The Capitals leaked their final roster intentions on Sunday morning but made it official Sunday afternoon. Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Lucas Johansen, Henrik Borgstrom and Brett Leason have been placed on waivers with the intention of loaning the players to Hershey.
#Caps place the following players on waivers for purpose of loan to Hershey (AHL):
Forwards Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Henrik Borgstrom and Brett Leason and defenseman Lucas Johansen.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) October 9, 2022
The players will report to Hershey if they are not claimed by 2:00 PM on Monday. All NHL teams have to be at or below the 23-player maximum by 5:00 PM on Monday.
Before Sunday’s practice, Laviolette had to break the news to the players in his office at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.
“I don’t take it lightly,” said Laviolette. “For a guy who was sent down every year, I understand exactly what they’re going through. Sometimes you don’t understand, but I do. The conversations are real and emotions are real, and I understand that. Nowadays, for the most part, everybody works really hard to try and attain their goal, so when you’re close, you can feel that. That’s real.”
Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson, Carl Hagelin and Alex Alexeyev will be placed on injured reserve later today. (It is believed that Kody Clark has been injured, but there has been no official announcement by the team).
The moves indicate the Capitals will go with 14 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders. The tentative roster (line assignments approximate).
Alex Ovechkin — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Connor Brown
Anthony Mantha — Dylan Strome — T.J. Oshie
Connor McMichael — Lars Eller — Conor Sheary
Marcus Johansson — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Joe Snively, Aliaksei Protas
Martin Fehervary — John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov — Nick Jensen
Erik Gustafsson — Trevor van Riemsdyk
Matt Irwin
Darcy Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
The Capitals begin their 48th NHL campaign on Wednesday when they host the Boston Bruins at Capital One Arena (7 PM ET, TNT).
By Jon Sorensen