Injuries creeping up on Caps
By: Brian McNally
Examiner Staff Writer
11/18/09 2:42 PM EST
It isn't quite last November when players were dropping all over the ice. But the Caps have some roster issues to attend to over the next few days. Forward Alex Semin didn't play against the Rangers last night. He didn't participate in the optional practice today and showed up wearing a wrap on his right wrist. Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said there's a chance Semin will miss this weekend's games against Montreal and Toronto.
Defenseman Milan Jurcia (hamstring) is not ready yet, either - though he did skate before practice and Boudreau said he's doing better than last week. The news isn't so good for Boyd Gordon. The forward has been battling back issues all season and the team is struggling to find out the exact cause.
"I’ve had a guy on my team that missed three years and then Eric Fehr missed a year [with a back injury]," Boudreau said. "It’s just so hard sometimes to pinpoint exactly what is wrong with it. So he’s just in the doing tests process. He went through this last year and probably the year before. And it’s tough going through that. We’d like to get him fixed because he’s a valuable member of our team."
Then, of course, there is forward Quintin Laing, who blocked a shot Tuesday night and broke his jaw. According to team officials, general manager George McPhee put the estimate at four-to-six weeks for the fourth line forward. Laing had surgery Tuesday night to install metal plates in his jaw.
Meanwhile, the Caps still had three goalies at practice as of Wednesday afternoon. Jose Theodore is still dealing with the personal matter that caused him to miss Tuesday's game. Rookie Michael Neuvirth is the backup to Semyon Varlamov and could see playing time this weekend if Theodore is not back yet.
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