The Washington Capitals will be without veteran d-man Mike Green tonight when they open their campaign against Montreal.
The 28-year-old is dealing with an upper-body injury that’s not believed to be serious, but significant enough that Washington didn’t want to risk rushing him back into the lineup.
“More so Barry [Trotz] just being smart about it,” Green told the Washington Post.
Green be replaced by Nate Schmidt in the lineup. Schmidt will be paired with Jack Hillen on defense, and it’s unclear how long that pairing will stick together -- per Trotz, it sounds as though Green could be back in the lineup rather quickly.Trotz optimistic that Green can play at Boston on Saturday, but if not then definitely for the homestand next week. “He’s close.”
— Alex Prewitt (@alex_prewitt) October 9, 2014
So, your line rushes and defensive units for tonight look like...
Alex Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom-Eric Fehr
Marcus Johansson-Andre Burakovsky-Troy Brouwer
Jason Chimera-Brooks Laich-Joel Ward
Liam O’Brien-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Chris Brown
Brooks Orpik-John Carlson
Karl Alzner-Matt Niskanen
Schmidt-Hillen