Capitals’ Sandin out day-to-day; Dubois close to return
When speaking to the media on Thursday, Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery confirmed that defenseman Rasmus Sandin is out day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Carbery stated that Sandin will not travel with the team as it prepares to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night.
On the flip side, forward Pierre-Luc Dubois will be traveling with the team to Ohio’s capital. Unlike Sandin, Dubois was a full participant at practice on Thursday, with Carbery mentioning there’s a chance the latter will be in the lineup against the Blue Jackets.
Rasmus Sandin (upper-body) is day-to-day and will not travel with the Capitals to Columbus, per Spencer Carbery.
Pierre-Luc Dubois (lower-body) will travel with the team after practicing as a full participant today. Carbery says he's a possibility to play on Friday vs. Columbus.
Some suspect that Sandin suffered his ailment during the team’s latest game against the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night. The Swedish blueliner played a season-low 15:01 of ice time in a 4-1 victory. He had appeared in each of the Capitals’ first seven games of the 2025-26 season, with his status for Saturday’s home affair against the Ottawa Senators still in question.
Thus far, Sandin has registered just two assists, those coming against the Vancouver Canucks this past Sunday and the Minnesota Wild a couple of days before. The 25-year-old is coming off the best season of his NHL career, where he posted career highs in assists (26) and points (30) while playing in all 82 games. Sandin also notched an assist in 10 playoff games, as the Capitals made it to the second round before being eliminated by the Carolina Hurricanes.
Dubois has missed the past four games due to a lower-body injury. He was hurt during Washington’s matchup with the New York Rangers on Oct. 12, and has slowly been recovering before getting back to the lineup. The 27-year-old had played just three games before the injury, but failed to register a point. He has a plus/minus of +1 while averaging 17:22 of ice time.
Dubois is coming off a strong bounce-back season. In his first year with the Caps, the Quebec native scored 20 goals and 46 assists for 69 points, adding three assists in the postseason.