Washington Capitals Place Tyler Lewington On Waivers

Monday: Lewington has cleared waivers and was assigned along with Travis Boyd to the AHL.

Sunday: The Washington Capitals have placed defenseman Tyler Lewington on waivers, according to the Associated Press’ Stephen Whyno. It could be a precursor towards activating injured forward Richard Panik, who has been out with an upper-body injury and could be eligible to be activated off of LTIR on Monday.

With the Capitals set on defense with their six top defenders, Lewington has become that emergency forward who has just stayed in the press box for more than three weeks. He last played on Oct. 16 while the team was without Michal Kempny. who was still recovering from offseason surgery. Now that he’s back, however, Lewington hasn’t been any use. It could also be stated that even when he did play for five games to start the season, the 24-year-old wasn’t of much use to Washington as averaged just 10:26 in those five games. It’s likely he will clear waivers and be assigned to the Hershey Bears in the AHL.

The only issue with putting Lewington on waivers, assuming the team plans to activate Panik soon, is the team will be left with just six healthy blueliners, something that could be an issue if a player gets hurt. However, with no long road trips coming up in the near future, Washington might be able to get away with just carrying six defensemen for the time being until the Capitals decide which of their 14 forwards needs to be moved out.