The Washington Capitals announced that center Nic Dowd will not travel with the team for their road trip over the weekend, which starts against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Thursday (7 PM ET, ESPN), due to an upper-body injury suffered in Washington’s 6-2 win over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday. Left-wing Pierrick Dube was recalled from the AHL’s Hershey Bears on Wednesday and is expected to make his NHL debut in Tampa.
With Dowd out, Carbery says Protas will move to center—a position the big forward has played a bit in the past. Carbery also says he wants to see how Protas handles playing in the middle. #ALLCAPS
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) February 21, 2024
Dowd sustained the injury in the first period of Tuesday’s victory and did not return. The 33-year-old has eight goals, 16 points, a 48.9% faceoff-winning percentage, and 42% five-on-five expected goals-for percentage in 45 games this season.
Dowd has reportedly generated interest leading up to the NHL Trade Deadline, which is at 3 PM ET two weeks from Friday.
Dubé (press release), 23, has recorded 34 points (24g, 10a) in 50 games with Hershey this season. Dubé’s 24 goals lead the Bears and rank tied for the second most in the AHL. In addition, the Lyon, France native ranks tied for first on Hershey in game-winning goals (6) and fifth in points.
Dubé, who signed a two-year, two-way entry level contract with the Capitals on July 2, 2023, recorded 32 points (16g, 16a) in 44 games with the Laval Rocket of the AHL last season. The 5’9”, 185-pound forwardranked first among Laval rookies in points-per-game (0.73) and plus/minus (+10). Dubé also appeared in nine games with the Trois-Rivières Lions of the ECHL in 2022-23, recording 14 points (9g, 5a). In 94 career AHL games with Hershey and Laval, Dubé has registered 66 points (40g, 26a).
Prior to making his professional debut in 2021-22, Dubé recorded 149 points (75g, 74a) in 219 career games in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) with the Quebec Remparts, Chicoutimi Saguenéens and Shawinigan Cataractes, including a career-high 45 points (19g, 26a) in 56 games with Quebec in 2019-20. Before being teammates with Capitals prospect Hendrix Lapierre in Hershey, Dubé played with Washington’s 2020 first-round pick with Chicoutimi during the 2020-21 season.
Washington enters Wednesday six points out of a wild-card spot with a game in hand on the Detroit Red Wings (who hold the second) and three on Tampa Bay (who lead Washington by seven). They also trail the Philadelphia Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division by seven but have two games in hand.
By Harrison Brown
Now that’s an interesting turn of events! What happens to the line combos then?
Protas takes Dowd’s spot and Dube takes Protas’ spot. Simple
Hmm, now why didn’t I think of that? 🤷🏽♂️
So Pro on the fourth line, and Dube on the… (second it would be?) with Mikey and Mo? McDuMo? 🤔
Doesn’t Mantha also play RW? So would he now move over to the left? Or am I missing smth?
Mantha shoots left and Dube right, so they could switch sides or play off wing
Interesting. Can’t wait to see how it plays out.
They could also move Sonny Milano to LW on the CMac line and put Dube at RW on the Sgarbossa line
Hey, that could work too, maybe more seamlessly. Can’t remember how often Mantha goes on his off wing, guess it can be situational.
About freakin time! Not sure what more the kid had to do. He already earned at least a cup of coffee
is smth really saving that much time that it is worth it? And why not put g on the end to be more clear….could be smith
IDK LOL STFU
He’s wondering if he’s missing Craig Smith
Gee thx! At least smn’s got smth right! 😆👍
Y’all got any other ideas on the lineup?
do like McDuMo though
Dube should be the second native of France to don a Caps sweater, after Cristobal Huet. And we may not be done yet. Antoine Keller could be the third.
oh la la
C’est la merde, monsieur
Our piece on Dube from December:
https://novacapsfans.com/2023/12/26/pierrick-dube-opening-eyes-in-hershey/
Hope to see Frank up sometime as well. lets get trades done before anymore injuries.
Frank would have to go through waivers. However, I’m not sure what the rules are *after* the trade deadline. I seem to remember Boston bringing up just about their entire AHL affiliate a couple seasons ago for a game.
Whoops. Brain-fart on that one. Sutter would require waivers, not Frank.
That stated, my question stands.
Was thinking similar. Sutter is closest player to Dowd in the system, but turns out he is injured. Wonder if he might have got the call otherwise. Hate to see injuries prevent rare opportunities
Good point Jon. Has to be due to the injury. Gotta think Sutter would have been called up otherwise. Between Caps and Bears we are down a lot of centers. Might have to absorb a big nasty center contract for a nice pick at deadline. 🙂
That’s true about injuries, Bears are dealing with a lot of injuries too. Trade deadline and free agency will be interesting.
Frank the Tank is actually waivers exempt, I believe. Wouldn’t have to pass through waivers.
You are correct.
Hershey is in Laval tonight
Pierrick be like “Oh thanks for the call up, but can we do this tomorrow night? Cuz I really wanna stick it to my old team tonight.”
So, Carbs has announced that NAK will be back in the lineup tonight, Dube will sit this one out (should be in against Florida), Pro at center. But which line will Pro be centering? 4th? Or will it be Sgarbs there? If it’s the latter, what happens to the 2nd and 3rd lines? Jon or anyone else have a clue? NHL has some pretty weird lineys I am hesitant to believe…