Van Riemsdyk was a healthy scratch for the majority of his first season with the Capitals.
The Washington Capitals will see some blue line changes as they face the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, and despite some hints of Nick Jensen being the healthy scratch, it will be Trevor van Riemsdyk who will draw out of the mix on Tuesday.
Van Riemsdyk is the odd man out for Washington, head coach Spencer Carbery told reporters in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. Martin Fehervary will return after suffering an upper-body injury in the opening minutes of Friday's 5-1 loss to the New York Islanders, which also held him out of the lineup for Saturday's 3-2 shootout loss to the Nashville Predators.
Nick Jensen, who was the odd man out during rushes on Monday, will avoid a healthy scratch against Pittsburgh. However, considering the team is in a back-to-back, it's still possible he could take a seat for Wednesday's game against the New Jersey Devils while TVR draws back in.
Van Riemsdyk's scratch is part of the fallout from the Capitals signing Ethan Bear, who was steady and packed promise in his debut against Nashville.
Van Riemsdyk, along with Jensen, signed a three-year extension to stay in Washington last season, though it's unclear if Bear's signing will have any bearing on their futures in D.C.
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman had mentioned on 32 Thoughts that TVR was one of the Capitals' candidates for trade at last year's sell-off, but the team ultimately chose to hold onto him. Now, with Bear on board for the rest of this year and next, it's unclear if the team will make any more tweaks to the blue line.
It's familiar yet unfamiliar territory for the 32-year-old, who was a healthy scratch for the majority of his first season in D.C. back in 2020-21, but he has since become a regular on the team's d-corps.
Here are the projected pairings for Tuesday's tilt with the Penguins, with Van Riemsdyk and Alex Alexeyev serving as the healthy scratches.
Martin Fehervary-John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin-Ethan Bear
Joel Edmundson-Nick Jensen