Mike Green back in the lineup against Thrashers
UPDATE 10/23/10 @ 6:39 PM: Through the process of elimination, Mike Green will return to the lineup for the Caps. Veteran stay-at-home defenseman Tom Poti was not out during warmups which indicates Green as one of the six skating d-men.
UPDATE 10/23/10 @ 5:08 PM: Mike Green will take warmups tonight. says Masisak via Twitter.
UPDATE 10/23/2010 @ 10:50 AM: According to Corey Masisak of CSN Washington, Matt Bradley said he is not playing tonight (not a surprise). D-men Mike Green and Tom Poti both said they weren’t sure yet.
UPDATE 10/20/2010 @ 12:02 PM: Green will not play tomorrow night or even travel with the team as they travel to Boston to meet the Bruins. According to Corey Masisak of CSN Washington, he remains listed as day-to-day.
UPDATE 10/19/2010 @ 1:13 PM: Green will be a game-time decision according to Katie Carrera of Capitals Insider. Here is the full report on your stud offensive defenseman:
Mike Green (upper-body injury) is a game-time decision. Green went back out on the ice for extra work with the assistant coaches and remained on the ice long after the other players, so it’s probably safe to guess he won’t be in the lineup tonight.
UPDATE 10/16/2010 @ 1:27 PM: The following comes from Katie Carrera, via Twitter: Mike Knuble was given practice off for family reasons, per Boudreau. He will be on the plane to Nashville.
Mike Green will not play in the Washington Capitals’ game tomorrow night as they prepare to face the Nashville Predators. The skilled offensive defenseman will not dress due to an upper-body injury which would leave rookie John Carlson as the top offensive threat from the blue line.
In addition, Mike Knuble did not practice with the team which led to head coach Bruce Boudreau tinkering with his lines. He reportedly missed practice due to a family matter but is not expected to miss tomorrow night’s game. In any event the lines without him looked like this:
Alexander Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – Alexander Semin
Brooks Laich – Tomas Fleischmann – Eric Fehr
The clear-cut winner in this Knuble-less lineup would be Fehr, who showed offensive promise with his 21 goals last season. When players like Ovechkin and Semin went down with injuries (or suspensions), he was able to move up a line and really produce. Keep an eye on Fehr should anyone in the current top two lines get injured.