Brown went down with an apparent leg injury during the second period of Monday’s 6-4 win. The 28-year-old took an awkward spill in front of the Canucks’ bench on a hit by Vancouver defenseman Noah Juulsen. He immediately grabbed his right knee and didn’t put any weight on his leg as he made his way off the ice and to the locker room.
The Capitals traded a 2024 second-round pick for Brown this offseason to help weather the absence of Tom Wilson, who is out until at least mid-December with a torn ACL. Brown was held scoreless over his first four games with the Capitals but skated on their top line across from Alex Ovechkin and logged significant power-play minutes.
Now, Washington will have to turn to younger players such as early-season scratches Connor McMichael and Joe Snively to skate in his place.
“We’ve been doing it for a while now,” Laviolette said of replacing injured players. “So guys are gonna have to step up and fill different positions. There’s been a couple guys sitting out of the lineup really excited to get in there so one of them will get a crack at it.”
With Evgeny Kuznetsov sitting out of practice due to “body maintenance” and in line to miss Thursday’s game against the Ottawa Senators as he serves his one-game suspension for high-sticking Canucks defenseman Kyle Burroughs, McMichael skated as the Capitals’ third-line center in practice Wednesday and Snively was left winger on the fourth line. Both would be making their season debuts should they indeed suit up Thursday.
“It is hard for sure,” McMichael said of staying fresh without playing in games. “Mentally and trying to stay in shape, and our coaching staff has done a great job running drills to keep our conditioning up and on the mental side you just got to keep telling yourself your time’s gonna come and that’s what I’ve been doing. Obviously, situations like this do happen and I’m ready.”
Washington also announced Wednesday that it had placed winger Carl Hagelin, who is out indefinitely after undergoing arthroscopic hip surgery in September, on Long-Term Injured Reserve. He joined center Nicklas Backstrom (hip resurfacing surgery) as the Capitals’ two LTIR players.
