Wilson left Friday's game vs. the Sabres with a lower-body injury and did not practice on Saturday. Head coach Peter Laviolette listed him as questionable, so monitor his status when the Capitals hit the ice for warmups at 2:30 PM ET. If he can't play, expect the Capitals to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
Dubois made it well-known that he was looking for a trade out of Columbus and things reached a tipping point on Thursday when head coach John Tortorella benched him for nearly the entire game. Given their backs were against the wall, the Blue Jackets did a pretty nice job turning a disgruntled Dubois and a third-round pick into Laine and Roslovic. For Dubois, he heads to Winnipeg where he will slot in behind Mark Scheifele as their No.2 centre and will most likely have either Nikolaj Ehlers or Kyle Connor on his wing.
Milano was banged up in Wednesday's game vs. the Wild and was moved to IR to open up a roster spot on Friday. Max Jones was recalled to take his place on the roster and likely in the lineup.
Ovechkin was among four Capitals added to the COVID-19 protocol list on Wednesday after it was determined they were in a hotel room together during the team's recent road trip. "Right now the players are in quarantine and, at this point, I believe it's four games and then under review and so we'll go from there," head coach Peter Laviolette said. In addition to Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov and Ilya Samsonov are all expected to be out as well.
After a breakout 2019 campaign, he finished 2020 with 38 points (12G / 26A) in 58 games. Strome appeared set to open the 2021 campaign as the Blackhawks' No.3 centre behind Jonathan Toews and Kirby Dach, but with both with Toews dealing with a health issue and Dach out for five months, Strome will be their No.1 centre when they start training camp on Monday.
Belpedio spent the entire 2020 season with the Iowa Wild (AHL), collecting 20 points (5G / 15A) and 102 PIMS in 62 games. Since being drafted in the third round in 2014, the 24-year-old defenseman has appeared in three NHL games, picking up two assists.
Carlson missed the entire round-robin but practiced on Monday and will be a game-time decision for Game 1 on Wednesday. If Carlson remains out, Martin Fehervary or Radko Gudas will fill his spot and Dmitri Orlov will do a lot of the heavy lifting, including PP1.
The Capitals are playing it safe with their star defenseman and have listed him as a game-time decision for Thursday. If he doesn't play, Dmitry Orlov will continue to quarterback the Capitals' top power-play unit.
