The Caps have sent Grubauer back to Hershey after the potential up and coming star was pulled from two games. Oates' said he told Grubauer after being reassigned that he had "improved a lot" and to "keep working on his game." He also stated that his being yanked early in two recent games "wasn't necessarily his fault" but after a slight decline in his game, Oates said the team had "lost the spark in a sense." The move gets the Caps back to a sense of normalcy with their two regulars Holtby and Neuvirth getting back to it. Now the question will be, which goalie will step up and be the #1? Neuvirth has had two pretty good outings and Holtby didn't play "too awful" in his last two relief efforts. It should be interesting to see what happens moving forward.
In another roster move, Steve Oleksy was placed on waivers by the Capitals on Monday and if he's not claimed by another NHL team (we suspect he will with his high level of player enforcement) will be sent to Hershey as well. This could be good news for guys like Connor Carrick and Dmitry Orlov who have been in the lineup as of late and are looking for as much NHL ice-time as possible.
Theres no doubt more roster moves will be made in the next day or two as two roster spots can be filled in case someone were to get injured. Seems as though Mcphee and Oates are cleaning up the roster a bit and they'll surely be busy throughout the Olympic break figuring out what options are available on the trade market and in their affiliate teams. Some have suspected Andre Burakovsky (if he can recover from his concussion) could see some time with the Caps soon. Most likely filling the spot of a guy named Martin Erat.
Let us know what you think of the moves and keep following Shades of Red!
Zach
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