The Capitals blueliner suffered the injury during a non-game group scrimmage on Sunday.

ARLINGTON, V.A. — The Washington Capitals will be without Joel Edmundson for a bit, as the team announced he will miss at least a month's time following surgery.

Edmundson underwent surgery to repair a fractured hand on Tuesday and will be out for roughly 4-6 weeks, Washington said. He suffered the injury during a non-game group scrimmage on Sunday.

The 6-foot-5 blueliner was acquired in an offseason trade with the Montreal Canadiens. He's expected to bring some grit and physicality to the blue line and had been skating on the third pairing with Trevor van Riemsdyk to open training camp prior to his injury.

Head coach Spencer Carbery said he had started seeing flashes of Edmundson's skill-set and ability to make the opposition's night miserable as camp opened.

While the injury is an unfortunate turn of events for D.C., who had the fifth-most man games lost last season, Carbery wants to see the team's fringe defensemen compete to win a roster spot in the meantime, including Hardy Haman Aktell, Alex Alexeyev, Lucas Johansen and even Vincent Iorio.

With Edmundson out on Tuesday, van Riemsdyk had skated on a pairing with Alexeyev. Haman Aktell and Alexeyev were together on Wednesday, while Johansen went to work with Iorio.

The Capitals will continue to work with Mitch Love to evaluate the blue line and try things out as camp goes on. Washington returns to preseason action on Thursday when they take on the Detroit Red Wings at Capital One Arena at7 p.m. ET.