Capitals defenseman Nate Schmidt suffered a minor lower body injury during Sunday morning's training camp practice at Kettler Capitals Iceplex, according to associate coach Todd Reirden.
Reirden said Schmidt will be reevaluated by the team’s medical staff Monday morning.
“Lower body, precautionary thing that we had him go off for,” Reirden said. “He got things checked out. We’ll see how he is tomorrow morning. He wasn’t going to play tomorrow anyway. So we’ll see how it is and take it day-by-day for now.”
The Capitals host the Hurricanes in the preseason opener Monday night. Players who aren’t suiting up at Verizon Center are scheduled to scrimmage Monday afternoon in Arlington.
Schmidt was injured when he got tangled up with Garrett Mitchell along the boards in an intense battle drill. After lying on the ice momentarily, he got up and limped to the dressing room.
Reirden reiterated that Schmidt’s injury is not considered to be of major concern.
“Obviously, with a player like him that we have projected to be in our top-6,” Reirden said. “You don’t take a risk with any players in a preseason game, [as] to [not make] him more vulnerable to reinjure something that may be a problem. Tomorrow morning we’ll get with the trainers and make the decision that’s right.”