First, the bad news: Mike Green didn't skate today. The Capitals' star defenseman is still out with a concussion and, due to the fact that he has yet to skate, his return date is likely quite far off. Once he returns to the ice, he needs to work his way up to a full practice and remain symptom-free. After he works his way to full practices, he needs to complete at least three of them without incident and remain symptom-free. Then, he needs to pass more tests and only after that is completed can he suit up for a game. Bruce Boudreau did say after practice that he is feeling alot better and is doing off-ice work, which is certainly a good sign. Despite this positive news, I doubt he will be able to return with much more than two or three games left in the regular season; Bruce Boudreau said this week was critical in knowing if he will be back before the playoffs.
Next, the good(ish): Both Alex Ovechkin and Jason Arnott skated for the second day in a row. They participated in a workout with the strength and conditioning coach before the rest of the team took to the ice for practice, and both of them were wearing warmup suits instead of full pads, although Ovie was wearing knee pads. According to Katie Carrera, the workout was "brisk"and neither seemed particularly bothered by anything that they were doing. Despite this, neither are expected to play this weekend, and will not travel.
OK, on to the real practice. Tom Poti returned to the ice for a full practice after sitting out yesterday's optional skate; there is still no word on his potential return to the Washington lineup. The lines were as follows: Semin-Backstrom-Laich-Fehr, Chimera-Johanssom-Knuble, Sturm-Gordon-Bradley, and King-Beagle-Hendricks. On the last drill of the day, however, Marcus Johansson took a puck in the face and did not return to the ice. According to Boudreau, he got cut pretty badly and will need stitches, but should play tomorrow night. Phew. As if the Caps didn't have enough injury problems...mercy. Lastly, Michal Neuvirth said he is starting tomorrow in Ottawa, with Semyon Varlamov getting the call Saturday in Montreal. Sounds good to me.
That's all for now. In other reading from 24/7 today, check out my profile on Caps prospect Stanislav Galiev, who begins his quest for the QMJHL's President's Cup this weekend with the Saint John Sea Dogs.
Thanks to Katie Carrera and Sky Kerstein for information used in this post.
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