The Washington Capitals thought they were adding a versatile middle-six forward that could contribute in all situations this summer when they traded for Connor Brown. That contribution could last less than four games, as Brown has undergone surgery to repair a torn ACL in his right knee. The recovery timeline, based on the nature of the procedure, is six to eight months.
While he hasn’t been ruled out for the full season, Brown’s return in 2022-23 is “highly unlikely” according to Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet.
Given that he is on an expiring contract, this is worst-case news for the 28-year-old forward, who got an early chance to play alongside Alex Ovechkin to start the year.
After spending the last three seasons playing huge minutes for the rebuilding Ottawa Senators, Brown was an attractive piece for a team like the Capitals looking to add veteran depth to their forward group.
Instead, it looks like he’ll enter contract negotiations with a zero-point season unless he can find a way to make a return before the end of the year. Brown was scoreless through the three-and-a-half games he managed in a Washington uniform.
If needed, Brown’s $3.6MM cap hit can be moved to long-term injured reserve, opening up a little bit of flexibility for the Capitals. Unfortunately, the team’s forward group keeps losing talent, with T.J. Oshie going down recently. While Tom Wilson and Nicklas Backstrom are getting closer to a return, the veteran group in Washington will be tested this season – potentially opening up time for some younger players to make their mark.
That’s a real shame for Brown. Perhaps he can be brought back next season for slightly less, but hopefully he can make it back before the end of the season.
What’s surprising to me is that Backstrom seems to be making a really smooth recovery. I didn’t expect him to ever play again, but looks like he may not be done just yet. Along with Wilson, their returns to the lineup will be a huge boost when that comes.
The team has been playing with more energy with all these injuries allowing younger guys to get more time. The team is faster and are playing well despite the shootout loss last night, but it’s always been about maintaining that level of play on a consistent basis. These injuries may be a blessing in disguise for this team. It’s been nice seeing the speed and energy with the slower guys on the sidelines.
I’ve had the chance to see several Caps games this year (I live out west) and they don’t look any faster to me. A few games they’ve been badly outshot and lose 70-80% of the races for loose pucks. If the younger, fast guys have more playing time, most are not stepping up. Like McMichael…though in McMichael’s particular case he looks bad and needs 20 min a game in the AHL instead if he’s going to spend so much time in the press box. Van Riemsdyk has played pretty well and I saw Mantha actually dominate play on the ice for much of a game recently which was encouraging.
They do miss Wilson, Oshie, Backstrom, and Carlson badly and look very disjointed out there. Certainly not connecting on passes or getting organized rushes which is an outcome of guys who haven’t played much on the same line. But their returns don’t help them get younger and faster, its an unbalanced team toward big and heavy though their returns do provide much more skill and stability than what’s out there. The goaltending though has looked noticeably better than it has been for several seasons, and has kept them in games.
Losing Brown is a shame, he was definitely a needed, missing part.