Here's what the Capitals look like with Nicklas Backstrom leaving the team indefinitely.
ARLINGTON, V.A. — The Washington Capitals held an emotional practice on Wednesday after Nicklas Backstrom delivered shocking news to his teammates that he would be stepping away from the game amid lingering hip issues, and they had to experiment with some new looks too.
Head coach Spencer Carbery changed the lines with Backstrom no longer with the team indefinitely, moving Connor McMichael to his natural center position. It was a melancholy practice that lacked a lot of energy, but Carbery said that's not a surprise.
“I talked to our group about that because our practice wasn’t great. And you could feel it, energy down. And I understand that, it’s a really tough day to hear that news, to try to go out and be upbeat and energetic and enthusiastic about practicing for 45 minutes. To be expected," he said, adding, "We gotta be pros, now we gotta figure out okay, what do I need to do physically, mentally to get ready for a really tough opponent tomorrow night.”
"It's a huge, huge void," he added of being without Backstrom.
Here are the new combinations without No. 19, which will likely debut on Thursday against the New York Islanders.
Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-Tom Wilson
Sonny Milano-Evgeny Kuznetsov-T.J. Oshie
Anthony Mantha-Connor McMichael-Matthew Phillips
Beck Malenstyn-Hendrix Lapierre-Aliaksei Protas
Martin Fehervary-John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin-Trevor van Riemsdyk
Hardy Häman Aktell-Nick Jensen
Darcy Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
Nic Dowd remains on the injured reserve and did not practice with the team on Wednesday. Backstrom will join Dowd on IR before eventually being placed on LTIR.
Carbery is confident in McMichael filling that center role and noted that he caught up with the 22-year-old to discuss expectations.
"It's his natural position. I spoke to him about it today, he’s comfortable there, played all last year there. I’ve liked him a lot on the left side this year, he’s had really good stretches through camp, hasn’t played much center, but I don’t think it’ll be a huge adjustment," Carbery noted. "There'll be maybe a game, two, three, just little things of getting comfortable with it, for sure, but he’s played it his whole life. So there’s a few different things that I gave him some cues on of you need when you’re adjusting from wing to center; here’s two things to think about that you need to really focus on tomorrow night.”
Washington will hold an optional morning skate on Thursday before playing host to Islanders at 7 p.m. ET.