The 27-year-old will sit out for the Capitals as Kuznetsov draws back in.
WASHINGTON — Sonny Milano will find himself watching from the press box as the Washington Capitals take on the Dallas Stars on Monday, marking his first healthy scratch in a while as he takes the time to step back and ponder his game.
Head coach Spencer Carbery announced the decision on Thursday, as Milano will be the odd man out with Evgeny Kuznetsov drawing back in after being the healthy scratch up front on Monday against the Arizona Coyotes.
The main reason for Milano's scratch is his offensive struggles, as he's been held without a point and limited to just four shots in the last seven games.
"He’s just been struggling offensively and a little bit [with] confidence. I’ve met with him a couple times, had a tough road trip and I think it probably started in the Edmonton game where there were some issues there, and he ended up not playing a ton and it sort of crept back in on the road trip," Carbery explained.
Milano, who signed a three-year extension last season and has shown flashes of impressive play with his quick hands and creativity, has not only been having a hard time finding twine but is also struggling with decision-making and positioning.
In one instance against the Anaheim Ducks, a misplay by Milano led to a goal against, and resulted in a first-period benching.
"It’s sort of like I was talking about yesterday is right now offensively, his touches and when he gets into situations where he’s shown he’s really good and he’s able to make something happen and he’s able to find the right play... those decisions for the most part were really, really good and were turning into positive things for our team," Carbery explained. "That’s sort of turned on him a little bit, of, now, those puck decisions are going the other way and they’re turning over or they’re not connecting with what he had in mind."
And for Carbery, the hope is that a healthy scratch and watching a game will help the 27-year-old get back to where his game was at the start of the season, where he showed good chemistry playing alongside Dylan Strome.
"Him just coming out, take a step back, reset, watch some film and then just try to build that confidence back with the puck and with his opportunities," he added.
It's a similar situation to the aforementioned Kuznetsov, who was given the same task of pressing reset by Carbery, but for the 41-year-old bench boss, Milano's in a "lot of a different spot" than his Russian teammate.
"Maybe a little bit of a different objective... Sonny has to know, like, he’s in a spot in his career where he’s shown he absolutely can be a quality NHL player, but this isn’t a situation where Sonny’s a 500-game veteran and done x,y,z. Like he still has to earn it on a consistent basis," Carbery said. "He’s earned some rope, so that’s why he doesn’t come right out after the Edmonton game and even the Anaheim game where he gets beaten in that game 1-on-1 by [Leo] Carlsson. He doesn’t come out right away; he gets more rope. He’s earned that.
"Now it gets to a point where I gotta say, 'Listen, we gotta step back here and you gotta get your game back on track so we get it back to a spot where I know it’s capable of and it’s gonna help us win games.'"
Hendrix Lapierre will play on the wing with Milano out and Kuznetsov back in, and Matthew Phillips will remain in the mix in T.J. Oshie's spot as the 36-year-old remains out with an upper-body injury.