Pheonix Copley has been in and out of the Capitals lineup lately with the goaltending health in question. He’s been with the Capitals last week when Braden Holtby was recovering from a lower-bower-body tweak and came back when Philipp Grubauer had a minor tweak of his own. But it looks like Grubuaer has recovered as the Capitals sent Copley back to Hershey on Thursday morning.
FROM THE CAPITALS MEDIA RELEASE
The Washington Capitals have re-assigned goaltender Pheonix Copley to the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL), senior vice president and general manager Brian MacLellan announced today.
Copley, 26, has posted a record of 14-16-6 record with two shutouts, a 2.86 goals-against average and a .898 save percentage in 38 games with Hershey this season.
Copley posted a 26-11-3 record with one shutout, a 2.25 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage in 41 AHL games with the Chicago Wolves and Hershey Bears in 2016-17. The North Pole, Alaska, native ranked seventh in the AHL in goals-against average, tied for seventh in wins and tied for eighth in save percentage. In 142 career AHL games with Hershey and Chicago, Copley posted a 72-47-15 record with nine shutouts, a 2.53 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. The 6’4″, 196-pound goaltender appeared in two career NHL games with the St. Louis Blues. Copley made his NHL debut on Feb. 27, 2016, at Nashville and made 24 saves in his first career NHL start on Jan. 21, 2017 at Winnipeg.
The Capitals acquired Copley from the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 27, 2017, along with defensemen Kevin Shattenkirk for Zach Sanford, Brad Malone and a first-round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. Washington re-signed Copley to a two-year contract on June 28, 2017.
By Michael Mazzacco
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