The Washington Capitals have announced that defenseman Jakob Chychrun won’t return to tonight’s game after suffering an upper-body injury. Chychrun suffered the injury in a game against the New York Rangers after he had played for just one minute and 50 seconds. Chychrun was +1 tonight in his limited appearance.
It’s a tough break for the 26-year-old, who is in his first season with Washington after a trade this past summer that saw Nick Jensen and a 2026 third-round pick head back to Ottawa. Chychrun has been solid to start the year, posting two goals and two assists in seven games. Chychrun can ill afford to be out long term as his in the final year of his current contract with a cap hit of $4.6MM.
In other evening notes:
- The St. Louis Blues have announced that forward Kasperi Kapanen is dealing with an upper-body injury and will not return to tonight’s game. Kapanen took a high hit in a game against the Ottawa Senators and appeared to hit his face on the boards. Kapanen did get to the bench under his own power but did not return. The 28-year-old was dressing in his first game since playing just 8:57 on October 24th against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Kapanen has struggled this season, with a single goal in seven games.
- Forward Nathan Bastian will return to the New Jersey Devils lineup tomorrow night when the team takes on the Vancouver Canucks (as per Devils reporter Amanda Stein). Bastian hasn’t played since October 24th, as he has been a healthy scratch for the last two games. New Jersey has opted to use Kurtis MacDermid in Bastian’s place the past few days, but now the 26-year-old will have an opportunity to draw back into the lineup and add to the two goals and two assists that he has posted so far this season in ten games.