As NHL restarts, injuries force familiar questions of depth

The injury to Carlson, who is considered day-to-day, is the first major ailment the Capitals suffered inside the bubble, though it could be far from the last. With four months off because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, then an accelerated two-week training camp before 24 teams were thrown into meaningful hockey games, an uptick in injuries appears to be a real possibility.

“I think that’s going to be something teams have to work through,” Capitals General Manager Brian MacLellan said. “I think it’s just going to be what happens in this tournament, especially early. We’re asking players to play an intense game after a short training camp.

“Teams were going to have to deal with injuries, have to work around. It’s going to test your depth, and it’s going to have a big impact on how you do and how far you go in this tournament.”

The NHL is still early in its restart, but some injuries already have been a concern. On Tuesday, Toronto’s Jake Muzzin was taken off the ice and rushed to a hospital after he fell awkwardly behind the net. The Maple Leafs on Wednesday said Muzzin was discharged but won’t play for the rest of Toronto’s series against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Early on in the tournament, during the third period of an exhibition game against Columbus, Boston’s Brad Marchand appeared to grimace in discomfort and then left the ice. He returned to Boston’s lineup Sunday against the Flyers.

In that Sunday round-robin game, Philadelphia forward Michael Raffl was injured after a collision with Bruins forward Jeremy Lauzon. Raffl will be “out for a bit,” according to the Flyers, with what appears to be a lower-body injury.

While injuries are bound to occur in the postseason, injuries in the round-robin portion of the tournament bring more question marks.

Carlson skated twice over the weekend and was a game-time decision Monday against the Lightning. He was continuing to be evaluated, but the team felt there was no need to rush him back. The round-robin games are only for seeding, so Carlson has more time to recover. For teams in a five-game, play-in series, though, there is significantly less wiggle room.

“That is certainly something that we [as a coaching staff] have talked about,” Flyers assistant coach Mike Yeo said. “You go from [camp] usually into the regular season, where you’re ramping up your pace of play, your intensity, and then you go right from there into the playoffs. Obviously, that’s not the case. So the jump in intensity, the jump in physicality, the jump in how difficult the play is for the players, obviously [injuries are] something that could happen.”

The rash of injuries across the league also signals depth will play a major factor as the postseason continues. The Capitals got their first chance to test that in their exhibition matchup July 29 against Carolina, with an extra defenseman and forward suiting up. On Monday, Radko Gudas filled in for Carlson. In another wrinkle: Lars Eller left the NHL bubble Wednesday, traveling to Washington to be with his wife, Julie, for the birth of their second child. Travis Boyd is expected to fill in with Eller away.

“We will do what is right for our team and give our players every chance they can to reach their peak as we start to get into Round 1 of the playoffs,” Reirden said.