Photo: NHL.com
The Washington Capitals announced on Tuesday that they have loaned forwards Shane Gersich, Philippe Maillet, and Michael Sgarbossa; and defensemen Paul LaDue, Cam Schilling, and Lucas Johansen to the AHL’s Hershey Bears. All six were placed on waivers yesterday and cleared waivers on Tuesday.
Goaltender Pheonix Copley, forward Daniel Carr, and goaltender Zach Fucale were also placed on waivers yesterday and cleared waivers today, but remain with the Capitals team.
As a result, 29 of the 41 players that were invited to Capitals’ training camp are still with the team. Teams are allowed to carry a maximum of 29 players; 23 on the roster and 6 players on the taxi squad.
The Capitals began roster reductions yesterday when loaned five players to the Bears and re-assigned Hendrix LaPierre to his QMJHL team.
Additionally, the Capitals have re-assigned Axel Jonsson-Fjallby from Vasterviks (Sweden) to Hershey, and Hendrix Lapierre has been loaned to Chicoutimi of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) January 11, 2021
The Bears currently do not have any goalies on their roster but there is time to change that before training camp opens. It is likely the Capitals will keep as many players possible so that they can continue workouts until AHL training camps open. The AHL season will start no earlier than Friday, February 5.
The Capitals will likely add Connor McMichael to their taxi squad when he is finished with his required quarantine, thus requiring the re-assignment of one of the players currently remaining in Washington. Zach Fucale would likely be re-assigned to South Carolina until Bears camp opens.
The deadline to submit the final 23-man roster and four-to-six player taxi squad was 5 PM ET on Tuesday, with the final roster being announced tomorrow at noon.
Roster announcements for #Caps will be coming tomorrow at noon rather than 3pm as we wrre originally told. Rosters are due at 5pm today
— JJ Regan (@JJReganNBCS) January 12, 2021
The Capitals will open the 2020-21 season at the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday (7 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington).
By Harrison Brown
Was confused McMichael wasn’t on taxi squad today so thanks for sorting me out on that.
It’s all a bit confusing. Bottom line, McMichael will be added to taxi squad when quarantine ends.