Craig Smith To Make Capitals Debut, Marcus Johansson Out Due To Non-Covid Illness, Darcy Kuemper To Start Against Rangers


The Washington Capitals announced Saturday morning that forward Marcus Johansson will not play against the Rangers due to a non-Covid illness. 

Capitals bench boss Peter Laviolette met with the media when he arrived at the arena this morning. He said Craig Smith, acquired from Boston in the Garnet Hathaway and Dmitry Orlov trade, will make his debut today. Darcy Kuemper will start in goal.

About Jon Sorensen

Jon has been a Caps fan since day one, attending his first game at the Capital Centre in 1974. His interest in the Caps has grown over the decades and included time as a season ticket holder. He has been a journalist covering the team for 10+ years, primarily focusing on analysis, analytics and prospect development.
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12 Responses to Craig Smith To Make Capitals Debut, Marcus Johansson Out Due To Non-Covid Illness, Darcy Kuemper To Start Against Rangers

  1. Anonymous says:

    Makes sense. MoJo hasn’t missed any games this season.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Did realize smith had so many 20-goal seasons.

  3. dwgie26 says:

    Hmm… Illness or trade candidate? Will be an interesting week. Spent last night with a Caps TV personality and a beat writer. We’re going to see some more movement. Can’t comment further on it but there is more coming. GMBM has a plan. Lots of options and activity. Goal is to get younger and assemble team that can compete for the next two OV years. They want to win another cup.

    • KimRB says:

      Which basically means BMac will trade UFAs for draft capital, then flip that for younger, but established, players like Chychrun.

      I’d prefer a rebuild myself, but don’t think we’re gona get it.

    • redLitYogi says:

      ah, great post, music to my ears and I believe it. If GMBM is actually able to take the assets he has in place now and assemble a legit contender out of it, even he Nobel Prize committee should take notice. It will be fascinating to watch. If this plays out correctly, he’ll first accumulate more draft capital now — this March trade deadline is ALWAYS more kind to sellers than to buyers — so now is the time to accumulate the capital. Then, flip it before the draft when the market is friendliest to people looking to flip choices. This will make the team a bit worse in the meantime which is all to the good in terms of improving the value of our own 1st and 2nd rounders this year.

    • Anonymous says:

      Why not both? It’s flu season

      I could see him or Sheary getting traded this week, regardless of the team’s record.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Give ‘em hell Smitty!

  5. novafyre says:

    Stingrays used to be an offensive powerhouse with 3 of their rookies in the top 20 ECHL scorers. Now Turnbull is in Europe, O’Neil is in Colorado, and Bear Hughes has fallen out of the top 20. He’s still number 7 on the ECHL rookie scorers list. Bear has 18 goals and 26 assists for 44 points. 2 goals are PP with 1 overtime goal but no shootout goals. And 20 PIM. Plus/minus is +11. But since he represented the Rays at the AllStars, he can’t score.

  6. novafyre says:

    Martin Has has played 41 games for the Rays and has 3 goals and 6 assists for 9 points. None were PP, OT, or SO. He has 12 PIM. His plus/minus is 3. Martin has been a healthy scratch a few times. He just doesn’t seem comfortable.

  7. novafyre says:

    Benton Maass has 4 goals and 4 assists (8 pts) in 44 Stingrays games. Plus/minus is 14 and he has the most PIM of any loaner — 40. No PP, OT, or SO goals. Maass has been a steady performer with his coach and Rays radio announcer impressed with his development this year. He is an important cog in the Rays defense.

  8. novafyre says:

    Despite missing games with injuries and one call up to Hershey, Clay Stevenson is the #5 goalie in the ECHL and second highest rookie goalie. In 26 games he has a 0.919 Save% and a 2.44 goals against average. With Clay’s injury Tyler Wall started out as the number 1 but Clay is now getting more games even though the Rays are really playing more of a tandem scheme than a true #1 and #2. Clay is credited with 3 assists. He has 3 OT losses and 1 out of 2 shootouts. Clay is a good goalie to have in the pipeline.

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