Hershey Bears captain Dylan McIlrath was not in the lineup for the Bears game against the Charlotte Checkers on Tuesday night. McIlrath was officially listed as “unavailable to the team.” In the past that somewhat vague designation has signaled that a player is in transit for a callup to the Capitals, but not always.

Bears head coach Todd Nelson confirmed the callup in his postgame presser following Tuesday night’s 4-3 loss to the Checkers. Nelson said he was notified Tuesday morning.

“The past few days, there’s a lot of stuff going on. Got a message this morning that McIlrath is going up, and that was just out of the blue. It’s like that in the American Hockey League,” said Nelson in his media availability following Tuesday night’s game against the Checkers.

The Capitals wrap-up their 2022-23 season Thursday night at home against the New Jersey Devils. It’s assumed that if McIlrath is indeed called up that he will be in the Capitals lineup for the season finale.

While the Bears could have certainly used McIlrath’s physicality in Tuesday night’s tilt with the Checkers, the Bears are now off until Friday when they next face the Islanders in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Therefore, it’s conceivable that McIlrath, along with the other AHL-playoff eligible players currently with the Capitals, including Aliaksei Protas, Joe Snively, Henrik Borgstrom and Beck Malenstyn, could all be back with the Bears by Friday morning and be ready to go for the Bears on Friday night.

By Jon Sorensen