Capitals recall Sonny Milano, place three on injured reserve

As announced in a team release, the Washington Capitals have recalled forward Sonny Milano, forward Garrett Pilon and defenseman Lucas Johansen from the Hershey Bears of the AHL. All three players will travel with the team to Detroit for the team’s game Thursday against the Red Wings.

In a corresponding move, the team has also placed forward T.J. Oshie, defenseman John Carlson and forward Beck Malenstyn on injured reserve. Forward Connor Brown was also moved to long-term injured reserve (LTIR) after undergoing potentially season-ending ACL surgery earlier this week.

Oshie is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury suffered last Saturday. He is technically eligible to return for Saturday’s home game against Arizona, but without a timeline, there’s no telling when he’ll be back. The fact that he was not moved to LTIR along with Brown is somewhat promising, suggesting that he may not be out for more than a few weeks.

Carlson also left the same game Saturday with a lower-body injury, although his status remains day-to-day. Assuming his IR placement is retroactive, he could return Saturday against Arizona, but the IR placement is confirmation that he’ll miss his third straight game against Detroit on Thursday.

Malenstyn left Tuesday night’s overtime loss against Vegas with an upper-body injury. He was recalled to the team in mid-October in the absence of Brown.

After notching 34 points in 66 games last year as a member of the Anaheim Ducks, it was rather shocking that no team signed Milano before training camps started, and it was nearly as surprising when he cleared waivers when Washington signed him. In five games in the AHL, Milano’s notched two goals, an assist and three points. He could potentially draw into the lineup in Malenstyn’s absence, but the team also had Connor McMichael as a healthy extra.

Pilon, 24, has five points in seven games to start the AHL season, his fifth with Hershey. Johansen, the 28th overall selection in 2016, missed the majority of the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons due to injury and has a goal in six games with Hershey in 2022-23. The team had no extra healthy defensemen with Carlson out.