While it’s still in the “report” stage, the Washington Capitals could be without Nicklas Backstrom on a day-to-day basis according to Japers’ Rink, Puck Daddy and other sources. Translated reports indicate that the slick Swede might have a fractured thumb.
The translated report originally came straight from an interview with Backstrom, while the Capitals confirmed his day-to-day status to the Washington Examiner. Backstrom said that the injury came because of a Kris Letang slash that was never penalized during Monday’s game.
At this point, Backstrom probably isn’t slipping under as many hockey radars as previous years. While he isn’t on a pace to match his 101-point output from last season (53 points in 61 games in 2010-11), he brings a nice mixture of reasonable defensive play and heady playmaking to the table.
The Capitals surely must hope this is indeed a minor injury, as Alexander Semin is just getting healthy again while Mike Green is still missing games after taking a Brooks Oprik slapshot to the ear/side of the head.
Obviously this story is in the early stages, so we’ll let you know if he’s expected to miss a significant amount of time if the team makes any announcements.
