Capitals place Nicklas Backstrom on long-term IR to start season

The Washington Capitals will be without center Nicklas Backstrom to start the season. The team placed Backstrom on long-term injured reserve with a hip injury.

Backstrom will miss at least 10 games before he is eligible to return to the active roster. His first game he’ll be eligible to play is Nov. 6 against Philadelphia.

The Capitals recalled forwards Connor McMichael and Beck Malenstyn from the Hershey Bears of the AHL.

The 33-year old Backstrom has yet to practice with the team going back to training camp. He did not play throughout the preseason. The hip injury hampered him at the end of the 2021 season. And now has lingered into the start of this upcoming season.

McMichael and Malenstyn were assigned to Hershey on Monday ahead of the NHL’s deadline to get under the salary cap. Washington has about $108,000 of cap space. Placing Backstrom on IR allows the Capitals to get the maximum of his $9.2 million cap hit while he is out.