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Notes From Washington Capitals Practice: Andre Burakovsky Demoted

Jon Sorensen

The Washington Capitals returned to practice Thursday morning at Kettler Capitals Iceplex following a day-off for team-building on Wednesday. The Capitals will travel to Detroit this afternoon in advance of their tilt with the Red Wings on Friday night. 

Lineup Notes:
It looks like Andre Burakovsky is being moved down to the bottom six, starting with the game tomorrow night in Detroit. It is not clear who will be replacing Burakovsky on the second line with Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie, but early indications point to Tom Wilson.

Andre Burakovsky’s demotion was not unexpected. He has no goals and two assists in seven games. He Coach Barry Trotz said last week that Burakovsky needs to hit the net more. Burakovsky and Trotz both said that Burakovsky is taking too long to get his shot off. Moving to the right side could help that.

It appears Alex Chiasson will replace Nathan Walker on the 4th line tomorrow night against the Red Wings.

The defensive pairings remained the same as the pairings Trotz went with in the last game against Toronto. (Djoos-Carlson, Orpik-Bowey and Orlov-Chorney)

Injury notes:
Tyler Graovac, who was injured in Tuesday night’s game against the Maple Leafs, did not participate in practice this morning and also did not participate in the team building event yesterday. Head Coach Barry Trotz stated “he would miss some time” following the game on Tuesday. After practice, Trotz stated Graovac is listed as “week-to-week”.

Lars Eller participated in practice this morning. Eller had been dealing with an illness and missed the game against the Maple Leafs on Tuesday.

Goaltending
Trotz says Caps will split the goalies on the back-to-back this weekend. He would not say which tender will start in Detroit tomorrow night. The Capitals host the Florida Panthers Saturday night at Capital One Arena.

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