Capitals senior staff writer Mike Vogel tweeted Friday morning that fourth-line winger Jay Beagle is now, according to coach Bruce Boudreau, listed week-to-week by the team. That’s a change from the day-to-day status Beagle has held since taking two punches to the face from Arron Asham in the Oct. 13 game against Pittsburgh. Vogel followed with a tweet clarifying that Boudreau says the status change is because Beagle will need at least a week of practice.
Beagle is dealing with a suspected concussion – though the Caps’ official policy is not to disclose injuries. Beagle has missed seven days of practice now and we still haven’t seen him in the locker room. He has not been made available to the media for comment. Local reporters didn’t ask about Beagle’s status at the daily briefing with Boudreau on Friday. On Thursday in Philadelphia, Boudreau wouldn’t confirm any concussion diagnosis.
“Nope. You can infer whatever you want to infer,” Beagle said. “We’re just saying it’s day-to-day.”
Either way, it’s pretty clear we won’t be seeing Beagle for a while. Can’t see how he’d make the trip to western Canada at this point so that takes you into November at the earliest. That makes the recent play of Mathieu Perreault at center so important. Jeff Halpern has slid to right wing on the fourth line. Matt Hendricks remains on the left.
Perreault played what Boudreau called one of his best games as a pro against the Flyers. Beagle would give that line a different, more physical look, obviously. But it’s a pretty effective unit right now. Halpern has topped 20 goals in his career and Hendricks recorded nine for the second time last season. Perreault scored against Philadelphia and now has 12 goals in 60 career NHL games.
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