Caps defenseman John Erskine took part in the morning skate today at Kettler Iceplex, but will not play tonight against the Sabres. Instead, Hershey recall Sean Collins is in the lineup after clearing waivers at noon.
Caps players can’t say much, obviously. The Dennis Wideman info that came out after Thursday’s game pretty much annihilated team policy regarding injuries. Believe I caught some wry smiles from both Erskine (undisclosed injury) and Tom Poti (groin injury) as the media contingent tried to pry info from them after the scratches’ skate this morning.
Poti got three questions and gave us these nuggets of gold: “Tough to say”, “I don’t know. We’ll see” and “It’s a better sign. Keep working for it.” It’s playoff time, everybody! And that’s actually a good thing. For what it’s worth, Erskine did say he’s ready to go and hoped to play Tuesday. After we told him coach Bruce Boudreau had already told us, of course. So there’s that.
So we’ll see Collins tonight. He did play 15 games with the Caps during the 2008-09 season when a rash of early-season injuries hit. And Collins does have experience playing with Tyler Sloan at Hershey. But that was a while ago, too.
“I’m just looking at it as an opportunity for myself,” Collins said. “I just want to come in and do whatever I can to help the team out. Whether they play me 10 minutes or 5 minutes or 20 minutes, just play my game and do whatever I can to help my team out.”
Collins, 27, is an Ohio State grad. He was actually given the stall that former Buckeye Dave Steckel occupied until he was traded to New Jersey last month. Collins has played in 73 games at Hershey this season with four goals and 16 assists. Also has 78 penalty minutes and is a +29.
“I wasn’t sure if [the call-up] was an April Fool’s joke”, Collins cracked. But he also claimed he didn’t really realize the injury situation on Washington’s blueline was so dire. He’s played primarily with Patrick McNeill at Hershey the last two months – though the Bears have had their own injury issues with defensemen. The other options – McNeill and Brian Fahey – were considered. But Fahey is playing hurt and Collins is a right-handed shot and would let Sloan move to his natural side, if they are paired together.
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