After the Washington Capitals announced on Friday that left-wing Anthony Mantha was placed on injured reserve, the team later announced that the 27-year-old underwent shoulder surgery and will be out indefinitely.
#Caps forward Anthony Mantha underwent a successful surgery on his shoulder following yesterday’s game against the Florida Panthers and will be out indefinitely.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) November 5, 2021
He played just 7:03 in the Capitals’ 5-4 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday before leaving the game in the second period and did not return.
The Capitals recalled center Aliaksei Protas from the AHL’s Hershey Bears as a corresponding move.
Mantha earned an assist on Thursday and has two goals and six points in 10 games this season.
The Capitals are already without center Nicklas Backstrom (hip injury, week-to-week) and right-wing T.J. Oshie (lower-body injury, week-to-week). Backstrom is now eligible to be activated off of long-term injured reserve but that likely will not happen soon as he has yet to skate with the Capitals.
Mantha was scheduled to visit the Detroit Red Wings, who traded him to the Capitals on April 12, for the first time as a visitor on Thursday. The Capitals take on the Red Wings in Detroit again on Thursday, December 31.
The Capitals, who are tied for second in the Metropolitan Division with the New York Rangers at 14 points, will host the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday (7 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington).
By Harrison Brown
That clearly was a serious and obvious injury to have already had surgery completed by noon the next day. Hoping he has a smooth and quick recovery.
Yep, must have broke something, or at best severe dislocation.
Didn’t Vrana also have shoulder issue? Now if we can only get Carlson hurt and out of lineup.
That’s true. Eerie how similar fates have struck those two.
I agree. Carlson is the worst player on the team.
I am certainly no hockey talent evaluater, but I don’t think any coach would play his worst player or even bottom 1/2 of defensemen the most minutes of not just defenders but all players.
wow, sorry to hear about Mantha’s surgery. I wanted to see him do well this season, with a full training camp and all under his belt. I was hoping to see him use his big size to screen goalies and bang around the net.
You must be disappointed then cause he played soft on offense and softer on defense
I AM disappointed…because he’s not going to replace Vrana’s production (yeah, I know both of them are out but…) and where are the 20+ goals going to come from? And with his size, we ended up with a gentle giant rather than a bruising physical presence. If he can’t do something around the net, maybe Protas can bang around and screen goalies. Wish we had Dino Cicarelli as a special advisor on how to play around the net.
Wish we had a GM who would not burden us with bad contracts.