The Washington Capitals announced that defenseman Rasmus Sandin would not be returning to Sunday’s game against the Ottawa Senators due to an upper-body injury.
Sandin suffered the injury near the end of the first period of the game after taking a hard hit along the boards. There’s currently no further information on the severity of it, or how long he might be out of the lineup.
Sandin left the game with one hit in 7:09 of ice time, with the Caps up 1-0 at the time of his departure.
Sandin has taken a bit of a step back this season in terms of his production, especially compared to last season, as he has 3 goals and 20 assists for 23 points in 67 games. This comes after producing 35 points last season, including 15 in 19 games after joining the Capitals last season.
Sandin was the 29th overall pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 2018 NHL Draft, and after making his NHL debut a year later, he spent parts of the next four seasons with the Leafs before he was dealt to the Capitals during the 2023 trade deadline in exchange for Erik Gustafsson and a first round pick that became Easton Cowen. He’s since gone on to play parts of the last two seasons for Washington, getting more of a prominent top-four role than he had gotten in Toronto.
Sandin is currently in the final year of a two-year contract with a $1.4 million cap hit. He also signed a five-year contract extension with a $4.6 million cap hit a month ago, which will begin in the 2024 offseason.
Entering Sunday’s action, the Capitals sat in sixth in the Metropolitan Division with a 36-30-10 record, although the overtime loss to the Senators means that they’ll sit one point behind the Detroit Red Wings for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
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